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THE 
 
 j: G R O LAB O R 
 
 QTJESTIOISr 
 
 BY A NEW-YORK MERt5t^NT 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 GRAY, PRINTER, 16 & 18 JACOB STREET, 
 
 FIRE-PROOF BUILDINGS, 
 
 18 5 8. 
 
THE 
 
 NEGRO LAB O R 
 
 QUESTION. 
 
 BY A NEW-YORK MERCHANT 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 JOHN A GRAY, PRINTER, 16 & 18 JACOB STREET, 
 
 FIRE-PROOF BUILDINGS. 
 1858. 
 
THE NEGKO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 The question of the condition and capability 
 of tlie African Negro is at length beginning to 
 assume a very different practical shape from any 
 that it has ever yet had in the eyes of the 
 world — ^in the eyes, indeed, of the Christian 
 Church also, since opportunities are likely to be 
 opened for conveying to those benighted mil- 
 lions of our fellow-creatures the light of the 
 Gospel of Truth, such as have never, at any form- 
 er period, been within the power of Christendom. 
 A necessity has arisen for the employment of 
 negroes in various kinds of human, labor for 
 which they, above all others, are peculiarly 
 adapted : nay, not only so, but, it would appear 
 as the only people who are really fitted by na- 
 ture — ^that is, by their constitution, their organ- 
 ization, and other natural circumstances of their 
 condition — ^to carry on such labor healthfully 
 and properly. Not on this continent only, 
 but in the Western Indies, and even in some 
 eastern portions of the other great continent, 
 
4: THE NEGEO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 there are productions of the earth, the cultiva- 
 tion of which can not be carried on— at least 
 without a great waste, not only in economy but 
 in human life— except by the African 'Negro; 
 and these productions are not only staple ar- 
 ticles of commerce among the civilized nations 
 of the earth, but are actually becoming essen- 
 tial for the supply of man's necessities, and in- 
 deed for the furtherance of human progress and 
 civilization. 
 
 Well, then, if we look to Africa, and to the 
 Africans, we see a people who are not only 
 adapted by nature, and to all appearance espe- 
 cially designed by Providence for such work, 
 but who are ako themselves, in their present 
 condition, at once a disgrace and a curse to hu- 
 manity, from their not being devoted or habit- 
 uated to labor. We want the work carried on, 
 and the very carrying of it on by these barbar- 
 ous, degraded, and most miserable people, would 
 not only conduce to the advancement of some 
 of the most important of the material interests 
 of civilized nations, but would have the imme- 
 diate effect of raising them from their present 
 wretched state of savage life, to a condition of 
 respectability, comfort, and happiness. All 
 labor is civilizing. There can be no civiliza- 
 tion without creating necessities, and these ne- 
 
THE NEGEO LABOR QUESTION. 5 
 
 cessities can only be supplied by labor. Tlius 
 labor acts and reacts to tbe advantage of tliose 
 who are called upon to engage in it. Well has 
 the poet said of it : 
 
 " 'Tis the primal curse, 
 But softened into mercy ; made the pledge 
 Of cheerful days, and nights without a groan." 
 
 It is because the Negroes of Africa, known, ^ 
 we believe, at present to number at least fifty 
 millions — ^it is because these hordes of our fel- 
 low-beings have not labor, have not that " pri- 
 mal curse softened into mercy," that we find 
 them in so dreadfully debased a condition of 
 humanity. 
 
 The labor of these people, then, even in mercy 
 to themselves, must be procured. The necessi- 
 ties of civilized life, the means of human pro- 
 gress, nay, the spread of the Gospel of Christ, 
 all combine to demand it. How, then, is it to / 
 be obtained ? 
 
 No one who knows any thing of the nature 
 of the Negro race can fail to acknowledge, that 
 they must be treated very much as children 
 would have to be treated, whom we wished to 
 train up in the ways of civilized life. They 
 must be subjected to control ; and, if it be ne- 
 cessary, to coercion. There must, at any rate, 
 in such a case, be servitude ; we can not pos- 
 
b THE NEGEO LABOR QUESTION". 
 
 sibly secure the labor of sucli a people without 
 it — we can not make the slightest advance to- 
 wards obtaining it, except on a principle of ser- 
 vitude. It is the remark of no less an eminent 
 Christian authority than that of Dr. Paley, in 
 his Moral Philosophy, that "servitude differs 
 from slavery in this ; that the servant contracts 
 to work for his master, while the slave is, with- 
 out such contract, compelled to labor ; but in 
 both there is the same obligation on the part 
 of the master not to diminish, beyond absolute 
 necessity, the sum of human happiness." 'Now, 
 however startling it may at first sight appear, a 
 certain kind of slavery is essentially necessary 
 with the negroes, under these very circum- 
 stances, to secure their servitude. For, in fact, 
 in the very outset of such a consideration as this, 
 the negroes, as an uncivilized, as a barbarous 
 people, are not in a position to enter into any 
 contract of labor, of themselves ; neither, if they 
 were, would there be any guarantee for their 
 fulfilling it. In civilized life, when men who 
 want such labor have to do with civilized men, 
 when they are living altogether, under institu- 
 tions which secure the fulfillment of contracts for 
 labor, as of aU other contracts, then voluntary 
 servitude is not only a tenable thing, but a right 
 one— nay, we should say the only right one, ac- 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION". 7 
 
 cording to tlie principles of tliat even-lianded 
 justice wliicli must prevail in the world, if human 
 progress is to be carried on to any creditable and 
 profitable end ; and, above all, wbere the influ- 
 ences of Christianity are to be fostered and main- 
 tained. Dr. Paley, therefore, is quite right in 
 drawing such a distinction as he does between 
 servitude and slavery, under such a state of 
 things ; and especially in connection with the as- 
 sertion of so great an interest as that which is 
 comprehended in his expression, " The sum of 
 human happiness." But then, as respects the 
 negroes, the case is totally altered. In them we 
 have a people who are really disqualified, natu- 
 rally and conditionally disqualified, for servitude, 
 as thus contra-distinguished from slavery. Most 
 true it is, as this great Christian divine declares, 
 that " the slave is without such contract com- 
 pelled to labor." You can not, indeed, have his 
 labor at all without a certain compulsion. But 
 it is not necessary that such compulsion should 
 be a cruel one. And it must not be so, under 
 any circumstances, else we disgrace our character 
 as a Christian people. To increase " the sum of 
 human happiness," even among those we com- 
 pel to labor, must ever be the first great end in 
 view. This is the great and solemn obligation 
 which lies upon us, under our present advan- 
 
8 THE NEGRO LA30R QUESTION. 
 
 tages over tlie negro people. As we have al- 
 ready observed, there are millions of these our 
 fellow-creatures in a state of darkness, and 
 wretchedness, and degradation, the continuance 
 of which, without any earnest and sufficient effort 
 on our part to ameliorate or to remove it, is in 
 every point of view most discreditable to Christ- 
 endom. Well is it argued, by a writer on the 
 negro race, that they have "vices natural to 
 them" — ^natural, that is, not merely because they 
 are a fearful instance of poor human nature left 
 to itself, to go on in a course of unmitigated 
 degradation; but natural also, on account of 
 those very evils which labor itself would be the 
 most effectual to remedy. The very stupidity 
 of these people, which is the direct consequence 
 of a want of occupation, forces them continually 
 into vices of the most depraved and brutal char 
 racter : more so, indeed, with the Africans than 
 in the case of any other people on the face of 
 the globe ; and which is to be accounted for, 
 no doubt, by those peculiarities of their physical 
 condition which have become a second nature 
 to them under the influences of a torrid clime, 
 and all those debasing habits and associations 
 under which they are found to live. They are 
 represented to us as being "atrocious, cruel, 
 revengeful, and intemperate, hy a necessity of 
 
THE NEaRO LABOR QUESTION. 9 
 
 nature^ And tlie same writer, in connection 
 witli this remark, draws a very remarkable dis- 
 tinction, and one wMcli goes farther in support 
 of our view tlian may at first sigM appear, wken 
 lie says : " For tkougli all these vices abound in 
 Europe, it is evident that they proceed not from 
 nature, but from wrong education, which gives 
 to the youthful mind such deep impressions as 
 no future exertions can completely eradicate." 
 
 Besides, when we come to talk of slavery, we 
 must not forget that in every part of Africa it- 
 self, with which the nations of Europe have had 
 any intercourse, slavery of the very worst kind 
 prevails to an enormous extent. This is a fact 
 which has long been patent to the world, or at 
 any rate, to that portion of the world which 
 would give itself the trouble to look at this 
 question, in any degree, below its surface. And 
 we have an attestation of it in one of the most 
 recent, as it is one of the most important of the 
 works on Africa, which have for many years 
 appeared in our language — ^we allude to Dr. 
 Livingstone's Missionary Travels and Researches 
 in South- Africa, which is at this moment excit- 
 ing an interest throughout the civilized world, 
 that probably no work on Africa has ever done 
 before. Throughout the pages of this eminent 
 publication, then, we find evidences of the 
 
 1* 
 
10 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 existence of slavery among the African negroes 
 in all dii-ections. For instance, we open tlie 
 book at random, and find sucli a statement as 
 this : " They had a gang of young female slaves 
 in a chain, hoeing the ground in front of their 
 encampment, to clear it of weeds and grass ; 
 these were purchased recently in Lobale, whence 
 the traders had now come. There were many 
 Mambari with them, and the establishment was 
 conducted with that military order which per- 
 vades all the arrangements of the Portuguese 
 colonists." Again, the Mambari alluded to in 
 the foregoing extract, are themselves stealers of 
 their own species, for the purpose of the slave- 
 trade. " The Mambari," says Dr. Livingstone, 
 "erect large huts, of a square shape, to stow 
 these stolen ones in; they are well fed, but 
 aired by night only. The frequent kidnapping 
 from outlying hamlets explains the stockades 
 we saw around them. The parents have no re- 
 dress ; for even Shinte (the chief) himself seems 
 fond of working in the dark." Again, when on 
 the banks of the Quilo, in another part of the 
 country. Dr. Livingstone relates : " As we were 
 now in the slave market, it struck me that the 
 sense of insecurity felt by the natives might ac- 
 count for the circumstance that those who have 
 been sold as slaves, and freed again, when 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 11 
 
 questioned, profess to like the new state better 
 tlian tlieir primitive one." And tlie reason of 
 tliis is self-evident. Tlieir primitive one, thougli 
 one of freedom, in a certain sense, thougli a very 
 degraded one, was really irksome, by reason of 
 its degradation; whereas, by being placed 
 under control, tkougli tbat control were not 
 suck, by any means, as it ougkt to be, tkey were 
 yet accustomed to kabits of life wkick doubtle'ss 
 kad a great effect in relieving tkem of tke 
 intolerable monotony, to say notking more, of 
 tkeir former existence. Here, kowever, in tke 
 very paragrapk from wkick we are quoting, 
 tkere is given, in connection witk tkeir former 
 condition, an instance of tke necessity tkat pre- 
 vails for tkese people being rescued altogetker 
 from tkeir present circumstances, and placed in 
 a position wkere constant, active labor would 
 become a daily necessity. "To one wko kas 
 observed," Dr. Livingstone goes on to remark, 
 " tke kard toil of tke poor, in old civilized coun- 
 tries, tke state in wkick tke inkabitants kere 
 live is one of glorious ease. Tke country is 
 full of little villages. Food abounds, and very 
 little labor is required for its cultivation ; tke 
 soil is so rick tkat no manure is required ; wken 
 a garden becomes too poor for good crops of 
 maize, millet, etc., tke owner removes a little 
 
12 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 farther into tlie forest, applies fire round the 
 roots of the larger trees to kill them, and cuts 
 down the smaller, and a new rich garden is 
 ready for the seed." Now this is a state of 
 things, we contend, which contributes most ma- 
 terially to the degradation of the people. They 
 can live, they can vegetate, they can indulge in 
 all the depravities of their condition, without 
 labor, or nearly so. And throughout the pages 
 of this very book, in which we find such testi- 
 mony as this, there are to be met with 
 evidences, either direct or indirect, to show that 
 wherever the negro is induced, or rather com- 
 pelled, to labor, there is he at once exalted in 
 the scale of humanity. 
 
 A very eminent Christian philosopher, who 
 has no predilections for slavery in itself, but 
 would regard it, we are sure, as every Christian 
 man is bound to regard it, as a question that 
 concerns, and must be made to concern, most of 
 all, the happiness, and especially the eternal 
 happiness of those who are its objects, remarks 
 very forcibly upon the case of servitude, as that 
 which, in the circumstances of such a people as 
 the negroes, must be made compulsory — as, in- 
 deed, it is virtually so even among civilized peo- 
 ple, although under other aspects. His words 
 are very remarkable with relation to our present 
 
THE NEGEO LABOR QUESTION. 13 
 
 subject, when he says : " That beings in the form 
 of men, but sunk by their own faults to the 
 state of brutes, should be placed under severe 
 restraint, should be compelled to labor against 
 their wills, should be even thrown into chains, 
 should be deprived of all power, and subjected 
 to the stern control of others; this is but a 
 necessary provision for the safety of society, and 
 an execution of the justice of nature."* It is 
 true, he is here speaking more particularly of 
 those who are placed under such restraint on 
 account of their crimes. But where is the real 
 practical difference, as respects, at any rate, 
 man's civilization, and that human progress in 
 which every man, be he black or white, is more 
 or less concerned — ^where, we say, in such a con- 
 nection as this, is the real practical difference 
 between a man's own faults, and the faults of 
 the condition into which he has sunk? The 
 negroes of Africa are just as great criminals 
 against society, and against God, as are the con- 
 victs of any penal settlement. They are all 
 alike sunk very much to the state of brutes, and 
 they must be dealt with accordingly — "must 
 be placed under severe restraint, be compelled 
 to labor against their wills, be deprived of all 
 power, and be subjected to the stern control of 
 
 * Sewell's Christian Politics, 
 
14 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 others." Tlie negroes, we say, are, as a matter 
 of fact, in precisely this situation. And when 
 the eminent Christian writer we have just cited 
 goes on to observe, "that beings weak and help- 
 less should also be made dependent upon those 
 who are strong and wise — ^that they should not 
 be thrown (or left) upon their own free will, 
 which can only lead them into ruin — that they 
 should be placed under such coercion as may re- 
 strain them from evil, and under such subjection 
 to others as may bind their own interests per- 
 manently to the interests of their masters ; this, 
 also, is not cruelty or injustice, but the same 
 merciful provision which places the infant in the 
 cradle at the mercy and disposal of its parents, 
 without will or voice of its own" — to whom 
 we say, can such language as this aj)ply — where 
 are they to be found who are in any such cir- 
 cumstances — ^if not the millions of African ne- 
 groes about whom we are writing ? 
 
 The permanent happiness of the negro can 
 only, in short, be effectually promoted by mak- 
 ing him labor. We say making Mm labor ; 
 because not only is his peculiar organization, 
 as a human being, such as to indispose him, of 
 his own will and accord, to labor, but his being 
 without labor is the great cause of his degra- 
 dation and misery ; the reason, in fact, for his 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 15 
 
 actually losing his liberty, and becoming the 
 slave, if not of some more powerful, exacting, 
 and cruel cMef of bis own tribe, yet certainly 
 the slave of bis own debasing nature. 
 
 We have already alluded to Dr. Livingstone's 
 Travels in Africa, and bis long residence among 
 tbe negroes. It is impossible to read bis book 
 without becoming convinced of tbe truth of 
 what we have just stated ; and certainly it is 
 no slight thing to be confirmed in our views by 
 so eminent a practical authority on this question, 
 as he must undoubtedly be considered. For 
 instance, describing a number of tribes whose 
 labor is extorted in some state of slavery to 
 which they are subjected by the Dutch colon- 
 ists around them, he says : " It is on their indus- 
 try that the more distant Boers revel in sloth- 
 ful abundance, and follow their slave-hunting 
 and cattle-stealing propensities, quite beyond 
 the range of English influence and law. The 
 Basuto under Moshesh are equally fond of cul- 
 tivating the soil. The chief labor of hoeing, driv- 
 ing away birds, reaping, and winnowing falls to 
 the willing arms of the hard-working women ; 
 but as the men, as well as their wives, as already 
 stated, always work, many have followed the 
 advice of the missionaries, and now use ploughs 
 and oxen instead of the hoe." And the result 
 
16 THE IJEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 of tliis is, tliat tliey are made a comparatively 
 happy people by sucli industry. Again, for 
 instance, Dr. Livioigstone, describing some other 
 tribes, tbose, namely, of tbe Bakolabari, or 
 western brancli of tbe Becbuana famHy, among 
 wbom tbe success of tbe missionaries bas been 
 greatest, says : " Tbey were insignificant and 
 filtby people wben first discovered; but, being 
 nearest to tbe colony, tbey bave bad opportunities 
 of tradmg; and tbe long-continued peace^ tbey 
 bave enjoyed, tbrougb tbe infiuence of religious 
 teacbmg, bas enabled tbem to amass great num- 
 bers of cattle." Now tbis, be it remembered, 
 tbey are only enabled to do from tbeb' being 
 under tbe control of civibzed men, and not left 
 to tbemselves. Tbe Makalolo tribe are adduced 
 by Dr. Livingstone as furnisbmg anotber ex- 
 ample of tbe great improvement in tbe condi- 
 tion of tbe negro, wbicb bis being mfiuenced 
 or impeUed to labor induces. " Tbey now may 
 be seen," be tells us, "going out witb tbeir 
 wives witb tbeir boes m band— a state of tbmgs 
 never witnessed at Kolobeng, or among any 
 otber Becbuana or Caffre tribe. Tbe great 
 cbief Mosbesb," be adds, " affords an example 
 to bis people annually, by not only taking tbe 
 boe in band, but working bard \\dtb it on cer- 
 tain public occasions." Tbus clearly demon- 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 17 
 
 strating that, even among themselves, their 
 chiefs, where they really would have the people 
 to work — whether it be for their own private 
 gain, or for any public purpose, or for the bene- 
 fit of the people — ^use something in the shape 
 of compulsion; for in this case even his per- 
 sonal example is intended to have the force of 
 compulsion. The negroes of many tribes, in 
 fact, will instinctively follow their chief — ^his 
 example is to them as powerful as any compul- 
 sion, whether as respects labor or any other 
 physical habit of life. Another instance which 
 Dr. Livingstone gives of the benefits of labor 
 among the African tribes, is when he relates 
 the liberality of the people — wherever they 
 were made to work — ^in supplying his and his 
 companions' necessities. It is in allusion to 
 such liberality that he states : " The people of 
 every village treated us most liberally, present- 
 ing, besides oxen, butter, milk, and meal, more 
 than we could stow away in our canoes. The 
 cows in this valley," he adds, " are now yielding, 
 as they frequently do, more milk than the peo- 
 ple can use, and both men and women present 
 butter in such quantity that I shall be able to 
 refresh my men as we move along." Such are 
 the fruits of labor, such the results of industry, 
 even among the negroes of Africa, when they 
 
18 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION". 
 
 can be made to work. Why, it would really 
 seem to cliange their very nature. No Christian 
 people could thus have treated strangers and 
 foreigners wandering among them with greater 
 liberality than they seem to have done Dr. 
 Livingstone and his companions. 
 
 Speaking of quite another portion of the 
 negroes of South- Africa, those of the Zambesi, 
 who have also been placed in circumstances 
 where they are made to labor. Dr. Livingstone 
 says : " When we came near a village, we saw 
 men, women, and children employed in weeding 
 their gardens, they being great agriculturists, 
 most of the men are muscular, and have large 
 ploughman hands. Their color is the same ad- 
 mixture, from very dark to light olive, that we 
 saw in Londa. Though all have thick lips and 
 flat noses, only the more degraded of the popu- 
 lation possess the ugly negro physiognomy;" 
 those " more degraded of the population" being 
 just such as will not labor — a fact very remark- 
 able, and certainly most conclusively illustrative 
 of the position we are taking up, that labor, 
 compulsory labor, is indispensably necessary to 
 promote the physical improvement and the 
 social and domestic happiness of the whole Ne- 
 gro race. 
 
 But it may be said. If such be the case, why 
 
THE NEGEO LABOR QUESTION. 19 
 
 not colonize Africa; or, in some otlier way, 
 dispatcL. companies of wliite and civilized peo- 
 ple, skilled agriculturists and ^ mechanics, and 
 others, to teacli tlie people how to labor, and 
 how to turn the resources of their own country 
 to the best account ? Such a suggestion as this, 
 we are aware, will be started to much that we 
 have here said. But plausible though it may 
 seem, such a proposition, we have no hesitation 
 in saying, is a very superficial and a very delu- 
 sive one. In the first place, what part of Africa 
 has ever yet been discovered possessing a cli- 
 mate in which either Europeans or Americans 
 — ^that is, white and civilized men — could ever 
 live, and make any physical exertion whatever ? 
 Dr. Livingstone's book contains many evidences 
 of there being none. The climate of Africa, 
 with very slight exceptions, is quite unfit for 
 the residence of those who have been reared 
 under the temperate zone, or who have been 
 accustomed to habits of civilized life, their con- 
 tinuance of which could not be secured in such 
 a country. In the great majority of instances 
 of Christian missionary efforts, the difficulty of 
 climate has been the great obstacle to their suc- 
 cess. Not the want of religious feeling on the 
 part of the negro ; for he is, generally speak- 
 ing, a religious being — ^in a certain sense much 
 
20 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 more so tlian tlie white. His very defects, in 
 fact, as a human being, are often, if not gener- 
 ally, sucli as naturally predispose Mm to reli- 
 gious faith. He is so exceedingly sensitive to all 
 mysterious influences, that where, among our- 
 selves, difficulties are experienced by our mis- 
 sionaries and ministers of religion generally, in 
 making deep and lasting impressions upon the 
 hearts and minds of the masses of the people, 
 among the negroes, wherever religious influ- 
 ences are brought to bear, not only are there 
 no such difficulties, but too often there is trouble 
 in preventing the natives from being too deeply 
 impressed. They are, indeed, in these respects, 
 very like those barbarous people among whom 
 St. Paul fell, after his shipwreck, w^hen, we are 
 told, " he gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid 
 them on the fire, and there came a viper out of 
 the heat and fastened on his hand. And when 
 the barbarians," continues the sacred narrative, 
 "saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, 
 they said among themselves, No doubt this man 
 is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped 
 the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. 
 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and 
 felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he 
 should have swollen, or fallen down dead sud- 
 denly ; but after they had looked a great while. 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 21 
 
 and saw no harm come to Mm, they clianged 
 their minds, and said that lie teas a godP Just 
 so it is with, the negro, so great is the suscepti- 
 bility of his nature to impressions of this kind : 
 so prompt his readiness to yield to spiritual, no 
 less than other and more visible supernatural 
 influences, that he is but too apt to suppose 
 that the superior being who exercises it, though 
 his fellow-creature, is divine — as was the case with 
 the barbarians in St. Paul's plight alluded to, in 
 which they exclaimed, " he is a god." It is on this 
 account that they are so peculiarly subject to 
 idolatry ; and in their particular circumstances, 
 as beings so degraded, so bereft of every thing 
 that is intellectual, or refining, or purifying, or 
 elevating, their idolatry is generally of the low- 
 est, the filthiest, and the most abominable cha- 
 racter. 
 
 It is evident, then, from all this, that the 
 most effectual way — if not the only effectual 
 way — of improving the condition of the negro, 
 through the means of labor and industry, of 
 elevating his position, of purifying his nature, 
 of developing his capabilities as a man, though 
 at present a most degraded one, must be by 
 placing him under control — ^by treating him as 
 a child — as one incapable of helping himself; 
 and as therefore in a position not only to justify 
 
22 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 civilized men in taking charge of him, and 
 leading Mm into a situation of life where he 
 may have the opportunity of being elevated, 
 and purified, and made human ; but of prepar- 
 ing him thereby for his being made, along with 
 themselves, the object of God's redeeming love, 
 through the Christian covenant. Here, there- 
 fore, it is evident, there is a great Christian 
 duty incumbent upon all who are so highly fa- 
 vored by God, as Christians and as civilized men, 
 to aid in rescuing the negro from his present 
 degradation, by transferring him from that situ- 
 ation in which his race has become so degraded, 
 and his continuance in which, it is clear, can 
 only result in that degradation being perpetu- 
 ated. Even as respects Christian missions, this 
 same argument will hold equally good. For 
 where are the Christian missionaries who have, 
 to any material extent, made permanent pro- 
 gress among the negroes in the promotion of 
 Christianity ; who have been at all able, indeed, 
 to do so with satisfaction in such a climate, and 
 in such circumstances as they have been exposed 
 to whenever they have attempted to take wp 
 their abode among the natives ? No ; the ne- 
 gro, we may depend upon it, can not, at present 
 at least, be successfully dealt with on his own 
 soil. He must be transferred to quite another 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 23 
 
 theatre of action, if lie is to be made available 
 for tliose purposes of bis being wbicb, witb bim 
 equally witb ourselves, is doubtless tbe design 
 of tbe Creator, and wbicb must surely be neces- 
 sary to give effect to tbat decree of bis Maker 
 wbicb went fortb upon tbe fall of man : " In tbe 
 sweat of tby face sbalt tbou eat bread, till tbou 
 return unto tbe ground ; for out of it wast tbou 
 taken: for dust tbou art, and unto dust sbalt 
 tbou return." 
 
 We are aware it may furtber be objected to 
 all tbis, tbat sucb an interference witb tbe 
 negro would be an unjust and indefensible 
 usurpation of authority; would be, indeed, to 
 ^drtually deprive bim of bis liberty, of bis borne, 
 of all tbat was dear to bim, and of every tbing, 
 in sbort, wbicb migbt go to constitute tbose in- 
 alienable rigbts wbicb every buman being is by 
 nature supposed to possess. But tbis, also, is a 
 very superficial apprebension. It is one tbat is 
 founded altogether on a mistaken view of wbat 
 man's rigbts really are, wben sunk in tbat de- 
 gradation, and reduced to tbat, comparatively 
 speaking, helpless condition in wbicb, by what- 
 ever force of circumstances, the negro is un- 
 doubtedly placed. There is, in fact, a great 
 mistake prevalent among us, as respects man's 
 rigbts generally. Eight, as has been weU ex- 
 
24 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 plained, is always allied with obligation ; and 
 they are reciprocal, that is to say, there are no 
 rights which do not necessitate obligations, mu- 
 tual obligations, among each other, as well as 
 involve personal and individual obligations on 
 the part of every one who has and asserts a 
 right. In morals especially — and if in morals 
 in such a case, then assuredly in any social or 
 political economy also — ^the assumption and the 
 exercise of rights must involve the responsibil- 
 ity and the discharge of obligations. Now, is 
 the negro, as a savage, as a child of nature, and 
 yet fallen and degraded as such ; and, moreover, 
 not one whit more capable of taking care of 
 himself, of training himself to any useful pur- 
 pose in life, or of discharging any of the common 
 duties of his existence, as a reasonable creature, 
 than a child — ^is such an one in a position to 
 assert and to maintain any such rights as belong 
 to man in civilized life, and placed under insti- 
 tutions where the exercise of his rights can be 
 made conducive to the welfare of society, and 
 his own sjDecial welfare ? The great Dr. Paley, 
 whose authority we have abeady cited, argues, 
 and argues as a Christian philosopher, that, "as 
 moral obligation depends on the will of God, 
 ' right,' the reciprocal to it, must depend on it 
 also, and means, therefore, ' consistency with the 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 26 
 
 will of God.' But," as lie well continues, " if 
 'rigM' be only tlie will of God, how can we con- 
 ceive Ms acts, a manifestation merely of sucL. will, 
 to be wrong ? The answer," he says, " is, that from 
 the two principles, that God wills the happiness 
 of his creatures, and that his will is the meas- 
 ure of right, we obtain the rules of right and 
 wrong, which we habitually apply to certain 
 acts, even to those of the Deity himself, though 
 at the time of the application we do not per- 
 ceive that such rules are deduced from the 
 divine will." We may not recognize this di- 
 vine will. Certainly they who look at any 
 question involving it upon the mere surface will 
 never recognize it ; but Christian men can not 
 but feel it, whether they are enabled to perceive 
 it or not : they feel it in every emotion in which 
 conscience has its part ; and in every emotion, 
 also, which is in anywise animated by the love 
 of God, and which is a manifestation of ESs 
 Holy Spirit. Upon this principle, as it is fur- 
 ther argued, " it is ^ right,' or ' consistent with 
 the will of God,' to punish murder with death ;" 
 and if so, surely it must be right to restrain 
 men, under particular circumstances, of their 
 liberty. Upon every principle, indeed, of due 
 regard for the will of God, such restraint may, 
 in many certain cases, be necessary, if it be 
 
26 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 true, as undoubtedly it is, tliat God wills tlie 
 happiness of his creatures, and that his will is 
 the measure of right. 
 
 We are quite prepared to be told, in this con- 
 nection, that there are natural rights which be- 
 long to man, not in a state of society, while 
 those which belong to man in a state of society 
 are adventitious rights. And, more than this, 
 perhaps, that while the latter are often alien- 
 able, the former are always inalienable. But 
 what are natural rights ? Well, we shall be 
 told, we suppose, that they are the rights which 
 a man has to life, and liberty, the use of his limbs, 
 the produce of his labor, the enjoyment of the 
 air, light, and water ; while, on the other hand, 
 adventitious rights belong to a state of society 
 which possesses the right to make any and all 
 laws for the regulation of society. But in this 
 view, does not the question really and truly 
 come up thus : Is man to be left, as the negro 
 is, out of a state of society — ^that is to say, in a 
 state of barbarism — ^in a state in which he is 
 not only a useless creature of God, but a mis- 
 chievous one — ^his own enemy, and the enemy 
 of all around him — ^not only a cumberer of the 
 ground, but one who, contrary to God's own 
 design, is not only perpetuating, but aggravat- 
 ing the curse of that ground which, though 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 27 
 
 originally pronounced for man's sake, and 
 tlirougli man's crime, is yet to be redeemed by 
 man's labor — ^yea, by tbat " sweat of bis brow," 
 in wbicb, tbe very moment tbe ground was so 
 cursed for bis sake, it was declared tbat he 
 should ever after eat bis bread. Let us be ex- 
 plicit. We have no wish to be misunderstood — 
 nay, our whole argument would be futile, and 
 worse, it would be injurious to the very cause 
 we are humbly attempting to serve, were we in 
 any wise misunderstood. The case, then, we\ 
 repeat, is this: Is it not desirable that large 
 bodies of our fellow-creatures, even at the sacri- 
 fice of what might sentimentally be considered 
 their " natural rights," should be raised from 
 that state of barbarism, and degradation, and 
 wretchedness in which the negroes of Africa 
 are now sunk, and placed in a state of society 
 where their natural rights, that is, the rights of 
 man in a savage state, would be changed into 
 adventitious rights — those only rational rights, 
 after all, as belonging to a state of society 
 which possesses the right to make laws and 
 regulations for ite own maintainance, for its own 
 welfare, and for the happiness of all concerned ? 
 We have used the word sentimentally ; and we 
 have done so not without thought. That sort 
 of freedom which some people prate about as 
 
28 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 the natural right of the negro, does not deserve 
 to be regarded as any tMng better than mere 
 sentimentalism, when we come to apply it to any 
 practical means that may be made available for 
 raising them out of savage life. It is all very 
 fine to talk of such liberty — to talk of God 
 having made every man free. The lines of the 
 j)oet are doubtless very affecting to sentimental 
 minds, when he tells us that we should all be 
 
 " Free as nature first made man, 
 When wild in woods the noble savage ran." 
 
 But who that has tasted the happiness of civil- 
 ized and social life, would wish to be a " noble 
 savage," and run wild in the woods, even for the 
 sake of enjoying such freedom, as his natural 
 right ? 
 
 And the question, again, has been asked, 
 How can adventitious rights be created by man, 
 if right itself depend only on the will of Grod ? 
 The answer to this question, which Dr. Paley 
 gives, is not only quite conclusive, but contains 
 within it a principle more powerful, in a prac- 
 tical point of view, in support of the argument 
 we are advancing, than any thing else to which 
 we have yet alluded. " This question," he says, 
 " may be answered by appealing to the principle 
 that God wills the happiness of mankind. Con- 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 29 
 
 sequently, acts wHcli lead to happiness in a 
 social state are right, which, not producing the 
 same effect in a state not social, would be 
 wrong. Hence," he very forcibly adds, "ad- 
 ventitious rights made by men, are not less 
 sacred than natural rights, ordained by God, 
 for both rest on the same foundation, the will of 
 the Creator." Now, let any one, just for a 
 moment, bring into connection with an irre- 
 fragable argument like this, the case of the 
 negro, who, though it may be pretended he has 
 natural rights ordained by God, yet — v/e say it 
 reverently — is miserable, and degraded, and de- 
 praved, under the operation of those rights, and 
 therefore needs to be brought out from such 
 operation, and transferred to a state of society 
 where his natural rights, so injurious to him and 
 to all the rest of mankind, would be changed 
 for those adventitious rights which, though 
 made by men, are not less sacred, as we have 
 seen, than natural rights ordained by God, both 
 resting on the same foundation, the will of the 
 Creator, and whereby the great end of all God's 
 dealings with men may be in the way of being 
 fully carried out : namely, that happiness of all 
 His creatures which He so mercifully and 
 graciously wills. 
 
 In any point of view in which human nature 
 
80 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 is riglitly regarded, how can sucli liberty as tlie 
 wild, untamed, degraded negro of Africa now 
 enjoys, be wortb having ? and wbere, therefore, 
 can be the iniquity which your mere senti- 
 mental humanitarians would persuade us there 
 is, in changing that natural right of the negro 
 to a liberty which at present is a curse to him, 
 and to the very country which he inhabits, into 
 an adventitious right, in a state of civilized 
 society, which would not only elevate him in the 
 scale of humanity, rescuing him thereby from a 
 state of degradation most disgraceful to human- 
 ity, but enabling him to enjoy a rational and a 
 happy existence himself, while by the labor of 
 his hands, as designed by God himself, he con- 
 tributed to the happiness of all around him ? 
 Well did the great Dr. Channing remark, that 
 "the only freedom worth possessing is that 
 which gives enlargement to a people's energy, 
 intellect, and virtues. The savage makes his 
 boast of freedom. But what is it worth ? Free 
 as he is, he continues for ages in the same ignor- 
 ance, leads the same comfortless life, sees the same 
 untamed wilderness spread around him. He is, 
 indeed, free from what he calls the yoke of civil 
 institutions. But other and worse chains bind 
 him. The very privation of civil government 
 is, in effect, a chain ; for, by withholding pro- 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 31 
 
 tection from property, it virtually shackles tlie 
 arm of industry, and forbids exertion for tlie 
 melioration of his lot. Progress, the growth of 
 power, is the end and boon of liberty ; and, with- 
 out this, a people may have the name, but want 
 the substance and spirit of freedom." Here, 
 then, we have the question of liberty put, by one 
 of its most able expounders, in a position which 
 it would be impossible to illustrate more 
 thoroughly or more truly, than by its applica- 
 tion to this very question of the negro of 
 Africa. " Progress," he says, " the growth of 
 power, is the end and boon of liberty." Pro- 
 gress ! Is there any such thing as progress^ or 
 has there ever been, or will there ever be, among 
 the negroes of Africa ?^ Yes, progress of evil, 
 progress of degradation, progress of depravity, 
 progress of every thing that is devilish, and in- 
 human, and monstrous ; but certainly not pro- 
 gress in human happiness, in human enlighten- 
 ment, in human greatness — ^to say nothing what- 
 ever, at present, of that still higher and holier 
 progress — ^progress, namely, in the knowledge 
 and the love of God, and in the practice of all 
 those virtues which are involved in such a know- 
 ledge and such a love, and in our preparation 
 thereby for that still higher and holier state of 
 existence to which we are all called. Such 
 
82 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 progress as this, it is, and this only, which is in- 
 deed " the end and boon of liberty." And not 
 only can no liberty be worth having which is 
 not an " end and boon" in a such progress, but 
 the sooner it were taken away, or at any rate 
 changed into liberty of another form — ^liberty 
 as the result not of a natural but an adventitious 
 right — a right, not of savage life, but of civil- 
 ized society — the better, most undoubtedly, will 
 it be, not only for the happiness of the world, 
 but for the glory of God, its Almighty Ruler. 
 
 All this in a moral and social point of view. 
 And with those — and, alas ! they are legion — 
 who will only regard such a subject as this in 
 that point of view, surely the argument is 
 an irresistible one, and conclusive of the whole 
 question at issue. As respects our duty as men 
 in a state of civilized society, and with powers 
 and privileges acquired in such a state, for the ex- 
 ercise of which we are responsible to God, we lie 
 under solemn obligations. It is, indeed, a duty 
 incumbent upon us to care for the negro race, 
 as fellow-creatures not only less favored than 
 we are in all those regards, but as claiming at 
 our hands that assistance which they can derive 
 from no other human source, to enable them to 
 emerge from their present degraded condition, 
 and acquire a proper standing-place in the great 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 83 
 
 human family. In tlieir present state, they are 
 not only degraded and demoralized, but they 
 are actually dismembered from civilized society, 
 if not also positively excluded from the human 
 family in its civilization. But how much more 
 stringent does the argument become, when we 
 sanctify it, as it were, by connecting it with 
 religious considerations, and place it beside those 
 obligations which we, as Christians, owe to them, 
 as a lost portion of the family of fallen human- 
 ity, and one that is utterly debased, irremedi- 
 ably debased, in fact, unless we will arouse our- 
 selves and exercise our duty towards them, in a 
 spirit of Christian charity ? In the providence 
 of God, they have been left to themselves: 
 having joined themselves to idols, God has "let 
 them alone." They have no light of the Gospel 
 to guide them back into any path of righteous- 
 ness, or any other path which can lead them 
 out of their present most depraved and degraded 
 position ; nor could they, save by such a mira- 
 culous interposition of Almighty power, as it is 
 not, apparently, within the scope of the divine 
 dispensation, in these latter days, to exert, be 
 brought to that light. We, therefore, who 
 have it ourselves, and are ordained as an agenc}^ 
 in the hands of God to show it forth to all the 
 world, must present it to them. It is quite true 
 2* 
 
34 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 that we have Christian missionaries, here and 
 there, attempting to do it ; but notwithstanding 
 the labors of ages, in some portions of Africa, or 
 others — indeed of many centuries altogether — 
 how comparatively trifling and small is the pro- 
 gress that has been made ! Why, there is rea- 
 son to believe that even in those countries where 
 the missionaries have been enabled to secure a 
 permanent footing, not one hundredth part of 
 the population has yet been brought under any 
 Christian influences. And why ? Why, but 
 that the miserable people are surrounded by 
 circumstances, and committed to habits, and 
 affected by motives arising therefrom, which 
 combine to constitute, in that vast majority of 
 cases, an insurmountable barrier of access to 
 their souls. Here, then, were certainly a rea- 
 son — even a Christian reason — why, as we have 
 already said, their natural rights should be 
 changed to adventitious ones — ^why they them- 
 selves should be transferred, or many of them, 
 from their present debasing moral and physical 
 atmosphere, as one in which that great remedy 
 for their degradation, labor, can not be fully and 
 profitably pursued, and therefore where there is 
 so great an obstacle to their being brought un- 
 der Christian influences, to another which, both 
 morally, physically, and religiously, would be 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 85 
 
 eminently adapted to regenerate tliem, in every 
 respect. 
 
 And here, as we enter into a consideration of 
 tliis part of tlie question, one can not fail to be 
 struck witli a very important fact in tlie Christ- 
 ian dispensation, wMcL. has a close bearing upon 
 the case of the negro, as a being that needs to 
 be placed under restraint, to be deprived, in 
 fact, to a certain extent, of what people would 
 call his natural rights, but to speak more 
 planly still, of his liberty — ^his liberty, we mean, 
 as a savage : the fact, namely, that there is no 
 such thing as positive liberty, in any religious 
 sense at least, under that divine dispensation. 
 Let us look at this in the only connection in 
 which it is found in any authentic shape — we 
 mean the Church of Christ. And what does one 
 of the eminent Christian philosophers, whose 
 words we have already quoted, say of it, as it is 
 thus to be applied to the case of the African ne- 
 gro, no less than to the case of every human 
 being who would, through its divinely ordained 
 instrumentalities, seek the salvation of his soul ? 
 " The Church," says Mr. Sewell, " comes before 
 man — ^weak, fickle, doubtful, capricious man, the 
 slave of every impulse, * tossed about by every 
 wind of doctrine,' and yet yearning for some 
 haven of rest, some stay in a stronger arm — and 
 
36 THE NEGEO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 promises to give Mm that rest and support, in 
 the presence of an external power to wliicli lie 
 must conform his actions, become its servant, 
 submit to its will, adopt its decrees, believe by 
 its belief, hoj)e in its promises, live in its life, be 
 immortal in its immortality. It does not cut 
 the shi23 from its anchorage, and give it up to 
 be tossed about by every wave and storm, but 
 binds it by a stronger cable to a safer rock. It 
 does not open the gate and let the imprisoned 
 bird go free, for it knows that in this incle- 
 ment clime, if left to itself, the bird must perish : 
 but it provides a better abode, and purer water, 
 and healthier nutriment, and a place in which, 
 even though imprisoned, the bird will rejoice to 
 dwell, and sing as sweetly, and take its flight as 
 boldly, and plume its wings as gladly, as if it 
 were ranging in a forest. It does not compas- 
 sionate the tree which can not grow except 
 rooted to the soil, and cut those roots and tear 
 up the trunk, as if it could live in independ 
 ence ; but it transplants it from a hungry ground, 
 fuU of poisonous juices, and imbeds it in a genial 
 loam, where its fibres will strike deeper, and its 
 boughs spread kindlily and fully into the majes- 
 ty of their perfect stature. It never promises to 
 man liberty ; for man was not made for liberty, 
 and can no more live in it than fishes in the air, 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 37 
 
 or birds in the water ; but it takes Mm from an 
 evil servitude and places Hm in another wMcli 
 is good." And is not the negro, both morally 
 and physically, in the very condition which is 
 here supposed ? Is he not, at present, as a bird 
 that does go free, and that does need, therefore, 
 to be imprisoned, since " in this inclement clime, 
 if left to itself, the bird must perish " — as perish, 
 both temporally and everlastingly, the negro 
 untamed undoubtedly does ? Is he not one who 
 requires, physically as well as morally, " to be 
 provided with a better abode, and purer water, 
 and healthier nutriment, and a place in which 
 even though imprisoned, the bird will rejoice to 
 dwell, and sing as sweetly, and take its flight as 
 boldly, and plume its wings as gladly, as if it 
 were ranging in a forest " ? Could any meta- 
 phor be more Christian than this ; or any more 
 applicable to the case of the African negro? 
 Does not he need to be " transplanted from a 
 hungry ground, full of poisonous juices, and im- 
 bedded in a genial loam, where the fibres of his 
 humanity will strike deeper, and his boughs 
 spread kindhly and fully into the majesty of 
 their perfect stature " ? Most assuredly he does. 
 But then, let us not forget that the Divine dis- 
 pensation under which this is to be done, 
 " never promises to man liberty " — ^least of all 
 
38 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 sucli liberty as, in all tlie wildness, and way- 
 wardness, and degradation of liis savage nature, 
 the negro enjoys. Surely, of one in sucL. a 
 state as this, at any rate, the saying is emphati- 
 cally true — " Man was not made for liberty." 
 Man was certainly never made for such liberty 
 as that which the African negro revels in, and 
 degrades himself in, and makes himself not only 
 a cui'se to his own race, but a shame and a dis- 
 grace to all mankind. 
 
 But to return again, for a moment, to the 
 mere secular view of the case, as respects the 
 liberty of the negro, and the denial of any 
 right, on the part of civilized man, to interfere 
 with that liberty. It has already been shown, 
 that even in civilized communities, and under 
 the freest and most enlightened institutions, as, 
 for instance, those of our own country, or those 
 of Great Britain, man does not enjoy any abso- 
 lute liberty, but often places himself, esjDecially 
 by his crimes, in a position where he must be 
 deprived of all liberty whatever. And not 
 only so — ^not only where he has become crim- 
 inal, but where he has fallen — it may be by mis- 
 fortune, or it may be by impro\ddence, or pro- 
 fligacy — ^uito a condition of life, impoverished, 
 helpless, destitute. And then, when this is the 
 case, what is to be done — what is to be done in 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 39 
 
 any well-regulated state of Cliristiaii society? 
 Is tlie man left to Mmself with only liis liberty 
 to comfort Hm and lielp Mm ? On the contrary, 
 does not the omnipotent arm of the State inter- 
 pose ? Does it not gather under its protection 
 the starving, houseless, miserable beings who 
 have been called into existence under the vicis- 
 situdes of that very state of society, who have 
 been left by its mercenary and miserable influ- 
 ences, and who have been reduced thereby to 
 the minimum of human existence, and, through 
 that cause, to demoralization and despair ? Does 
 it not feel itself compelled to gather them in 
 masses, even by particular and palpable lines of 
 distinction, which vu^tually amount to a require- 
 ment of the surrender of their liberty, and 
 even of what some would not hesitate to call 
 their most natural rights ? Why, in England, 
 under the Poor Laws— under those very Poor 
 Laws which large-hearted, and high-principled, 
 and liberal-minded statesmen and philanthropists, 
 like Brougham, and Komilly, and Russell, and 
 others — who have won the sympathies even of 
 us American republicans — contributed to frame 
 and enact ; under those now generally considered 
 most beneficent laws, no sooner does a man, from 
 whatever cause, fall into pauperism, and find it 
 necessary to apply for relief, than by that very 
 
40 THE KEGRO LABOR QUESTIOX. 
 
 application, lie forfeits his liberty. The rules and 
 regulations of the English Union Work-houses go 
 as strictly and thoroughly upon that principle — 
 the principle, we mean, of a surrender of the lib- 
 erty of every one who places himself under them 
 — as is ever the case, even under our own system 
 of negro slavery. And the cases are much more 
 parallel ones than may at first sight appear. John 
 Bull, however, still continues to sing as lustily as 
 ever, " Britons never shall be slaves ;" and still, 
 with reason, too. Yet slaves, it often happens 
 that many thousands of his sons and daugh- 
 ters become, even in their own country, in such 
 a process as this. Yes ; in times of distress in Eng- 
 land, John Bull, is, in a certain sense, one of the 
 greatest slave-owners under the sun ! But then, 
 where is the help for it? How is it to be 
 avoided, if his sons and daughters are to be 
 cared for, are to be housed, and fed, and pro- 
 tected, and provided with the means of subsist- 
 ence, and rescued from degradation and mis- 
 ery, from falling into as depraved and wretched 
 a condition as even the African negroes them- 
 selves — ^how is it to be dealt with, but by that 
 system of relief which involves, as we have 
 shown, the actual surrender of their liberty ? 
 And if so with free-born Englishmen — ^if so, not 
 only upon a sound principle of political econ- 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 41 
 
 omy, but in accordance also with tlie principles 
 of CliriBtian philanthropy — why not in the 
 case of the African negro, who, in his present 
 savage and degraded life, can only be rescued 
 from degradation and wretchedness, and made 
 happy in himself, and useful to mankind, as God 
 designed him to be, by some restriction of that 
 liberty under which his present abject condi- 
 tion has arisen and is perpetuated ? 
 
 Well, then, we come now to the practical 
 point at issue. How, even at the surrender of 
 the negro's liberty, is he thus to be rescued, and 
 thus made to contribute, as he ought to do, and 
 as God designed him to do, to the carrying on 
 of that great and manifold scheme of human 
 industry and enterprise, by which human pro- 
 gress is promoted and maintained, and through 
 the means of which even the kingdom of Christ 
 is advanced in the world? At present his 
 labor is stolen away, and made subservient to 
 m^re individual and mercenary interests, under 
 circumstances, generally, of the most revolting 
 cruelty. We need but refer to the horrors of 
 the slave-trade, to present a picture — the details 
 of which every one can realize for himself — of 
 that revolting system under which, at present, 
 the African negro is transferred from his native 
 land, and made the slave-— too often the misera- 
 
42 THE NEGRO LABOE QUESION. 
 
 ble and degraded slave — of tlie covetous, and 
 tlie cruel, and tlie abandoned, wlio seek tbrougli 
 the sufferings of tlieir fellow-men, no other ob- 
 ject than their own enrichment. For the fact 
 is, as we have the testimony of many centuries 
 to show, that the labor of the negro, even upon 
 this continent, must be procured. There was a 
 time, we all know, when the slave-trade, being 
 recognized, if not sanctioned, by the govern- 
 ments, not only of this country, but of Europe, 
 was placed under certain regulations which fur- 
 nished some check to those atrocities which, 
 since such regulations have been withdrawn, 
 have too generally characterized it. And were 
 it necessary, it would be easy to show, how pow- 
 erful an argument there is to be found, even in 
 such a circumstance as this, in favor of some 
 legitimate mode of transfer of the negro to 
 fields of operation where his labor is needed, 
 and where he himself and his family may be 
 made happy and contented, while they are 
 raised in the scale of humanity ; and, above all, 
 through Christian influences, led into the way 
 of salvation. But on this point we forbear. 
 The case, indeed, is sufficiently plain without it. 
 'No one who has had any opportunities of be- 
 coming acquainted mth the nature of the slave- 
 trade, can possibly need to be shown how infi- 
 
THE NEGEO LABOR QUESTION. 43 
 
 nitely advantageous would be some legalised 
 system of transfer, under national controls and 
 restraints, in preference to the horrible system 
 at present in vogue for replenishing the market 
 of negro labor, both on this continent and in 
 the West-India islands. 
 
 The grand point, then, is this : How can we, 
 not only with the least suffering to the negro, 
 but with the greatest advantage, both present 
 and prospective, to him and all connected with 
 him, transfer his labor from the present scene 
 of his existence, where it is practically unavail- 
 able, to some other theatre of action, where it 
 can be appropriated so profitably to all con- 
 cerned, and under circumstances which, so far 
 from involving any real grievance to him, 
 would ultimately raise him to a condition of 
 usefulness, and dignity, and happiness, which, in 
 his native country, it would be impossible he 
 could ever attain to ? By no individual effort, 
 involving, as that undoubtedly must, a mere 
 personal responsibihty, can any such transfer 
 ever be carried on ; but that it may be done by 
 nations would seem to be perfectly practicable 
 and easy, provided only that some broad, 
 liberal, and benevolent Christian basis could be 
 laid down on which to conduct it. The princi- 
 ple on which to proceed is evidently this: 
 
44 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 There are, as we have shown, on the one hand, 
 millions of our fellow-creatures, not only use- 
 less, hut degraded — miserable in themselves, 
 and a very curse to all around them, even to the 
 gi^ound on which they dwell — who are devoid 
 of all opportunity of bettering their own condi- 
 tion — who never, by any means, can possibly, 
 of themselves, emerge from that condition, vile? 
 and depraved, and disgraced as it is; while, 
 on the other hand, there are civilized nations of 
 the earth who want the labor of these people, 
 and who can employ it with profit both to those 
 who labor and those for whom they labor, and, 
 in fact, for the good of the whole common- 
 wealth ; and not only so, but Christian nations, 
 who lie under an obHgation not to deny the 
 lamp of life to those who have it not, but to 
 give it to them, and bring them under its ele- 
 vating, ennobhng, and saving influences. These, 
 we say, are the two sides of the case ; and these 
 put together, it is, which must constitute the 
 basis, and may easily be made to constitute the 
 basis, if the nations will only be actuated by 
 liberal and enlightened Christian motives, in 
 such a movement as, in process of no long time, 
 might be made to effect the transfer of very 
 large bodies of the negro race to scenes of in- 
 dustry and happiness, in which, while they made 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 45 
 
 themselves useful in their day and generation, 
 and secured an elevation of their own nature, 
 would at the same time place themselves legiti- 
 mately and deservedly, within the pale of 
 Christian civilization and progress, and, in the 
 words of Holy Writ, be made " heirs, through 
 hope, of everlasting salvation." 
 
 Here, then, is a question for the statesmen of 
 the civilized world, more important, perhaps, in 
 its character, its objects, and its issues, than any 
 question which has agitated the world for the 
 last century. It is a question, indeed, which 
 not only concerns the statesman, but the philan- 
 thropist ; and not only these, but all those in- 
 terests in which the welfare of nations is so^ in- 
 timately bound up— and above all, the nations 
 which caU themselves Christian. A congress of 
 such nations should therefore be caUed to con- 
 sider this question. And where, we ask, in the 
 annals of the nations of the earth, whether po- 
 litical or social, have we records of any congress 
 that could compare with this, in the magnitude 
 of its importance— an importance involving, be 
 it remembered, not only the present material 
 interests, and social advantages of those nations, 
 but the irmnortal destinies of milhons of our 
 fellow-creatures connected therewith. 
 
 Into the particular details of such a scheme 
 
46 THE Is^EGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 it would perhaps be premature, at present, to 
 enter. That its very construction will be one of 
 difficulty, there can be no doubt whatever ; that 
 its execution would be beset with infinitely great- 
 er difficulties, we are also prepared to expect. 
 What great work, indeed, was ever done with- 
 out encountering difficulties ; especially a work 
 in the doing of which there was to be regarded 
 that divinest of all principles which is involved 
 in what on the highest of all authorities we are 
 told is "the first and great commandment" — 
 namely, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
 with all thy mind ; and thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself." It is on this principle 
 only, that any such scheme, to succeed, must 
 undoubtedly be devised. And why, in a con- 
 gress of Christian nations, should there be any 
 hesitation in devising such a scheme ? At any 
 rate, let the subject be taken up by our Christ- 
 ian statesmen, and philanthropists, and divines. 
 For it concerns them all — ^it is within each one's 
 immediate province — it is the duty, the bounden 
 duty, under our present circumstances, of each 
 and all of them. What would be easier than 
 for delegations from all the Christian nations of 
 Europe and America, all of whom are so deeply 
 interested in this subject, to meet together, say 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 47 
 
 in the metropolis of England — England, whicli 
 has certainly sacrificed the most in the cause of 
 the negro, though she may have done it, in 
 some degree, mistakenly and unsuccessfully; 
 and, probably, at the same time, without really 
 understanding her divine mission, not only as a 
 great pioneer of human progress, and civiliza- 
 tion, and evangelization, but as having it in her 
 power to render more material aid in all these 
 objects than any other nation at present on the 
 face of the earth. If we might descend a little 
 iato any detail of the arrangements of such a 
 congress, we should say let it be held on the 
 next Fourth of July — a day on which there 
 would certainly be enlisted, on such an occasion, 
 and in such a cause, the warmest sympathies of 
 our own people ; and these are sympathies, be 
 it remembered, without which no such great 
 work could ever be fully accomplished, both 
 because America can furnish so formidable 
 a check upon the slave-trade, which such a 
 scheme as this aims so directly to annihilate, 
 and because she has negro interests at heart, 
 and has reason to have, far beyond any other 
 nation — and iuterests, too, which, at this present 
 time, threaten the very unity and entirety of 
 her own republic. 
 
 Whatever may be the nature of the arrange- 
 
48 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 ments to be settled for tlie employment of ne- 
 gro labor, either in tbe Soutbern States of our 
 own country, or elsewbere, under any system to 
 wbicb tbe United States may be a party, it 
 must be provided, tbat only to really and truly 
 Christian men shall the charge of the negroes 
 be intrusted. We by no means contemplate 
 their being held as slaves, in any such sense, at 
 least, as at present they are both held in slavery 
 and considered and treated as the goods and 
 chattels of their masters, or rather their owners. 
 Servitude, as we have said before, is one thing, 
 and slavery is quite another thing. Their la- 
 bor must be obtained ; and obtained, if need 
 be, by coercion, in some way or other. It must 
 be compulsory labor, because with them nothing 
 but compulsion, in some shape, will exact that 
 labor from them. It is a divine precept, " He 
 that will not work, neither shall he eat." And 
 it is the application of this divine precept in 
 their case that we would make the rule of 
 action — ^though we would make it so in no 
 sense cruelly, unj ustly, or unnecessarily. The ne- 
 groes must have masters, and these masters must 
 effectually control them — must have an entire 
 command of them, as laborers, and as servants. 
 Neither must the negroes be at liberty to rid 
 themselves of such mastership, in any case, of 
 
THE NEGKO LABOR QUESTION. 49 
 
 their own accord — ^in no case, indeed, save by 
 an authority superior to tliat of the masters 
 themselves — an authority derived from law, and 
 exercised under lawful provisions. These, how- 
 ever, are details the further discussion of which 
 we would, for the present, decline to enter upon. 
 They are subjects, indeed, not so much for pub- 
 lic inquuy, as for legislative enactment ; and 
 under the operation of such a system as is here 
 proposed, there need be no difficulty whatever 
 in providing them. 
 
 They are the friends of humanity, be assured 
 — they are the friends of human civilization and 
 progress — they are the friends of commerce, of 
 industry, and of all that can advance a people 
 — who would thus engage in an arrangement 
 which so many, and such high interests evident- 
 ly demand, at the present moment. Were 
 there no other question than this — the degraded 
 condition of so many millions of our fellow- 
 creatures in Africa, who are capable of being 
 elevated and made useful, and even honorable 
 in their day and generation, while at the same 
 time they contributed, by their industry and 
 their example, to promote all that can make the 
 nations of every quarter of the globe great and 
 good, surely it would be deserving the highest 
 and foremost regard of our statesmen, our 
 
50 THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 pliilantliropists, and our divines. Well lias it 
 been observed, tliat "there are limits to tlie 
 ]3rogress of man's animal frame : it is stationary, 
 it declines, and is dissolved; but to tlie pro- 
 gi^ess of intelligence, in ascending tlie scale of 
 knowledge and of wisdom, tliere are not any 
 physical limits short of the universe itself, which 
 the hapjDy mind aspires to know, and to the or- 
 der of which he would form his will. The 
 animals," it is continued, " are qualified by their 
 organization and their instincts, for the particu- 
 lar element, and the circumstances in which 
 they are placed, and they are not fit for any 
 other; but man, by his intelligent powei^, is 
 qualified for any scene of which the circum- 
 stances may be observed, and in which the pro- 
 prieties of conduct may be understood."''^ Here 
 then, there is a principle, also, which must of 
 necessity pervade such a movement as we advo- 
 cate. It is not to promote "the progress of 
 man's animal frame" merely^ that we seek to 
 rescue the negro from his present degraded 
 state, whether physical or moral ; but it is that 
 he might be put in the way — ^the only way — 
 of entering upon that " progress of intelligence," 
 of endeavoring to ascend that "scale of know- 
 ledge and wisdom" to which " there are not any 
 
 * Tucker. 
 
THE NEfiRO LABOR QUESTION. 61 
 
 physical limits short of the universe itself." 
 That this is possible, we have records of history 
 in abundance to testify. Our sable brethren 
 have often distinguished themselves, when 
 placed under circumstances which have rege- 
 nerated alike their physical and their mental 
 powers, and may do so again. Only place them 
 in a scene " in which the proprieties of conduct 
 may be understood" — the powers of their intel- 
 lect be awakened and put forth, and their phy- 
 sical organization restored to that state which 
 would enable them to give effect to all that the 
 Creator has destined humanity to perform. 
 
 How such a scheme as this would affect our 
 present system of slavery is, we admit, a very 
 momentous question of itself, and one which, 
 should the cupidity and selfishness of man be 
 permitted to prevail, we are free to confess our 
 apprehension might involve very formidable if 
 not insurmountable obstacles to its success — nay, 
 even to its very experiment. But, surely, on 
 this very account, there is only all the greater 
 reason for some such experiment being consid- 
 ered^ at least, if not attempted ; for no one, we 
 think, can be satisfied with our system of 
 slavery as it at present exists. Our Southern 
 friends themselves are not satisfied with it ; and 
 undoubtedly they deserve our warmest sympa- 
 
52 THE NEGKO LABOR QUESTION. 
 
 tides in tlieir dissatisfaction. Their position al- 
 together is a much more critical, a much more 
 difficult one, than we in the North and East are 
 perhaps in the habit of considering, having 
 really no reliable national protection for the 
 great interests at stake — ^interests in which not 
 only their prosperity, but their existence as a 
 community, is unquestionably involved, along 
 with even the country's welfare itself. They 
 are cut off from us in the North and East by the 
 very character of their own peculiar interests, and 
 the nature of our own freer and more humane 
 institutions. They are conscious, too, we be- 
 lieve, themselves of their false and perilous posi- 
 tion, and would gladly — or at least a majority 
 of them would — ^have it changed, could they 
 only see their way to its being done without 
 ruin and anarchy. 
 
 How is it possible, then, in such a state of 
 things, that the great Southern States of this 
 Union can keep pace with us, can keep pace 
 with their country, in that extraordiaary pro- 
 gress which as a people we are maMng, to the 
 wonder and admiration of the whole civilized 
 world ! 
 
 "Two principles," it has been forcibly ob- 
 served, " govern the moral and intellectual 
 World. One is perpetual Progress ; the other, 
 
THE NEGKO LABOK QUESTION. 53 
 
 the necessary limitations to that Progress. If 
 the former alone prevailed, there would be 
 nothing steadfast and durable on earth, and the 
 whole of social life would be the sport of 
 winds and waves. If the latter had exclusive 
 sway, or even if it obtained a mischievous pre- 
 ponderancy, every thing would petrify or rot. 
 The best ages of the world are always those in 
 which these two principles are the most equally 
 balanced. In such ages, every enlightened man 
 ought to adopt both principles into his whole 
 mind and conduct, and with one hand develop 
 what he can — with the other restrain and 
 uphold what he oughts * It is upon these two 
 principles, then, that we would pursue such an 
 object as this ; and it is upon the same princi- 
 ple that we call upon the South to act in such a 
 conjuncture. At present it is evident, not only 
 to ourselves but to Europe, that under, not the 
 necessary, but the absolute limitations to that 
 progress in which the whole country is em- 
 barked, that the South are insisting upon and 
 sustaining, every thing, with them at least, is 
 beginning to " petrify and rot ;" and that their 
 position is one, not of the hest ages of the world, 
 but of the worst — ^not of a state of society in 
 which the two principles referred to are the 
 
 * Genz. 
 
54 THE NEGRO LABOK QUESTION. 
 
 most equally, or in anywise equally balanced, 
 but wlien one, and that the corrosive and de- 
 structive one, is allowed so completely to neu- 
 tralize the other, and give it " a mischievous pre- 
 ponderancy and exclusive sway," that there can 
 be no healthful progress — no keeping pace with 
 the other and better parts of the Union — ^no 
 harmony with them, in fact, in their progress, 
 whether we regard that progress in its social, 
 its material, its moral, or its religious character* 
 ^ istics. 
 
 We know that what is here advanced may 
 be regarded by many as a very startling inno- 
 vation — and so undoubtedly it is. Yet though 
 we may be startled by innovations, surely, as an 
 enlightened people, we are not to be deterred 
 by them. "Time," said Lord Bacon, "is the 
 greatest of innovators." But at the same time 
 it is the greatest of improvers — and if ever there 
 was a remarkable illustration of this fact, it is to 
 be seen in the extraordinary progress of our own 
 country. Let not, then, such a proposition as 
 this which we have ventured to make to our 
 countrymen, and to the world, be turned away 
 from with any apprehension on that account. 
 Something, all men admit, must be done on the 
 subject of /l/egro slavery and /ilegro labor ; and 
 that something, whatever it be, must of neces- 
 
THE NEGRO LABOR QUESTION. 55 
 
 sity involve an utter subversion of the present 
 repulsive and rotten system, and tlie establish- 
 ment of one in its place, not only more in cha- 
 racter with the principles of this enlightened 
 age of material progress and human improve- 
 ment, but which will enable all concerned to 
 participate with credit in its great responsibili- 
 ties, and to enjoy with satisfaction its various 
 results. 
 
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