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The Africans: For The Signal Of Liberty

The Africans: For The Signal Of Liberty image
Parent Issue
Day
23
Month
February
Year
1842
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

At iho present time whcn every thing ( relnting loibe origin, character, aod } ditiun of Africans is 6ought for ' tv, tho mnny opposing iheories adopted, l the argumenta drawn Irom them, nnd ' clusions made bcing as dinerentas tho ' dividuals themselves, any thing calculated , l lo givc light on so important n subject, L should bfe perüsed whh care by every ' cero enquirer nfter trulh. The following r' extracis are from a sermón preached by I Bishop Watsnn, April 1824, before the (J London Wesleyan Methodist Missionary ! Society. Il portrays to us in gloying ' ors, the origin, charncter nnd codditiori of r ihe negro, and presenta the Biroiig claims ' Uiey have on ua for our sympaihies, and ij urges upon-us the imperative duty of j deavoring lo mprove iheir moral and civil ' condition. The name of ihe nuliior is a ' suflTicicot guarantee for iho sentimenta expressed. Tkxt.- 11 Peter, c. 2d, v. 17, ' or all men." i THEIR OHICI. Í "When two passages were recordcd in our scriptures by the inspiralion of their Author, views on this sutject, as novel as I they were tender and bcnevolent, were opened on the world. One affirms tliat i God "hath made ofono blood all nationsof rnen to dweil on all the face of the earlb," i thnt ihey are of one fumily, of one origin, I of one coiumon nature: the other thal our I S:iviour became incarnate, "that he by the grace of God, should taste death for every man." Behold the foundation of the fratenüty of our race, however colored and however scattered. Esseniial disticlions of inferiority and 8nperiority had been in nlnioat every part of ihe habitable world, adopted as the palliation or thejuslification of the wrongs infiieted by man on man; but against this uotion Christianity from its promulgation has lified up its voice,.God hath made the varióos tribes of men "of one blood." - Dost thou wrong a human being? He ia thy brother. Art thou his murderer by war, private malice, or a wearing exhausting opprossion ? "The voice of thy brother1a blood crieth to God from ihe ground.'' Dvjst thou becauso of some accidental circumstanco of rank, opulence, and power on ihy pan, trocu iiint iib scoro umi wntempt? lie is tho "brother fur whom Ch rist dicd,'' tho incarnate Redcemer aesuvned hi3 nalure as well as thine; he carne into the world to seek and save him bs well as thee, and il was in reference to him also ihat he went through the scènes of the garden nnd the cross. There is not then a man on earih who has not a Falher in heaven, and to whom Christ is not an Ad. vocato and Patrón, nay, more, becauso of the apeumption of our common humanity, to whom he ia uot a brotber. Thus "ihe kindnese and love of God our Saviour toward man appearcd. But bere brutal igTjornnco and affected pbilosophy agree to ask ihe queslion "Who are men !" intimatng that if the benevolent principies juet luid down are not to bc disputed the apI plica tion of ihem must be narrowed, and thal as to varioua Iribe9 which bear the Ihuraan form, it is doubted whelher they have the claim to humanity. A civiüzed Isavnge ormed with power which an impruved conditiou of Bociely gives bim in' vades a disirtct of country, and destroys or makes captivo its inh&bitanto, and then 'pointingto ihe contrary color and different features h'dds his justificalio'n in denying them to be men. A petly philosophy folilowsin the train, and confirma the hesitating deductions of ignorance. lts tbeory is lliat ihe gradations of antm.aled nature aro genlle, and almost imperceptible, and not content that the ape and baboon bhould ■fill up the chasm which exisls bctwecn jthci quadruped and man, an intermedíate (link must be invented, and tbu9 the colored ekin and ihe peculiar visage of the gro and the Hotlonlot are plucéd against their litle to humanity, and millions by the dreama of a theory have been struck jout oí' iho farnily of God. Tllisra CONDITlOJï. "In touching this subject, allow me or.e principie, and I desire no more in bohalf of this classofour fellow men. Allow me ihat if among tlio various ruces of human kiiui, one is lo be found which has been treated wjlh grealer harfchness by the rest from (3 professing in a lcss degiee the rnean8 of resistuncu, one whose history is drawn with a deeper pencilling of injury and wretcbednesj - that race, whenuver found 'is enüllod to the largest share of the compassion of the christian church, and especia 11 v ihose christian nalions, which, in n period of past darkness and crime, have had the greatest share in inflicting this injus'ice, and you concede to ine the ground of a strong appenl in ila favor. Abundïnily has it muUiplied hut only to furnish viciins to the fraud and avarice of other nati ns. From age to age its existence !miy be traced upon it; own sunburnt conItinent; but airea which has produced revolutions in favor oí other countries, have left África still the common plunder of cvBry n vader who had hnrdihood enough to, sbdurnle his heart ngainst hnmanity toj jrng his lengthened linesof enchained capuvas through ihe desert, or to sufïbcato, ihem in the holds of vessels designedj ■o carry thetn away into hopeless for- sign and interminable captivity. It hnsj jeen calculated that África has been annu-j illy robbcd of one hundred and fifiy thou-[ mnd of her children. Muhiply thia num-j ser by (ho ages through which iho injury las been protracted, und the amouni aplale and renda the heart. What nccumu:tion of misery and wrong! Which of the ■ands of her deíerl has not been slecped in tears vvrung out by the pangs of" 6epnrïtion frorn kindred and country? What tnind has pnsscd ovor her plaina without :afching up the sighs of bleeding or broken liearts? And in what part of the world have not her children been wasted by labora and degraded by oppressions." THEY HAVE BEEN INSULTED. 'To oppression has been added insult. They have been frcqtiently denied to be men, or decmed incorrigibly because physically embruted and immoral, Two des:riptionsof men come to this conclusión, l'he first ia comprised of those who have had to contend wilh the passion3 and vices of the negro in his purely pagan etate and have applied no other instrument to elicit the virtues they have demanded than the stimulus of the whip and the voice of authority. Who can wonder that they have fuiled. They have expected lo 'reap where they have not sown." They have required moral ends without the application of moral mean?, and their failure iherefore leaves ihe queetion of the capacity of the negro untouched and proves nothing bul their own folly. In the eecond class are our rainutest philosoph-ers, who take the guage of intellectual capaci ty from a disposition of tho boneB of the bead and link morality with the contour of the countenance, men who tncasure mind by the rule and compasaes, and estímate capacity for knowledge and salvalien by a scale of inches and the acuteneesof aogles. THEIU AKCE8T0RS. And yet wilt it be believed, that this contemned race can as to intellect and genius exhibit a brighter anceetry than our own? They are the onshoota of a stem wbich was ouce proudly luxuriant in the fruile of learning and taste, while ihat from which the Gyihs their calumniators have sprung remained hard knotted and barren. Nor is África without her horaldry of science and fa me. The only probable account which can be given of the negro tribes, is, that na África wns peopled tbrough Égypt by some of the descendants of Ham,.ihey are the ofFspring of Cush, Misraitn and Put. They converted Egypt into the most fertile country in the world; they reared its pyramids, invented its bieroglyphics, gave letters to Greece and Rome and through thetn to u?. She has pou.red forth her heroea on the field, given biehops to the Church and Martyrs to the fires. In the imperishable porphyry and granite is the unfounded and pitiful elander publicly and before all the world rcfuted. Thore we seo the negro under cultivation. If he now present a different aspect, cullivation ia wanting. That 6olve8 the whole case, fur even now, when education has been expended upon the pure and undoubted negro, it has never been bestowed in vain. Modern times have witnessed in the persons ot African negroes, eneráis, philosophers, lingüista poets, mathematiciatis, and merchants, all eminent in their atlainmenls, energetic iu enterprise, and honorable in character." THE BA OF THE ALMIGHTY. "To this race has been applied tho prophetic malediction of Noah, "Cursed be Canaan; a seivant of servanls phall he be to his brethren," tho descendanis of Shetn and Japheth, and because they have been supposed to bo under the ban of the Almighty, it has been concluded ihat every kind of injury might, with impunity be inflicted upon them by his creatures. - Nothing is more repulsivo than to seo men resorting to the word of God for an excuse, ora paíhative for the injuries which ihey are incited to intlict on olhers by their own pride and avarice. But the case they adducc wil! not serve" them.-- Tho malediction of Noah, (if we allow it to bo one, and not a bimple prediction) feil not upon the negro races; it feil chiefly on Asia and only to a very limited extent upon África. Il feil ua tbe terms of the prophecy explicilly declare, upoB Canaan, thal is, in Scripture style, upon the Canaanites, and p'erhaps upon the Carthaginians. Here was its range and its limii, tho curse never expanded so as to encompass a singlo negro tribe. And, África, wilh all tliv justcomplainla aguinslthe praciice ot' Christian States, tbou hast uone against tho doctrines of the Chrietians Bible." THEIR CHABACTEH. ''Let us do the negro justice. There is something affecting in ihal simplicily of the African which on his nativc continent Ua9 invited, rathor than resistedsion. With a spirit more buoyant, euspicious and rcseniful, tho negro tribes would not have been for ages, an asy prey lo every plunderer and bonter of men. Their shores wou ld have bristled with apeara ond tfieir arrowa have darkened the heaven?, nor would tho experiment ofmanstealing been twice repeated. The samo simplicity and tameness of character dis- tinguishes tho negroea in their siate of bondage, and the history of slavery no where and in nonge, prosents an exaraplo of so much quict under the sama or similar cumstnnces, where tbe bondage has baca so absolute. 6LAVRUY A MOHAL EVIt. "To my mind there is nothing in the history of tho Church which 80 strikingly cxhibits the power of our religión, na iia triumphs over the moral evils so uniforraly and necessarily inherent in a eystem of slavery. That is n state in which no cines of society, the dominnnt or tho subject, ia not vitiated, in temper, in principie, in conduct. Alt history ís in proof of ibis, and i! that faüed, language, as to the enslaved class, al least, would supply the testimony. We cali that man a villain who unitee badenee9 and treacbery with bis crimes, and complícales vico with deceit and cunning, but tho villain was and an cien t sla ve, and villoir.y in ts original ncceptation is slavery. We fiad the eams e? eociation in olher language?, ancient and modern, all proving, as (he fact of ezpe rience, that slavery is demoraltzing, and ihat it compounds iuto the character all ibe faithlessneaa aod fceulence of moral, turpitude. There is a dais of mero hu man viriues which may esist independent ly of (he direct iofluence of religión, aod principled raorality. Such are honor, hon esty, generosity, patriotism, and olhers, which, though but conventional, and tho shadows and images of real virtue, are correctivo in their mfluence upon society, and give it a higher tone and purer char acter, but evea thcee cannol except by accidental circumstance?, vegetate in th3 sou, nor flourish in the fog. They require a purer air, tho brisk wafting oí tbe noblec passions, the excitement of hope, the warmth of cbarity, and the mountaio breeze of freedom. hen the virtues of human off&hooi and of earthly sesd cannot strike, ihero the spint of God by his word can mould ihe soul of man into a produo live soil, and rnake the desert of the alavesa hearl rich with verdure of at least the paa eive and tbe humble gracos," The above extracta are commended to tho attention of every individual,emanaling as they did írom a man who stood high iu the estiraation of the learned and the good - a man of deep and uniform piety, high scieniific attaioments, a gigantio genius lowering fnr abovo mediocrity, and one who had siudied human nature, in all ita rnmifications. Such being the senttmeota of one well acquainted with the subject on wbich he d wel Ie. Reader! art thou prepared to adopt thom as thy own? lf eo, cease to reduce the Africao in thy eetimittion with the brute, but think of bun as a man endowed by bis Creator witb certain "inalienable rtghis, amon whicb are life, liberty und tbe pursuil of happinees," and aci well thy part, by eodeavoring to elévate him to that sphere in wbich God designed heshould move, and thou wilt have tho consoling reflection that thou bast dono