Slavery Ordained of God | Page 6

He is, of all

races, the most gentle and kind. The _man_, the most submissive; the
_woman_, the most affectionate. What other slaves would love their
masters better than themselves?--rock them and fan them in their
cradles? caress them--how tenderly!--boys and girls? honor them,
grown up, as superior beings? and, in thousands of illustrious instances,
be willing to give life, and, in fact, die, to serve or save them? Verily,
verily, this emancipated race may reveal the most amiable form of
spiritual life, and the jewel may glitter on the Ethiop's brow in meaning
more sublime than all in the poet's imagery. Brethren, let them go; and,
when they are gone,--ay, before they go away,--rear a monument; let it
grow in greatness, if not on your highest mountain, in your hearts,--in
lasting memory of the South,--in memory of your wrong to the
South,--in memory of the self-denial of the South, and her philanthropy
in training the slave to be free, enlightened, and Christian.
Can all this be? Can this double emigration civilize Africa and more
than re-people the South? Yes; and I regard the difficulties presented
here, in Congress, or the country, as little worth. God intends both
emigrations. And, without miracle, he will accomplish both.
Difficulties! There are no difficulties. Half a million emigrate to our
shores, from Ireland, and all Europe, every year. And you gravely talk
of difficulties in the negro's way to Africa! Verily, God will unfold
their destiny as fast, and as fully, as he sees best for the highest good of
the slave, the highest good of the master, and the glory of Christ in
Africa.
And, sir, there are forty thousand Chinese in California. And in Cuba,
this day, American gentlemen are cultivating sugar, with Chinese hired
labor, more profitably than the Spaniards and their slaves. Oh! there is
China--half the population of the globe--just fronting us across that
peaceful sea,--her poor, living on rats and a pittance of red rice,--her
rich, hoarding millions in senseless idolatry, or indulging in the
luxuries of birds'-nests and roasted ice. Massed together, they must
migrate. Where can they go? They must come to our shores. They must
come, even did God forbid them. But he will hasten their coming. They
can live in the extremest South. It is their latitude,--their side of the
ocean. They can cultivate cotton, rice, sugar, tea, and the silkworm.
Their skill, their manipulation, is unrivalled. Their commonest gong
you can neither make nor explain. They are a law-abiding people,

without castes, accustomed to rise by merit to highest distinctions, and
capable of the noblest training, when their idolatry, which is waxing
old as a garment, shall be folded up as a vesture and changed for that
whose years shall not fail. The English ambassador assures us that the
Chinese negotiator of the late treaty was a splendid gentleman, and a
diplomatist to move in any court of Europe. Shem, then, can mingle
with Japheth in America.
The Chinese must come. God will bring them. He will fulfil Benton's
noble thought. The railroad must complete the voyage of Columbus.
The statue of the Genoese, on some peak of the Rocky Mountains, high
above the flying cars, must point to the West, saying, "There is the East!
There is India and Cathay."
Let us, then, North and South, bring our minds to comprehend _two
ideas_, and submit to their irresistible power. Let the Northern
philanthropist learn from the Bible that the relation of master and slave
is not sin per se. Let him learn that God nowhere says it is sin. Let him
learn that sin is the transgression of the law; and where there is no law,
there is no sin; and that the golden rule may exist in the relations of
slavery. Let him learn that slavery is simply an evil in certain
circumstances. Let him learn that equality is only the highest form of
social life; that subjection to authority, even _slavery_, may, in _given
conditions_, be for a time better than freedom to the slave, of any
complexion. Let him learn that _slavery_, like _all evils_, has its
corresponding and _greater good_; that the Southern slave, though
degraded _compared with his master_, is elevated and ennobled
compared with his brethren in Africa. Let the Northern man learn these
things, and be wise to cultivate the spirit that will harmonize with his
brethren of the South, who are lovers of liberty as truly as himself. And
let the Southern Christian--nay, the Southern man of every
grade--comprehend that God never intended the relation of master and
slave to be perpetual. Let him give up the theory of Voltaire, that the
negro is of a different species. Let him yield the semi-infidelity of
Agassiz, that God created different races of the same species--in
swarms,