circumstances they could
become so is not here a subject of discussion; but, surely, the day will
come when the white caste will wish the experiment had been tried. The
argument of the Cotton King against the alleviation of the condition of
the African is, that his nature does not admit of his enjoyment of true
freedom consistently with the security of the community, and therefore
he must have none. But certainly his school has been of the worst. Would
not, perhaps, the reflections applied to the case of the French peasants
of a century ago apply also to them?" It is not under oppression that
we learn how to use freedom. The ordinary sophism by which misrule is
defended is, when truly stilted, this: The people must continue in
slavery, because slavery has generated in them all the vices of slaves;
because they are ignorant, they must remain under a power which has made
and which keeps them ignorant; because they have been made ferocious by
misgovernment, they must be misgoverned forever. If the system under
which they live were so mild and liberal that under its operation they
had become humane and enlightened, it would be safe to venture on a
change; but, as this system has destroyed morality, and prevented the
development of the intellect,--as it has turned men, who might, under
different training, have formed a virtuous and happy community, into
savage and stupid wild beasts, therefore it ought to last forever.
Perhaps the counsellors of King Cotton think that in this case it will;
but all history teaches us another lesson. If there be one spark of love
for freedom in the nature of the African,--whether it be a love common
to him with the man or the beast, the Caucasian or the chimpanzee,--the
love of freedom as affording a means of improvement or an opportunity
for sloth,--the policy of King Cotton will cause it to work its way out.
It is impossible to say how long it will be in so doing, or what weight
the broad back of the African will first be made to bear; but, if the
spirit exist, some day it must out. This lesson is taught us by the
whole recorded history of the world. Moses leading the Children of
Israel up out of Egypt,--Spartacus at the gates of Rome,--the Jacquerie
in France,--Jack Cade and Wat Tyler in England,--Nana Sahib and the
Sepoys in India,--Toussaint l'Ouverture and the Haytiens,--and, finally,
the insurrection of Nat Turner in this country, with those in Guiana,
Jamaica, and St. Lucia: such exampl