.

But it is claimed by some, that the African slave here has ceased to
be a barbarian, which I deny. His nature is not essentially changed;
his habits are forced; and he would at once fall, as he has fallen,
and is falling, in San Domingo, Jamaica, and Canada, but for
coercion. It is, therefore, an external power which holds him up, and
no innate principle within him.

THE DEBT OF THE BARBARIAN.

But even for argument, admitting the African were civilized, still he
is not legally entitled to his freedom. Why? Because on account of his
barbarism he became the property of another, who has a vested right in
him. His transition from barbarism to civilization was at the expense
of civilization, and he owes a just equivalent therefor. His debt is
the difference between barbarism and civilization, and will be
estimated according as the one in held higher than the other.

THE RIGHT OF THE AFRICAN TO REMAIN A SLAVE.

If the African is entitled to his freedom, he is also entitled to the
privilege of remaining in servitude; a privilege which nine tenths of
the Negroes in this country are well known to crave. But we deny his
right of choice in the premises. His barbarism was the oblivion of his
right to choose his own proper position; and the absence of inherent
right in him subjects him at once to the dominion of universal or
external right in civilization. His right of choice, therefore, has no
real validity, and should not even be tolerated to denounce the
heinous wrong of his emancipation, and consequent restoration to
barbarism. His right to remain a slave is not his own, but the right
of civilization; and even his willingness to remain in servitude,
though a double evidence of his barbarism and of his appreciation of
his partially ameliorated condition as an accessory of civilization,
is not available in deciding as to his present or future condition;
because the right exercised in his subjection to the rules of
civilization is primordial, and sovereign, and all-controlling, as
Universal Right, and is in no case subject to the will of barbarism.

THE MELIORATION OF THE AFRICAN.

With regard to the degradation of the African slave, that is admitted;
but at the same time his position as an accessory to civilization is
far higher than that wherein he was wholly the subject of barbarism.
Now, he is dignified to the useful avocations of the civilized race;
learns their rudimental arts and customs, and methods of sub