BOOK III. CHAP. IV. 477 



made the experiment more fairly on a native African ; perhaps too 

 the Northern air imparted a tone and vigour to his organs, of which 

 they never could have been fufceptible in a hot climate; the author 

 I have mentioned will not allow, that in hot climates tiiere is any 

 force or vigor of mind ncceirary for human aftion, " there is (fays 

 *' he) no curiofity, no noble enterprize, no generous fentiment." 

 The climate of Jamaica is temperate, and even cool, compared with 

 many parts ofGuiney ; and the Creole Blacks have undeniably more 

 acutenefs and better underftandings than the natives ofGuiney. Mr. 

 Hume, who had heard of Williams, fays of him, " In Jamaica indeed 

 " they talk of one Negroe as a man of parts and learning ; but 'tis 

 " likely he is admired for very flender accompliftiments, like a parrot 

 " who fpeaks a few words pluinly." And Mr, Edwick, purfulng the 

 fame idea, obferves, " Although a Negroe is found in Jamaica, or 

 " elfewhere, ever fo fenfible and acute j yet, if he is incapable of moral 

 «' fenfations, or perceives them only as beafts do fimple ideas, without 

 " the power of combination, in order to ufe; it is a mark that diftin- 

 " guifhes him from the man who feels, and is capable of thefe moral 

 " fenfations, who knows their application, and the purpofes of them, 

 ** as fuifficiently, as he himfelf is diftinguiflied from the highefl fpecies 

 *' of brutes [.^^]." I do not know, if the fpecimen I fhall exhibit of 



[d] The diftinftion is well marked by Bilhop Warburton, in thefe words : 

 " ill, The Moral Sense : (is that) whereby we conceive and feel a pleafure in n'g/jt, and a 

 " diftafte and averfion to ivt-on^, prior to all reflexion on their natures, or their confequences. This 

 " is the firll inlet, to the adequate iilca of morality; and plainly the moll: extenlive of all. When in- 

 " ftinct had gone thus far, 2d, The Reasoning Faculty improved upon its didates; for re- 

 " flefting men, naturally led to examine the foundation of this moral jhife, foon difcovered that there 

 " were real, eflentlal differences in the qualities of human adions, eftablifhed by nature; and, con- 

 " fequently, that the love and hatred, excited by the moral fenjl; were not capricious in their opera- 

 " tions; for that the eflential properties of their objects had a fpecific difference." Hence arofe a 

 fenfe of moral obligation in ibciety, Hcc. Divine Legation, 'vol, I. p. 37. 



It is this inllinft which difcriminates mankind from other animals who have it not, whereas in 

 other inlfiniffive impulfes all agree. But the queftiou is, whether all the fpecies of the human 

 kind have this inftinciive fenfe in equal degree? If the brutal inftinfls impel the African t-. fatisfy 

 his appetites, to run from danger, and the like; why does he not exhibit equally the tokens of this 

 moral inJlinU, if he really poireHes it? would it not infenfibly have gained admittance into their 

 habits of living, as well as the other inftim^s, and have regulated and directed their general man- 

 ners? But we have no other evidence of their pofl'eliing it, than what arifes from the vague conjec- 

 tural pofitions, " that all men are equal, and that the difparity between one man and ano'her, or 

 " one race of men and another, happens from accidental means, fuch as artificial refinements, edu- 

 «' cation, and fo forth." Certain however it is, that thefe refinements mull ncceffarily take place, 

 where the moral fenfe and reafoning faculty are moll abund.mt, and extenfively cultivated ; but 

 cannot happen, where they either do not exill at all, or, are not diflributed in fuch due portion, as 

 to work the proper afcendancy over the more brutal fpecies of inilinfl. 



his 



