70 RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION. 



that the representatives of the Slave States have drawn their ar- 

 guments ; and Mr. Bachmann tells us that the Abolitionists of 

 Congress have been struck dumb by such an irrefragable author- 

 ity ! It must, therefore, not be believed that there is any con- 

 nexion between the scientific and the political question. The 

 difference of origin by no means implicates the subordination of 

 races. It, on the contrary, implicates the idea that each race of 

 men has originated in a determined region, as it were, as the 

 crown of the fauna of that region ; and if it were permitted 

 to guess at the intention of nature, we might be led to suppose 

 that she has assigned a distinct inheritance to each race, be- 

 cause, despite of all that has been said of the cosmopolitism of 

 man, the inviolability of the domain of certain races is deter- 

 mined by their climate. 



Let this mode of viewing the question be compared with 

 that of the monogenists, and let it be asked which of the two 

 modes is more apt to please the defenders of slavery. If all 

 men are descendants of one couple, if the inequality of races 

 has been the result of a curse more or less merited, or again, 

 if the one have degraded themselves, and have allowed the 

 torch of their primitive intelligence to become extinct, whilst 

 the other have carefully guarded the precious gift of the 

 Creator, in other words, if there be cursed and blessed races, 

 races which have obeyed the voice of nature and races 

 which have disobeyed it, then the Rev. John Bachmann is 

 right to say that slavery is a Divine right ; that it is a provi- 

 dential punishment ; and that it is just, to a certain point, that 



domestic animals. The Negro will remain what he is, unless his form is 

 altered by intermixture, the simple idea of which is revolting ; his intelli- 

 gence is greatly inferior to that of the Caucasians, and he is consequently, 

 from all we know of him, incapable of governing himself. He has been 

 placed under our protection (a very pretty word) . The vindication of slavery 

 is contained in the scriptures. The Bible teaches the rights and duties of 

 masters, in order that the slaves should be treated with justice and goodness, 

 and it enjoins obedience to slaves. . . . The Bible furnishes us with the best 

 . weapons of which we can avail ourselves. It shows us that the ancient 

 Iraelites possessed slaves. It determines the duties of masters and slaves ; 

 and Saint Paul writes an epistle to Philemon to request him to take back 

 a mnaway slave. Our representatives in Congress, have drawn their argu- 

 ments from Holy Writ, and their adversaries have not ventured to tell them 

 that the historical part of the Bible (and all that concerns slavery is his- 

 torical) is false and uninspired ;" and, adds the Kev. John Bachmann, " we 

 can effectually defend our institutions from the word of God." 



