288 
THE AFRICAN BLACK. 
CHAP. VIII. 
wilderness. A creature of impulse, seldom actuated by 
reflection, the black man astounds by his complete 
obtuseness, and as suddenly confounds you by an 
unexpected exhibition of sympathy. From a long 
experience with African savages, I think it is as absurd 
to condemn the negro in toto, as it is preposterous 
to compare his intellectual capacity with that of the 
white man. It is unfortunately the fashion for one 
party to uphold the negro as a superior being, while 
the other denies him the common powers of reason. 
So great a difference of opinion has ever existed upon 
the intrinsic value of the negro, that the very per¬ 
plexity of the question is a proof that he is altogether 
a distinct variety. So long as it is generally considered 
that the negro and the white man are to be governed 
by the same laws and guided by the same manage¬ 
ment, so long will the former remain a thorn in the 
side of every community to which he may unhappily 
belong. When the horse and the ass shall be found 
to match in double harness, the white man and the 
African black will pull together under the same regime . 
It is the grand error of equalizing that which is un¬ 
equal, that has lowered the negro character, and made 
the black man a reproach. 
In his savage home, what is the African ? Certainly 
bad; but not so bad as white men would (I believe) 
