292 CHARACTER OF THE NEGRO. [chap. viij. 
personally, that he has been a badly-treated brother; 
that he is a worthy member of the human family, 
placed in an inferior position through the prejudice 
and ignorance of the white man, with whom he should 
be upon equality. 
The negro has been, and still is, thoroughly mis¬ 
understood. However severely we may condemn the 
horrible system of slavery, the results of emancipation 
have proved that the negro does not appreciate the 
blessings of freedom, nor does he show the slightest 
feeling of gratitude to the hand that broke the rivets 
of his fetters. His narrow mind cannot embrace that 
feeling of pure philanthropy that first prompted England 
to declare herself against slavery, and he only regards 
the anti-slavery movement as a proof of his own im¬ 
portance. In his limited horizon he is himself the 
important object, and as a sequence to his self-conceit, 
he imagines that the whole world is at issue concerning 
the black rrian. The negro, therefore, being the im¬ 
portant question, must be an important person, and 
he conducts himself accordingly—he is far too great a 
man to work. Upon this point his natural character 
exhibits itself most determinedly. Accordingly, he 
resists any attempt at coercion; being free, his first 
impulse is to claim an equality with those whom he 
lately served, and to usurp a dignity with absurd pre- 
