CHAP. VIII.] 
THE NEGRO. 
197 
all his natural instincts, although transplanted to other 
soils; and those natural instincts being a love of idle¬ 
ness and savagedom, he will assuredly relapse into an 
idle and savage state, unless specially governed and 
forced to industry. 
The history of the negro has proved the correctness 
of this theory. In no instance has he evinced other 
than a retrogression, when once freed from restraint. 
Like a horse without harness, he runs wild, but, if har¬ 
nessed, no animal is more useful. Unfortunately, this 
is contrary to public opinion in England, where the 
vox populi assumes the right of dictation upon matters, 
and men in which it has had no experience. The 
English insist upon their own weights and measures 
as the scales for human excellence, and it has been 
decreed by the multitude, inexperienced in the negro 
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 man. 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 
