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Show 48 If the tendencies to it are so strong, that they can only be resisted by a systematic degradation of a large portion of our fellow-creatures then God intended it to take place, and resistance to i; is opposition to his will. What a strange reason for oppressing a race of fellow-beings, that, if we restore them to their rights, we shall marry them ! I proceed to the last objection to Emancipation. We are told, that it will stir up the two races to a war, which nothing but the slavery or extermination of one or the other will end. We have often heard of the " fears of the brave," so that we ought not, perhaps, to wonder at the alarm here expressed. And yet, we are somewhat sur· prised, that "the chivalry of the South," should see in the colored man a formidable foe, and should be willing to put forth their fears as a defence of their injustice. Superior as the slaveholders are in number, holding all the property and civil power, distinguished by education, by skill in arms, and by singular daring, and backed by the whole power of the free States, can they seriously dread collisions ? All our fear here is, that the colored man, though freed, will remain a slave, will be crushed by the lordly spirit, the high bearing of the white race ; that he will not for a long time rise to a just self-respect. We fear, that, in a country, where the law of honor and Lynch law are rife, he cannot enjoy that equality before the civil laws, to which freedom will give him a nominal claim. We fear, that, among a people, who take the protection of their persons and character into their own hands, and shoot down the man who offers an insult, the poor colored race, whose assertion of rights will easily be construed into insolence, will be very slow to insist on .their due. That they should gain the ascendency, without some miraculous combination of c ircumstances, is impossible . Were they a fierce, savage, indomitable race, they might be looked on with apprehension ; but they are the most inoffensive people on 49 earth ; and their mildness has undoubtedly perpetuated their chains. With emancipation their present rapid increase will be checked, for the motives to breed them will cease. With liberty of motion, the desire of change of place will sprmg up; they will naturally be more or less dispersed ; the danger of concentration on a few spots will diminish ; and when we think of the vast extent of our country, we may expect them to become a sprinkling through our population, incapable, even if desirous, of disturbing the public peace. Especially the discontented, bold, and adventurou~, the very spirits from which turbulence might be feared, w1ll be attracted by hope and novelty, as well as driven by inward restlessness, to new scenes. In truth, can we conceive of a country, which has so litlle to dread from emancipation as this, reaching as it does from ocean to ocean, and destined to receive increasing accessions to its numbers from the old world? It is also worthy of note, that the characteristics of the colored race are particularly fitted to keep them harmless. · I refer to their passion for imitation of their superiors, and to their love of show and fashion, which tend to attach them more to the white race than to their own, and to break them up into different ranks or castes among themselves. The groundlessness of fears from Emancipation is becommg more apparent from the experiment of the W' est In~ies. I do not speak of this as decided ; but its first frults surpass all expectation. The slaves in those islands were to their masters in the proportion of eight or ten to o~e, an.d they are shut up in narrow islands, which prevent dtspersiOn ; . and yet, the gift of freedom has not provoked an act of viOlence. Their new liberty has been followed b~ a degree of order unknown before ; and, what makes thls peaceful transition more striking is, that emancipation took plac~ under every possible disadvantage. It was not the free gtft of the master, not an act of justice and kind- 5 |