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Show 64 slave-holders, and satisfied that they could grow richer by slave than by free labor, not a few would retain their property in human flesh with as resolute and furious a grasp as their southern brethren. In truth, until the cotton culture had intoxicated the minds of the South with golden dreams, that part of the country seemed less tainted by cupidity than our own. The character of that region is still a mixed one, impulsive, passionate, vindictive, sensual; but frank, courageous, self-relying, enthusiastic, and capable of great sacrifices for a friend. Could the withering influence of Slavery be withdrawn, the Southern character, though less consistent, less based on principle, would be more attractive and lofty than that of the North. The South is fond of calling itself Anglo-Saxon. Judging from character, I should say that this name belongs much more to the North, the country of steady, persevering, unconquerable energy. Our Southern brethren remind me more of the Normans. They seem to have in their veins the burning blood of that pirate race, who spread terror through Europe, who seized part of France as a prey, and then pounced on England ; a conquering, chivalrous race, from which most of the noble families of England are said to be derived. There were certainly noble traits in the Norman character, such as its enthusiasm, its defiance of peril by sea and land, its force of will, 65 its rude sense of honor. But the man of Norman spirit, or Norman blood, should never be a slaveholder. He is the last man to profit by this relation. His pride and fierce passions need restraint, not perpetual nourishment; whilst his indisposition to labor, his desire to live by others' toil, demands the stern pressure of necessity to rescue him from dishonorable sloth. Under kindlier influences he may take rank among the noblest of his race. However, in looking at tbe South, the first thing which strikes my eyes is not the Anglo-Saxon or the Norman, but the Slave. I overlook the dwellings of the rich. My thoughts go to the comfortless hut of the negro. They go to the dark mass at work in the fields. That injured man is my brother, and ought not my sympathies to gather round him peculiarly? Talk not to me of the hospitality, comforts, luxuries of the planter's mansion. These are all the signs of a mighty wrong. My thoughts turn first to the slave. I would not, however, exaggerate his evils. He is not the most unhappy man on that soil. True, his powers are undeveloped; but therefore he is incapable of the guilt which others incur. He has, as we have seen, a generous nature, and his day of improvement, though long postponed, is to come. When I see by his side (and is the sight very rare ?) the selfindulgent man who, from mere love of gain and 6" |
