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 misunderstood. 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 antislavery movement as a proof of his own importance. 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 important
question, must be an important person, and he conducts himself
accordingly--he is far too great a man to work.
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