Such an one will claim that involuntary labor performed by the
African, in behalf of civilization; or the production, by his labor,
of material or fabrics to hide his nakedness, or adorn the human race,
or protect them from the cold, degrades the barbarian, because it
encroaches upon his natural right to go naked and houseless, and
perish with the cold. He is quite _primitive_ in his ideas of dress,
and ought to emigrate to a warm climate, like South Africa or South
America, where the elements of nature do not conspire with
civilization to degrade and oppress him. He perceives that our unjust
and oppressive laws actually punish, as an offense, the exposure to
view of man's natural external beauties! This is about as far as it is
safe to go on the subject of natural right, both from considerations
of propriety and modesty, and also, as it almost amounts to a
digression from the subject immediately under consideration; but we
are merely following the advocate of emancipation, on the score of
equality and natural right, just where his principles lead him; and as
it forcibly suggests the inexpediency of emancipation, and consequent
barbarism, on the score of morality and decency, it seems entirely
apposite to the subject.
But it is claimed by some, that the African slave here has ceased to
be a barbarian, which I deny. His nature is not essentially changed;
his habits are forced; and he would at once fall, as he has fallen,
and is falling, in San Domingo, Jamaica, and Canada, but for
coercion. It is, therefore, an external power which holds him up, and
no innate principle within him.