its emancipated white slaves, and the express stipulation, that
Christian slavery was abolished there forever, it left behind in bondage
large numbers of blacks, distributed throughout all the Barbary States.
Neglected thus by exclusive and unchristian Christendom, it is pleasant
to know that their lot is not always unhappy. In Morocco, negroes are
still detained as slaves; but the prejudice of color seems not to
prevail there. They have been called "the grand cavaliers of this part
of Barbary."[154] They often become the chief magistrates and rulers of
cities.[155] They constituted the body guard of several of the emperors,
and, on one occasion at least, exercised the prerogative of the
Praetorian cohorts, in dethroning their master.[156] If negro slavery
still exists in this state, it has little of the degradation connected
with it elsewhere. Into Algiers France has already carried the benign
principle of law--earlier recognized by her than by the English
courts[157]--which secures freedom to all beneath its influence. And now
we are cheered anew by the glad tidings recently received, that the Bey
of Tunis, "for the glory of God, and to distinguish man from the brute
creation," has decreed the total abolition of human slavery throughout
his dominions.
[Footnote 154: Braithwaite's Morocco, p. 350. See also Quarterly Review,
vol. xv. p. 168.]
[Footnote 155: Braithwaite, p. 222.]
[Footnote 156: Ibid. p. 381.]
[Footnote 157: Somersett's case, first declaring this principle, was
decided in 1772. M. Schoell says, that "this fine maxim has always
obtained" in France.--_Histoire Abregee des Traites de Paix_, tom. xi.
p. 178. By the royal ordinance 1318, it was declared, that "all men are
born free (_francs_) by nature; and that the kingdom of the French
(_Francs_) should be so in reality as in name." But this "fine maxim"
was not recognized in France so completely as M. Schoell asserts. See
Encyclopedie, (de Diderot et de D'Alembert,) art. _Esclavage_.]
Let us, then, with hope and confidence, turn to the Barbary States! The
virtues and charities do not come singly. Among them is a common bond,
stronger than that of science or knowledge. Let one find admission, and
a goodly troop will follow. Nor is it unreasonable to anticipate other
improvements in states which have renounced a long-cherished system of
White Slavery, while they have done much to abolish or mitigate the
slavery of others not white, and to overcome the inhuman prejudice of
color. The Christian nations of Europe first declared, and practically
enforced, within their own European dominions, the vital truth of
freedom, that man cannot hold property in his brother man. Algiers and
Tunis, like Saul of Tarsus, have been turned from the path of
persecution, and now receive the same faith. Algiers and Tunis now help
to plead the cause of Freedom. Such a cause is in sacred fellowship with
all those principles which promote the Progress of Man. And who can tell
that this despised portion of the globe is not destined to yet another
restoration? It was here in Northern Africa that civilization was first
nursed, that commerce early spread her white wings, that Christianity
was taught by the honeyed lips of Augustine. All these are again
returning to their ancient home. Civilization, commerce, and
Christianity once more shed their benignant influences upon the land to
which they have long been strangers. A new health and vigor now animate
its exertions. Like its own giant Antaeus,--whose tomb is placed by
tradition among the hillsides of Algiers,--it has been often felled to
the earth, but it now rises with renewed strength, to gain yet higher
victories.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
[Transcribers' Note: Delivered as a Lecture before the Boston Mercantile
Library Association, February 17, 1847; this illustrated version
published in 1853.--Spelling varieties as in "stanch" (staunch) have
been maintained.--This text uses _underscores_ to indicate italic
fonts.]