spent fourteen months, in 1850-51, in studying at Brazil the
“Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the American Negro,” speaks thus
of the Brazilian mulatto: “The greatest number of the colored
inhabitants of Brazil are of the negro and European races, called
mulattoes. It may be asserted that the inferior classes of the free
population are composed of such. If ever there should be a republic,
such as exists in the United States of America, as it is the aim of a
numerous party in Brazil to establish, the whole class of artisans would
doubtless consist of a colored population. * * * Already in every
village and town the mulattoes are in the ascendant, and the traveller
comes in contact with more of them than of whites.” There is nothing in
these extracts, or in the essay from which they are taken, to indicate
that the Brazilian mulatto is dying out. These are the observations of a
patient investigator and man of science, and they have the more value,
inasmuch as they were not set down to support any particular theory.
The Professor speaks elsewhere in high but qualified terms of the moral
and intellectual qualities of the mulatto, coming to conclusions similar
to those of Moreau de St. Mery, except that he does not accuse them of
indolence.
The author of “Remarks on Hayti and the Mulatto,” whose experience as a
merchant I have mentioned, further says:
“This race, if on the white side it derives its blood from either the
English or French stock, possesses within itself a combination of all
the mental and physical qualities necessary to form a civilized and
progressive population for the tropics, _and it is the only race yet
found of which this can be said_.”
“I have no desire to undervalue the blacks of Hayti. I have found many
shrewd, worthy, and intelligent men among them; and the country, it is
well known, has produced several black men of a high order of talent;
but these have been exceptional cases, like the King Philips, Hendricks,
Tecumsehs, and Red Jackets, of our North American Indians. As a race,
they do not get on. _The same may be said of every other original race._
The blacks form no exception to the well-known law, that culture and
advancement in man are the result of a combination of races.”
REMARKS.
I have no desire to retain, by the republishing of the above extracts,
the appellation of “Defender of the Mulattoes;” but have inserted them
here, that they may not be misunderstood. All I have to say is, that I
believe it would be actually more proper, numerically speaking, to call
at least the free persons of African descent in America, _colored_ or
mulattoes, rather than negroes. Yet, how often do we hear respectable
men of all parties, talk of “Negro nationalities,” and regarding the two
races as “two negative poles mutually repelling each other,” leaving no
middle ground for the great mass of the colored people or mulattoes,
whom, as some say, “God did not make.” Instead of such impiety, and in
place of sending one-half of the colored people to establish black
nationalities in Africa, leaving the other half to be absorbed by the
whites, I think it is much more liberal to regard them as one people,
the political destiny of whom is unknown, or at best but begun to be
discerned. To divide the colored people at this late day by any such
process, would seem to me _like splitting a child in twain_, in order to
give one half to its mother and the other to its father. _I go for a
colored nationality_, that shall divide the continent with the whites,
and the two empires being known respectively as Anglo-American and
Anglo-African.
* * * * *
In conclusion, I desire to return my thanks for the complimentary manner
in which the preceding communications have been received; and I would
fain hope they might be as favorably regarded now that they are
presented in this present form.
How proudly will the colored race honor that day, when, abandoning a
policy which teaches them to cling to the skirts of the white people for
support, they shall set themselves zealously at work to create a
position of their own--an empire which shall challenge the admiration of
the world, rivalling the glory of their historic ancestors, whose
undying fame was chronicled by the everlasting pyramids at the dawn of
civilization upon mankind.
“Hope of the world! _the rising race_
May heaven with fostering love embrace;
And, turning to a whiter page,
Commence with them _a better age_;
An age of light and joy, which we,
Alas! in prospect only see.”
OPINIONS OF DISTINGUISHED STATESMEN AND PHILANTHROPISTS.
“My proposition is simply to provide for the peaceful emigration of all
those free colored persons of African descent who may desire so to
emigrate to some place in Central or South America.... I believe the
time has ripened for the execution of the plan originated by Jefferson
in his day, agreed in by Madison and Monroe and all the earlier and
better statesmen of the Republic, both North and South.”--_Speech of
Senator Doolittle._
* * * * *
“Instead, therefore, of being an expense to the nation, the foundation
of such a colony would be the grandest commercial enterprise of the
age....
“Are the young merchants of Boston and of America indifferent to an
enterprise which would give to our commerce, without a rival, such an
empire as that to which I have pointed?--an empire not to be won by
cruelty and conquest, but by peaceful and benignant means, and by
imparting to others the inestimable blessings of liberty which we enjoy,
and removing from our midst the only cause which threatens the
prosperity and stability of the Union....”--_Speech of Hon. F. P. Blair,
Boston._
* * * * *
“It is my intention to use every effort to give practical effect to the
propositions submitted to Congress, and I believe that the colored
people themselves can give very efficient aid in the matter. If they
will only let it be known that they approve, and are themselves willing
to act upon the proposition, it will give it a great impulse.”--_Hon. F.
P. Blair--Letter to J. D. Harris._
* * * * *
“The only mode in which we can relieve our country, relieve the blacks
and whites, and provide separate homes for them, is by some scheme
_which will meet the approbation of both--one which the parties
themselves will execute_.”--_Hon. Preston King._
* * * * *
“Among all feasible things, there is nothing that in my judgment would
so much promote a peaceful abolition of slavery as your son’s
plan.”--_Hon. Gerrit Smith to F. P. Blair, Sen._
* * * * *
“The feeling of the free blacks in relation to African colonization is
no criterion by which to judge of the success of American intertropical
emigration.... I am confident that with proper inducements to be held
out before them in regard to security of liberty and property, and
prospects for well-doing, I could muster two hundred emigrant families
or about one thousand colored persons annually for the next five years,
of the very best class for colonial settlement and industry, from
various parts of the United States and Canada, who would gladly embark
for homes in our American tropics.”--_Rev. J. T. Holly._
* * * * *
To the above might be added the views and opinions of many of the most
eminent men in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Maryland, and other States,
among them the Hon. Mr. Bates, and Sam’l T. Glover, Esq., of St. Louis.
But none seem more appropriate to close this volume than the following
from the Rev. Dr. Duffield, of Detroit.
_Detroit, Feb. 18, 1860._
DEAR BRO. KENDALL:--
Allow me to commend to your attention the object in which Mr.
Harris has embarked. I think very favorably of it on various
grounds, but regard it as especially indicative of God’s
providential designs in relation to the introduction of the gospel
into that portion of our American continent which has attracted
our attention, and which led yourself with me to memorialize the
General Assembly on the subject of commencing a system of missions
in Mexico, Central and Southern America. I had intended writing to
you on the subject with a view to the prosecution of the matter of
our memorial next spring, when the Assembly meets at Pittsburg. I
know not, nor can I learn, what has been done in pursuance of the
action of the last General Assembly. The whole matter as reported I
failed to understand, and have since had no light shed upon the
subject. May not this movement prove an occasion, if not of
connection to the mission, of bespeaking a deeper interest in
behalf of our benighted populations of Central and Southern America
than has yet been felt by and in our country....
Truly Yours,
GEO. DUFFIELD.
REV. DR. KENDALL, of Pittsburg, Pa.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] See Appendix.
[B] When the island was discovered by Columbus, it received from him
the name of Hispaniola--“Little Spain.” It was afterwards called Santo
Domingo; but the original name given it by the natives, and revived by
Dessalines, is said to be Hayti. The Haytien territory, however, is
but about two-fifths of the island, the greater part being owned by
the Dominicans.
[C] Within fifteen days a disaffection has been discovered near the
Haytien frontiers, supposed to be the work of Solouque. Solouque is an
imitator of Napoleon I. Napoleon went to Elba--Solouque to the island
of Jamaica.
[D] Published by A. P. Norton, New York.
[E] For a beautiful description of this affecting scene, see
Whittier’s “Toussaint L’Ouverture.”
[F] Rainsford.
[G] Rainsford.
[H] Anthony Trollope’s West Indies and Spanish Main. Harper and
Brothers.
Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:
peaceful and benignant mean;=> peaceful and benignant means; {pg 30}
undeveloped reresources=> undeveloped resources {pg 74}
FATE OF OGE AND CHAVINE=> FATE OF OGÉ AND CHAVINE {pg 84}
and and is as much beholden=> and is as much beholden {pg 130}
victims of iliterate abuse=> victims of illiterate abuse {pg 164}
where it is has once been=> where it has once been {pg 169}