This was the only distinction between him and the
wealthiest in the land, and this wealth conferred no exclusive
privilege, and its acquisition was open to his energy and enterprise,
and he gloried in his independence. He could acquire and enjoy without
dependence, and his pride and ambition were alike stimulated to the
emulation of those who shared most fortune's favors.
The beneficial influences of the institution of African slavery were
not only apparent in the independent and honorable bearing and conduct
of the Southern people, growing from the habit of command, and
involuntary contrast of condition, but upon the material advancement
and progress of the country. The product of slave labor, when directed
by a higher intelligence than his own, is enormous, and was the basis
of the extended and wealth-creating commerce of the entire country.
These products could be obtained in no other manner, and without this
labor, are lost to the world. The African negro, in osseous and
muscular developments, and in all the essentials for labor, is quite
equal to those of the white race; in his cerebral, greatly inferior.
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