I think it is a mistake to suppose that the negroes, as a race, _pine_
for freedom; though, when it is suggested to them, they may grasp at it
with eagerness, much as they would at any other novelty. Many, no doubt,
can appreciate liberty, and use it as wisely and well as any freeborn
white: gradual emancipation would be one of the grandest schemes that
could be propounded to human benevolence: it is rife with difficulty,
but surely not impracticable. The indiscriminate and abrupt manumission
of the negro would, I am convinced, turn a quaint, simple, childish
creature--prone to mirth, and not easily discontented if his indolence
be not taxed too hardly, susceptible, too, of strong affection and
fidelity to his master, as many recent events have shown--into a sullen,
slothful, insolent savage, never remembering the past, except as a sort
of vague excuse for the present indulgence of his brutal instincts,
conscious that every man's hand is against him, without the meek
patience of a pariah; but only venturing to retaliate by occasional
outbursts of ruffianism or rapine. Where a body of these men is
subjected at once to military discipline, and overawed by the presence
of white soldiers in overwhelming numbers, the same danger cannot exist;
yet I doubt gravely as to the ultimate success, in any point of view, of
those negro levies.
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