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Untitled Article
demand for negroes was for the purpose of field labour , it is of course probable , that those fittest for it would fetch the highest prices , and consequently the greatest number of the imports would be Eboes , as being best fitted for a drudgery , which neither the Mandingoes nor the Coroniantyns would willingly perform . The
Mandingoes were the class who were fittest for house servants , from their superior intelligence , and they were probably employed as such , but there was always a strong feeling of self-respect about them , even though shown in an uncouth fashion ., and they were almost useless for field labour . Some of the sugar plantations of the Puertos Intennedios on the coast of the Pacific , between
Peru and Chile , were colonized by Mandingoes , and to this day they bear a less price in the market by one-third , than the negroes of Peru . They are considered mala casta—a bad race—i . e . they will not work freely . Even in the interior provinces of La Plata , a Spanish Creole lady , when angry with her domestic servants , will use the phrase ' Ah , Mandinga ! ' which is considered
equivolent to ' mule . ' The same quality is designated by the name of obstinacy or resolution , according as the act in question may chime in with the wish of the judge , and masters and mistresses are usually accustomed to consider passive obedience as the finest quality either in slave or servant . With regard to the imported Coromantyns , they would be precisely the kind of people likely to
be selected for drivers , as coercing the poor Eboes with the whip would be congenial to their dispositions . There surely can be no difficulty in comprehending , that the division of labour in slave countries , was and is regulated upon the same principles as take place in England at the present day , each being set to that for which he is most fitted . Why else is it that certain branches of
labour are performed by Irishmen , certain other classes by Scotchmen , and others by Englishmen ? Now , though the breeding of the black races in the West India islands has not been under any peculiar regulation , still it is probable that in many cases the qualities of the imported negroes have been preserved pure in their descendants ; and we may , therefore , reasonably suppose , that
though there are numerous instances of ferocious negroes still existing , and also abundairt examples of others possessed of foresight , and consequently capable of getting along' in the world , the staple of the negroes will still be found to be the indolent and passive Eboes , who only work from necessity . Those who on both sides of the question are so ready with their examples , and so anxious to make a part serve for the whole , would do well to remember the fable of the gold and silver shield . It is much to be regretted that the circumstances of the accursed traffic , —a large portion of it having been smuggling , —should have precluded afl chance of our getting accurate information on the subject . In the case of the massacre of Santo Domingo , it is well known that the ferocity of some of the actors was not more remarkable , than the
Untitled Article
Abolition of Negro Slavery . 468
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1833, page 463, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2618/page/23/
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