Just Curious

Mr. Wesley on Africans

This stuff from John Wesley (1703-1791), founder of Methodism, is sweet:

"Upon the whole, therefore, the Negroes who inhabit the coast of Africa, from the river Senegal to the southern bounds of Angola, are so far from being the stupid, senseless, brutish, lazy barbarians, the fierce, cruel, perfidious savages they have been described, that, on the contrary, they are represented, by them who have no motive to flatter them, as remarkably sensible, considering the few advantages they have for improving their understanding; as industrious to the highest degree, perhaps more so than any other natives of so warm a climate; as fair, just, and honest in all their dealings, unless where white men have taught them to be otherwise; and as far more mild, friendly, and kind to strangers, than any of our forefathers were. Our forefathers! Where shall we find at this day, among the fair-faced natives of Europe, a nation generally practising the justice, mercy, and truth, which are found among these poor Africans? Suppose the preceding accounts are true, (which I see no reason or pretence to doubt of,) and we may leave England and France, to seek genuine honesty in Benin, Congo, or Angola."

This is from a man who died the year 1791, when our founders still considered it okay to own human chattel, and only 15 years after goood ole' South Carolina (who gave us such wonderful men as Preston "I cane people" Brooks, Strom "I love my colleagues' wives" Thurmond and Ernest Fritz "those Africans are cannibals" Hollings) threatened to aid the Brits had Thomas Jefferson included the ill-fated paragraph condemning slavery in the Declaration of Independence.

I wholeheartedly agree with Emerson that it was the "fair faced" Preston Brooks who was a "stupid, senseless, brutish, lazy barbarian and a fierce, cruel, perfidious" savage (Wesley's words); an "animal, given to pleasure, frivolous, irritable, spending his days in hunting and practising with deadly weapons to defend himself against his slaves and against his companions brought up in the same idle and dangerous way." (Emerson's words). You just have to love men from an earlier era. Even when they're ripping their opponents apart they're so courteous and their choice of words eloquent.

posted by James Chang @ 11:30 PM