Granting
even--what remains to be proved--that the Africans are the descendants
of Ham, Noah's curse was a _prediction_ of future servitude, and not an
injunction to oppress. Pray, sir, is it a careful desire to fulfill the
Scriptures, or to make money, that induces you to hold your fellow-men
in bondage?"
M. (excitedly)--"Why, sir, do you really think that the slaves are
beings like ourselves?--that is, I mean do you believe that they possess
the same faculties and capacities as the whites?"
G. (energetically)--"Certainly, sir, I do not know that there is any
moral or intellectual quality in the curl of the hair, or the color of
the skin. I cannot conceive why a black man may not as reasonably object
to my color, as I to his. Sir, it is not a black face that I detest, but
a black heart--and I find it very often under a white skin."
M. (derisively)--"Well, sir, how should you like to see a black man
President of the United States?"
G. (severely)--"As to that, sir, I am a true Republican, and bow to the
will of the majority. If the people prefer a black President, I should
cheerfully submit; and if he be qualified for the station, may
peradventure give him my vote."
M. (triumphantly)--"How should you like to have a black man marry your
daughter?"
G. (making a home thrust and an end of the dialogue)--"I am not
married--I have no daughter. Sir, I am not familiar with _your_
practices; but allow me to say, that slaveholders generally should be
the last persons to affect fastidiousness on that point; for they seem
to be enamored with _amalgamation_.
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