: those of the
herring being very large, prove that it consumes much oxygen and is very
active; while the flounder, with its small gills, consumes but little,
and is very slow in its motions as a necessary consequence. Hence the
habitual slower motions of the negro than the white man, is a positive
proof that he consumes less oxygen. The slow gait of the negro is an
important element to be taken into consideration in studying his nature.
I have the authority of one of the very best observers of mankind, that
this element in the negro's economy is particularly worthy of being
studied. It is no less an authority than the father of his country, the
first President of the United States, the illustrious Washington.
Washington knew better, perhaps, than any other man what the white man
could do; his power of endurance and strength of wind under a given
speed of motion. Yet he found that all his observations on the white
race were inapplicable to negroes. To know what they could do, and to
ascertain their power of endurance and strength of wind, new
observations had to be made, and he made them accordingly. He made them
on his own negroes. He saw they did not move like the soldiers he had
been accustomed to command. Their motions were much slower, and they
performed their tasks in a more dilatory manner; the amount of labor
they could perform in a given time, with ease and comfort to themselves,
could not be told by his knowledge of what white men could do. He
therefore noted the gait or movements natural to negroes, and made
observations himself of how much they could effect in a given time,
under the slow motions or gait natural to them. He did this to enable
him to judge of what would be a reasonable service to expect from them,
and to know when they loitered and when they performed their duty. Those
persons unacquainted with the important truth that negroes are naturally
slower in their motions than white people, judging the former by the
latter, often attempt to drive them into the same brisk motions. But a
day's experience ought to be enough to teach them that every attempt to
drive negroes to the performance of tasks equal to what the white
laborer would voluntarily impose upon himself, is an actual loss to the
master; who, instead of getting more service out of them, actually gets
less, and soon none, if such a course be persisted in; because they
become disabled in body and indisposed in mind to perform any service at