daughters, just like white folks; but time, gentleness,
bread, and neat homes will, with religion and culture, bring
great changes. And I say it to the credit of their former
owners, and their own instincts and capabilities, that _they
constitute to-day the best peasantry, holding similar
relations to the ruling classes on the face of the earth_.
Their vices are no greater; their respect for law about the
same; and their care for their children little inferior.
Besides, they speak the language of their country better,
are less cringing and craven, freer from begging; more
manly, more polite, less priest-ridden, less obsequious;
have a higher estimate of human rights and obligations;
understand farming, cooking, house-work, and manual labor,
in which they have been trained, better, I insist, than any
similarly conditioned race or people. They are less
profane--very much less--than white people; less bitter,
vindictive, and bloodthirsty; less intemperate, and far, far
less revengeful; and less selfish than what they
contemptuously snub as "poor white trash." But he is a
sinner! I believe the old stale rhyme tells some truth in a
modified sense, "In Adam's fall we sinned all;" but I do not
believe the serpent's tooth struck a more deadly and
depraving virus into the Negro's share of the apple of Eden,
dooming him as a sinner to a lower plane of wickedness than
others. He commits not all, but many, of the sins, crimes,
and misdemeanors, and indulges many of the vices of polished
humanity--cultured Caucasian humanity. They have had but
moderate experience in the sole management of their own
affairs.

Again (p. 66):

The Negro is neither a beggar, nor a pauper, nor a tramp;
and if honestly dealt with, he can make his own way. Where
they are idle and profligate, execute the law vigorously
against them, and they will approve and aid in the work. We
can lift them up, or cast them down. For one, I think we owe
them a debt of gratitude and impartial justice for their
faithful conduct during the war; and when disposed to
criticise and reproach them for not coming in all things up
to your sentimental notions, just put yourself in their
place. Then you will, if your scales are true and your
weights just, settle the question with li