Page:An essay on the origin and relative status of the white and colored races of mankind.djvu/10

 "And when Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him, and he said, cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." Here, then, the question arises: Was Noah endowed with miraculous power to change the fixed laws of Nature, so as to cause so great a transformation in Ham or in his descendents? It is said that he built the immense Ark of the Deluge, and filled it with animated beings: but immense as it was, its structure was simple and plain; and it was built under the immediate notice and specific directions of his Creator. We have no account of his endowment with any such miraculous transforming omnipotent power; and if he had been so endowed, it is very clear that by the terms of the curse, the servitude of Canaan was limited to Ham's two brethren, Shem and Japheth, and did not extend to their posterity. If the curse had been couched in terms of ambiguity, there might have been some grounds for construing the servitude to be perpetual, and that construction would, in that case, have been strengthened by his naturally servile character. For it is well known that he subordinates himself to whatever race he is associated with; whether in a state of slavery or of freedom; and would never attempt to rise to social or political equality, with the white race unless prompted to it by a portion of the superior race; as in this country; or aspire to political supremacy, unless incited to it by a vast superiority of numbers, as in St. Domingo. But to leave no doubt about the intended meaning of the curse, Noah specially named each of those brethren of Ham, to whom his son Canaan should be a servant of servants, viz: Shem and Japheth; who were to dwell