"--Jonathan Boucher's _A View of the
Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution_, pp. 183, 188,
189.
A PORTION OF AN ESSAY OF BISHOP PORTEUS TOWARD A PLAN FOR THE MORE
EFFECTUAL CIVILIZATION AND CONVERSION OF THE NEGRO SLAVES ON THE TRENT
ESTATE IN BARBADOES BELONGING TO THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF
THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. (WRITTEN IN 1784)
"We are expressly commanded to preach the gospel to every creature;
and therefore every human creature must necessarily be capable of
receiving it. It may be true, perhaps, that the generality of
the Negro slaves are extremely dull of apprehension, and slow of
understanding; but it may be doubted whether they are more so than
some of the lowest classes of our own people; at least they are
certainly not inferior in capacity to the Greenlanders, many of whom
have made very sincere Christians. Several travellers of good credit
speak in very favorable terms, both of the understandings and
dispositions of the native Africans on the coast of Guinea; and it is
a well-known fact, that many even of the Negro slaves in our islands,
although laboring under disadvantages and discouragements, that might
well depress and stupefy even the best understandings, yet give
sufficient proofs of the great quickness of parts and facility in
learning.
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