r'^% ' r '-^ ^^'::' ,0' ^3 &" '">■ X^^x. -- -i f-- "ct- :^ -^c^. .^'^^ ..^ % .^ . • ^' - - -^^ ^/- - ■ -c^ V ^ : ^'^ # ^ '^^ '/ s" x'^^' '^r> 'N ■' A^ \ ' t r. -?' .-^ N C '-^^ ^ tr <, -^ \ ^ p ^'^■' : ^^/v '"^^ V , - - X ' - ° '' ,/^ > • '• . V • '" ' ' ^ .>" . - - > % ^^' \ ■ U ^ ' ^ ' \'^ ■-»',,, ■■ -o ,c° ' f -^ ,o^ ^. \ %^ ,Yv 'y>^ - - -S '^ ^^si*^*^^ \ " C^ ■CI. x^^ ''t •^Oi ^ .^ ' •>- sO^, .<^ v^'^- c J" ..S^<^ ^^'^- APPEAL IN FAVOE OF THAT CLASS AMERICANS CALLED AFRICANS. By mrs:^ child, AUTHOR OF THE MOTHER'S BOOK, THE GIRL's OAVN BOOK, THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE, ETC. " A\'e liave offended, Oh I my countrymen I We liave oflended very grievously, And been most tyrannous. From east to west A groan of accusation pierces Heaven ! The wretched plead against us ; multitudes, Countless and vehement, the sons of God, Our brethren ! COLEKIDGE. BOSTON: ALLEN AND T I C K N O R 1833. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, By Allen and Ticknor, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. Tl'Ttle &Z. Wkkks, Printer No. 8, School Street. TO THE REV. S. J. MAY, OF BROOKLYN; CONNECTICUT, Sri)is Volumt IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, AS A MARK OF GRATITUDE, FOR HIS EARNEST AND DISINTERESTED EFFORTS iw AN UNPOPULAR BUT BIOST RIGHTEOUS CAUSE. PREFACE. Reader, I beseech you not to throw down this vokime as soon as you have glanced at the title. Read it, if your prejudices will allow, for the veiy truth's sake : — If I have tlie most trifling claims upon your good will, for an hour's amusement to yourself, or benefit to your children, read it for my sake : — Read it, if it be merely to find fresh oc- casion to sneer at the vulgarity of the cause : — Read it, from sheer curiosity to see what a woman (who had much better attend to her household concerns) will say upon such a sub- ject: — Read it, on any terms, and my purpose will be^gamed. The subject I have chosen admits of no encomiums on my country ; but as I generally make it an object to supply what is most needed, this circumstance is unimportant ; the market is so glutted with flattery, that a little ti'uth may be acceptable, were it only for its rarity. I am fully aware of the unpopularity of the task I have undertaken ; but though I expect ridicule and censure, I cannot /ear them. A few years hence, the opinion of the world will be a matter in which I have not even the most transient interest ; but this book will be abroad on its mission of humanity, long after the hand that wrote it is mingling with the dust. Should it be the means of advancing, even one single horn-, the inevitable progi-ess of truth and justice, I would not ex- change the consciousness for all Rothchild's wealth, or Sir Walter's fame. AN APPEAL, &c CHAPTER I. BRIEF HISTORY OF NEGRO SLAVERY. — ITS INEVITABLE EFFECT UPON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. The lot is wretched, the condition sad. Whether a pining discontent survive, And thirst for cliange ; or liabit hath subdued The soul depressed ; dejected — even to love Of her dull tasks and close captivity. Wokdsworth. My ear is pained, My soul is sick with every day's report Of wrong and outrage, with which this earth is filled. There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart. It does not feel for man. Cowper. While the Portuguese were exploring Africa, in 1442, Prince Henry ordered Anthony Gonsalez to carry back certain Moorish prisoners, whom he had seized two years before near Cape Bajador : this order was obeyed, and Gonsalez received from the Moors, in exchange for the captives, ten negroes, and a quantity of gold dust. Un- luckily, this wicked speculation proved profitable, and other Portuguese were induced to embark in it. In 1492, the West India islands were discovered by Columbus. The Spaniards, dazzled with the acquisition of a new world and eager to come into possession of their wealth, compelled the natives of Hispaniola to dig in the mines. The native Indians died rapidly, in con- sequence of hard work and cruel treatment ; and thus a new market was opened for the negro slaves captured by the Portuguese. They were accordingly introduced as 1 a BRIEF IIISTOIiy early as 1503. Those who bought and those who sold were alike prepared to trample on the rights of their fellow beings, by that most demoralizing of all influences, the accursed love of gold. Cardinal Ximenes, while he administered the govern- ment, before the accession of Charles the Fifth, was peti- tioned to allow a regular commerce in African negroes. But he rejected the proposal with promptitude and firmness, alike honorable to his head and heart. This earliest friend of the Africans, living in a comparatively unenlightened age, has peculiar claims upon our gratitude and reverence. In 1517, Charles the Fifth granted a patent for an annual supply of four thousand negroes to the Spanish islands. He probably soon became aware of the horrible, and ever- increasing evils, attendant upon this traffic ; for twenty- five years after he emancipated every negro in his domin- ions. But when he resigned his crown and retired to a monastery, the colonists resumed their shameless tyranny. Captain Hawkins, afterward Sir John Hawkins, was the first Englishman, who disgraced himself and his country by this abominable trade. Assisted by some rich people in London, he fitted out three ships, and sailed to the African coast, where he burned and plundered the towns, and carried off three hundred of the defenceless inhabitants to Hispaniola. Elizabeth afterwards authorized a similar adventure with one of her own vessels. "She expressed her concern lest any of the Africans should be carried off without their free consent ; declaring that such a thing would be detestable, and call down the vengeance of Heaven upon the undertakers." For this reason, it has been supposed that the Queen was deceived — that she imag- ined the negroes were transported to the Spanish colonies as voluntary laborers. But history gives us slight rea- sons to judge Elizabeth so favorably. It was her system always to preserve an appearance of justice and virtue. She was a shrewd, far-sighted politician ; and had in perfection the clear head and cold heart calculated to form that character. Whatever she might believe of the trade at its beginning, she was too deeply read in human OF NEGRO SLAVERY. 3 nature, not to foresee the inevitable consequence of placing power in the hands of avarice. A Roman priest persuaded Louis the Tliirteenth to sanction slavery for the sake of converting the negroes to Christianity ; and thus this bloody iniquity, disguised with gown, hood, and rosary, entered the fair dominions of France. To be violently wrested from his home, and condemned to toil without hope, by Christians, to whom he had done no wrong, was, inethinks, a very odd beginning to the poor negro's course of religious in- struction ! When this evil had once begun, it, of course, gathered strength rapidly ; for all the bad passions of human na- ture were eagerly enlisted in its cause. The British formed settlements in North America, and in the West Indies ; and these were stocked with slaves. From 1680 to 1786 two million, one hundred and thirty thousand negroes were imported into the British colonies ! In almost all great evils there is some redeeming fea- ture — some good results, even where it is not intend- ed : pride and vanity, utterly selfish and wrong in them- selves, often throw money into the hands of the poor, and thus tend to excite industry and ingenuity, while they produce comfort. But slavery is «// evil — within and without — root and branch, — bud, blossom and fruit! In order to show how dark it is in every aspect — how invariably injurious both to nations and individuals, — I will select a few facts from the mass of evidence now before me. In the first place, its effects upon Africa have been most disastrous. All along the coast, intercourse with Europeans has deprived the inhabitants of their primitive simplicity, without substituting in its place the order, refinement, and correctness of principle, attendant upon true civilization. The soil of Africa is rich in native productions, and honorable commerce might have been a blessing to her, to Europe, and to America ; but instead of that, a trade has been substituted, which operates like a withering curse, upon all concerned in it. There are green and sheltered valleys in Africa, — broad and beautiful rivers, — and vegetation in its love- 4 THi; EFFECT OF SLAVERY liest and most magnificent forms. — But no comfortable houses, no thriving farms, no cultivated gardens ; — for it is not safe to possess permanent property, where each little state is surrounded by warlike neighbors, continu- ally sending out their armed bands in search of slaves. The white man offers his most tempting articles of mer- chandize to the negro, as a price for the flesh and blood of his enemy ; and if we, with all our boasted knowledge and religion, are seduced by money to do such grievous wrong to those who have never offended us, what can we expect of men just emerging from the limited wants of savage life, too uncivilized to have formed any habits of steady industry, yet earnestly coveting the productions they know not how to earn ? The inevitable consequence is, that war is made throughout that unhappy continent, not only upon the slightest pretences, but often without any pretext at all. Villages are set on fire, and those who fly from the flames rush upon the spears of the enemy. Private kidnapping is likewise carried on to a great ex- tent ; for he who can catch a neighbor's child is sure to find a ready purchaser ; and it sometimes happens that the captor and his living merchandize are both seized by the white slave-trader. Houses are broken open in the night, and defenceless women and children carried away into captivity. If boys, in the unsuspecting innocence of youth, come near the white man's ships, to sell vegeta- bles or fruit, they are ruthlessly seized and carried to slavery in a distant land. Even the laws are perverted to this shameful purpose. If a chief wants European commodities, he accuses a parent of witchcraft ; the vic- tim is tried by the ordeal of poisoned water;* and if he sicken at the draught, the king claims a right to punish him by selling his whole family. In African legislation, almost all crimes are punished with slavery; and, thanks to the white man's rapacity, there is always a very pow- erful motive for findinsr the culprit guilty. He must be a very good king indeed, that judges his subjects impar- tially, when he is sure of making money by doing other- wise ! * Judicial trials by the ordeal of personal combat, in which tho vanquished wore always pronounced guilty, occurred as late as X\\c sixteeritU century both in France aqd England, ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 5 The king of Dahomy, and other despotic princes, do not scruple to seize their own people and sell them, with- out provocation, whenever they happen to want anything, which slave-ships can furnish. If a chief has conscience enough to object to such proceedings, he is excited by presents of gun-powder and brandy. One of these men, who could not resist the persuasions of the slave traders while he was intoxicated, was conscience-stricken when he recovered his senses, and bitterly reproached his Christian seducers. One negro king, debarred by his religion from the use of spiritous liquors, and therefore less dangerously tempted than others, abolished the slave trade throughout his dominions, and exerted himself to encourage honest industry ; but his people must have been as sheep among wolves. Relentless bigotry brings its aid to darken the horrors of the scene. The Mohammedans deem it right to subject the heathen tribes to perpetual bondage. The Moors and Arabs think Alia and the Prophet have given them an undisputed right to the poor CaftVe, his wife, his children, and his goods. But mark how the slave-trade deepens even the fearful gloom of bigotry ! These Mo- hammedans are by no means zealous to enlighten their Pagan neighbors — they do not wish them to come to a knowledge of what they consider the true religion — lest they should forfeit the only ground, on which they can even pretend to the right of driving them by thou- sands to the markets of Kano and Tripoli. This is precisely like our own conduct. We say the negroes are so ignorant that they must be slaves ; and we insist upon keeping them ignorant, lest we spoil them for slaves. The same spirit that dictates this logic to the Arab, teaches it to the European and the American : — Call it what you please — it is certainly neither of heaven nor of earth. When the slave ships are lying on the coast of Africa, canoes well armed are sent into the inland country, and after a few weeks they return with hundreds of negroes, tied fast with ropes. Sometimes the white men lurk among the bushes, and seize the wretched beings who incautiously venture from their homes ; sometimes they 1* 6 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY paint their skins as black as their hearts, and by this de- ception suddenly surprise the unsuspecting natives ; at Other times the victims are decoyed on board the vessel, under some kind pretence or other, and then lashed to the mast, or chained in the hold. Is it not very natural for the Africans to say " devilish white" ? All along the shores of this devoted country, terror and distrust prevail. The natives never venture out without arms, when a vessel is in sight, and skulk through their own fields, as if watched by a panther. All their worst passions are called into full exercise, and all their kind- lier feelings smothered. Treachery, fraud and violence desolate the country, rend asunder the dearest relations, and pollute the very fountains of justice. The history of the negro, whether national or domestic, is written in blood. Had half the skill and strength employed in the slave-trade been engaged in honorable commerce, the native princes would long ago have directed their energies toward clearing the country, destroying wild beasts, and introducing the arts and refinements of civil- ized life. Under such influences, Africa might become an earthly paradise ; — the white man's avarice has made it a den of wolves. Having thus glanced at the miserable effects of this system on the condition of Africa, we will now follow the })Oor slave through his wretched wanderings, in order to give some idea of his physical suffering, his mental, and moral degradation. Husbands are torn from their wives, children from their parents, while the air is filled with the shrieks and lamentations of the bereaved. Sometimes they are brought from a remote country ; obliged to wander over mountains and through deserts ; chained together in herds ; driven by the whip ; scorched by a tropical sun ; compelled to carry heavy bales of merchandize ; suffering with hunger and thirst ; worn down with fatigue ; and often leaving their bones to whiten in the desert. A large troop of slaves, taken by the Sultan of Fezzan, died in the desert for want of food. In some places, travellers meet with fifty or sixty skeletons in a day, of which the largest proportion were no doubt slaves. ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 7 on their way to European markets. Sometimes the poor creatures refuse to go a step further, and even the lacer- ating whip cannot goad them on ; in such cases, they become the prey of wild beasts, more merciful than white men. Those who arrive at the sea-coast, are in a state of desperation and despair. Their purchasers are so well aware of this, and so fearful of the consequences, that they set sail in the nio^ht, lest the negroes should know when they depart from their native shores. And here the scene becomes almost too harrowing to dwell upon. But we must not allow our nerves to be more tender than our consciences. The poor wretches are stowed by hundreds, like bales of goods, between the low decks, where filth and putrid air produce disease, madness, and suicide. Unless they die in great num- bers, the slave captain does not even concern himself enough to fret ; his live stock cost nothing, and he is sure of such a high price for what remains at the end of the voyage, that he can afford to lose a good many. The following account is given by Dr Walsh, who ac- companied Viscount Strangford, as chaplain, on his embassy to Brazil. The vessel in which he sailed chased a slave ship; for to the honor of England be it said, she has asked and obtained permission from other govern- ments to treat as pirates such of their subjects as are discovered carrying on this guilty trade north of the equator. Doctor Walsh was an eye witness of the scene he describes ; and the evidence given, at various times, before the British House of Commons, proves that the frightful picture is by no means exaggerated. " The vessel had taken in, on the coast of Africa, three hundred and thirtysix males, and two hundred and twen- tysix females, making in all five hundred and sixtytwo ; she had been out seventeen days, during which she had thrown overboard fiftyfive. They were all inclosed under grated hatchways, between decks. The space was so low, and they were stowed so close together, that there was no possibility of lying down, or changing their po- sition, night or day. The greater part of them were shut out from light and air ; and this when the ther- 8 THE EFFECT OP SLAVERY mometer, exposed to the open sky, was standing, in the shade on our deck, at eightynine degrees. *' The space between decks was divided into two com- partments, three feet three inches high. Two hundred and twentysix women and girls were thrust into one space two hundred and eightyeight feet square ; and three hundred and thirtysix men and boys were crammed into another space eight hundred feet square ; giving the whole an av- erage of twenty three inches ; and to each of the women not more than thirteen inches ; though several of them were in a state of health, which peculiarly demanded pity. — As they were shipped on account of different individuals, they were branded like sheep, with the owner's marks of different forms ; which, as the mate informed me with perfect indifference, had been burnt in with red-hot iron. Over the hatch-way stood a ferocious looking fellow, the slave-driver of the ship, with a scourge of many-twisted thongs in his hand ; whenever he heard the slightest noise from below, he shook it over them, and seemed eager to exercise it. "As soon as the poor creatures saw us looking down at them, their melancholy visages brightened up. They perceived something of sympathy and kindness in our looks, to which they had not been accustomed ; and feeling instinctively that we were friends, they immedi- ately began to shout and clap their hands. The women were particularly excited. They all held up their arms, and when we bent down and shook hands with them, they could not contain their delight ; they endeavored to scramble upon their knees, stretching up to kiss our hands, and we understood they knew we had come to liberate them. Some, however, hung down their heads in apparently hopeless dejection ; some were greatly emaciated ; and some, particularly children, seemed dying. The heat of these horrid places w^as so great, and the odor so offensive, that it was quite impossible to enter them, even had there been room. The officers insisted that the poor, suffering creatures should be admitted on deck to get air and water. This was opposed by the mate of the slaver, who (from a feeling that they deserved it, ) declared they should be all mur- ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 9 dered. The officers, however, persisted, and the poor beings were all turned out together. It is impossible to conceive the effect of this eruption — five hundred and seventeen fellow-creatures, of all ages and sexes, some chil- dren, some adults, some old men and women, all entirely destitute of clothing, scrambling out together to taste the luxury of a little fresh air and water. They came swarm- ing up, like bees from a hive, till the whole deck was crowded to suffocation from stem to stern ; so that it was impossible to imagine where they could all have come from, or how they could have been stowed away. On looking into the places where they had been crammed, there were found some children next the sides of the ship, in the places most remote from light and air ; they were lying nearly in a torpid state, after the rest had turned out. The little creatures seemed indifferent as to life or death ; and vv'hen they were carried on deck, many of them could not stand. After enjoying for a short time the unusual luxury of air, some water was brought ; it was then that the extent of their sufferings was exposed in a fearful manner. They all rushed like maniacs towards it. No entreaties, or threats, or blows, could restrain them; they shrieked, and struggled, and fought with one another, for a drop of this precious liquid, as if they grew rabid at the sight of it. There is nothing from which slaves in the mid-passage suffer so much as want of water. It is sometimes usual to take out casks filled with sea-water as ballast, and when the slaves are received on board, to start the casks, and re-fill them with fresh. On one occasion, a ship from Bahia neglected to change the contents of their casks, and on the mid-pas- sage found, to their horror, that they were filled with nothing but salt water. All the slaves on board perished ! We could judge of the extent of their sufferings from the afl^icting sight we now saw. When the poor creatures were ordered down again, several of them came, and pressed their heads against our knees, with looks of the greatest anguish, with the prospect of returning to the horrid place of suffering below." Alas ! the slave-captain proved by his papers that he confined his traffic strictly to the south of the Line, 10 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY where it was yet lawful ; perhaps his papers were forged ; but the English officers were afraid to violate an article of the treaty, which their government had made with Brazil. Thus does cunning wickedness defeat benevo- lence and justice in this world ! Dr Walsh continues : " With infinite regret, therefore, we were obliged to re- store his papers to the captain, and permit him to proceed, after nine hours' detention and close investigation. It was dark when we separated, and the last parting sounds we heard from the unhallowed ship, were the cries and shrieks of the slaves, suffering under some bodily inflic- tion." I suppose the English officers acted politically right ; but not for the world's wealth, would I have acted politi- cally right, under such circumstances !* Arrived at the place of destination, the condition of the slave is scarcely less deplorable. They are adver- tised with cattle ; chained in droves, and driven to mar- ket with a whip ; and sold at auction, with the beasts of the field. They are treated like brutes, and all the influences around them conspire to make them brutes. " Some are employed as domestic slaves, when and how the owner pleases ; by day or by night, on Sunday or other days, in any measure or degree, with any remune- ration or with none, with what kind or quantity of food the owner of the human beast may choose. Male or female, young or old, weak or strong, may be punished with or without reason, as caprice or passion may prompt. When the drudge does not suit, he may be sold for some inferior purpose, like a horse that has seen his best days, till like a worn-out beast he dies, unpitied and forgotten ! Kept in ignorance of the holy precepts and divine con- solations of Christianity, he remains a Pagan in a Chris- tian land, without even an object of idolatrous worship — ' having no hope, and without God in the world.' " * Dr Walsh's book on Brazil was published in 1831. He says : " Notwithstanding the benevolent and persevering exertions of Engliiful, this horrid traffic in human flesh is nearly as extensively carried on as ever, and under circumstances perhaps of a more re- volting character. The very shifts at evasion, the necessity for concealment, and the desperate hazard, cause inconvenience and gufferings to the poor creatures in a very aggravated degree," ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 11 * From the moment the slave is kidnapped, to the last hour he draws his miserable breath, the white man's influence directly cherishes ignorance, fraud, treachery, theft, licentiousness, revenge, hatred and murder. It cannot be denied that human nature thus operated upon, must necessarily yield, more or less, to all these evils. — And thus do we dare to treat beings, who, like ourselves, are heirs of immortality ! And now let us briefly inquire into the influence of slavery on the white mail's character ; for in this evil there is a mighty re-action. " Such is the constitution of things, that we cannot inflict an injury without suffering from it ourselves : he, who blesses another, benefits him- self; but he, who sins against his fellow creature, does his own soul a grievous wrong." The effect produced upon slave captains is absolutely frightful. Those who wish to realize it in all its awful extent, may find abun- dant information in Clarkson's History of Slavery : the authenticity of the facts there given cannot be doubted ; for setting aside the perfect honesty of Clarkson's char- acter, these facts were principally accepted as evidence before the British Parliament, where there was a very strong party of slave owners desirous to prove them false. Indeed when we reflect upon the subject, it cannot excite surprise that slave-captains become as hard hearted and fierce as tigers. The very first step in their business is a deliberate invasion of the rights of others ; its pur- suit combines every form of violence, bloodshed, tyranny and anguish ; they are accustomed to consider their vic- tims as cattle, or blocks of wood ;* and they are invested with perfectly despotic powers. There is a great waste of life among white seamen employed in this traffic, in consequence of the severe *I have read letters from slave-captains to their employers, in which they declare that they shipped such a number of billets of wood, or pieces of eboiiy, on the coast of Africa. Near the office of the Richmond Enquirer in Virginia, an auction flag was hoisted one day this last winter, with the following curious advertisement : " On Monday the 11th inst., will be sold in front of the High Constable's office, one bright mulatto woman, about twentysix years of age ; also, some empty barrels, and sundry old candle boxes." 12 THE EFFECT OP SLAVERY punishment they receive, and diseases originating in the unwholesome atmosphere on board. Clarkson, after a long and patient investigation, came to the conclusion that two slave voyages to Africa, would destroy more seamen than eightythree to Newfoundland ; and there is this difference to be observed, that the loss in one trade is generally occasioned by weather or accident, in the other by cruelty or disease. The instances are exceed- ingly numerous of sailors on board slave-ships, that have died under the lash or in consequence of it. Some of the particulars are so painful that it has made me sicken to read them ; and I therefore forbear to repeat them. Of the Alexander's crew, in 1785, no less than eleven deserted at Eonny, on the African coast, because life had become insupportable. They chose all that could be en- dured from a most inhospitable climate, and the violence of the natives, rather than remain in their own ship. Nine others died on the voyage, and the rest were ex- ceedingly abused. This state of things was so universal that seamen were notoriously averse to enter the hateful business. In order to obtain them it became necessary to resort to force or deception. (Behold how many branches there are to the tree of crime !) Decoyed to houses where night after night was spent in dancing, rioting and drunkenness, the thoughtless fellows gave themselves up to the merriment of the scene, and in a moment of intoxication the fatal bargain was sealed. Encouraged to spend more than they owned, a jail or the slave-ship became the only alternatives. The superiority of wages was likewise a strong inducement ; but this was a cheat. The wages of the sailors were half paid in the currency of the country where the vessel carried her slaves ; and thus they were actually lower than in other trades, while they were nominally higher. In such an employment the morals of the seamen of course became corrupt, like their masters; and every species of fraud was thought allowable to deceive the ignorant Africans, by means of false weights, false mea- sures, adulterated commodities, and the like. Of the cruelties on board slave-ships, I will mention but a few instances ; though a large volume might be filled ON ALL CONCERNED IN tT. 13 with such detestable anecdotes perfectly well authenti- cated. *' A child on board a slave-ship, of about ten months old, took sulk and would not eat ; the captain flogged it with a cat-o'-nine tails ; swearing that he would make it eat, or kill it. From this, and other ill-treatment, the limbs swelled. He then ordered some water to be made hot to abate the swelling. But even his tender mercies were cruel. The cook, on putting his hand into the water, said it was too hot. Upon this the captain swore at him, and ordered the feet to be put in. This was done. The nails and skin came off. Oiled cloths were then put around them. The child was at length tied to a heavy log. Two or three days afterwards, the captain caught it up again, and repeated that he would make it eat, or kill it. He immediately flogged it again, and in a quarter of an hour it died. And after the babe was dead, whom should the barbarian select to throw it over- board, but the wretched mother ! In vain she tried to avoid the office. He beat her, till he made her take up the child and carry it to the side of the vessel. She then dropped it into the sea, turning her head the other way, that she might not see it."* " In 1780, a slave-trader, detained by contrary winds on the American coast, and in distress, selected one hundred and thirtytwo of his sick slaves, and threw them into the sea, tied together in pairs, that they might not escape by swimming. He hoped the Insurance Com- pany would indemnify him for his loss ; and in the law- suit, to which this gave birth, he observed that ' negroes cannot be considered in any other light than as beasts of burden ; and to lighten a vessel it is permitted to throw overboard its least valuable eflfects.' " Some of the unhappy slaves escaped from those who attempted to tie them, and jumped into the sea. One of them was saved by means of a cord thrown by the sailors of another vessel ; and the monster who murdered his innocent companions had the audacity to claim him *Clark6on's History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. 2 14 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY as his property. The judges, either from shame, or a sense of justice, refused his demand."* Some people speculate in what are called refuse slaves ; i. e. the poor diseased ones. Many of them die in the piazzas of the auctioneers ; and sometimes, in the agonies of death, they are sold as low as a dollar. Even this is better than to be unprotected on the wide ocean in the power of such wild beasts as I have de- scribed. It may seem incredible to some that human nature is capable of so much depravity. But the con- fessions of pirates show how habitual scenes of blood and violence harden the heart of man ; and history abundantly proves that despotic power produces a fearful species of moral insanity. The wanton cru- elties of Nero, Caligula, Domitian, and many of the officers of the Inquisition, seem like the frantic acts of madmen. The public has, however, a sense of justice, which can never be entirely perverted. Since the time when Clarkson, Wilberforce and Fox made the horrors of the slave trade understood, the slave captain, or slave jockey is spontaneously and almost universally regarded with dislike and horror. Even in the slave-holding States it is deemed disreputable to associate with a professed slave- trader, though few perhaps would think it any harm to bargain with him. This public feeling makes itself felt so strongly, that men engaged in what is called the African traffic, kept it a secret, if they could, even be- fore the laws made it hazardous. No man of the least principle could for a moment think of engaging in such enterprises ; and if he have any feeling, it is soon destroyed by familiarity with scenes of guilt and anguish. The result is, that the slave-trade is a monopoly in the hands of the very wicked ; and this is one reason why it has always been profitable. Yet even the slave S'^ Christophers. — The average number of white paupers appears to be one hundred and fifteen ; that of the other class, fourteen ; although there is no doubt that the population of the latter class greatly outnumbers that of the former. ** Tortola. — In 1825 the free black and colored popu- lation amounted to six hundred and seven. The whites are estimated at about three hundred. The number of POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 95 white paupers relieved appears to be twentynine : of the other class, four : being in proportion of fourteen to one. " In short, in a population of free black and colored persons amounting to from eighty thousand to ninety thousand, only two hundred and twentynine persons have received any relief whatever as paupers during the years 1821 to 1825 ; and these chiefly the concubines and children of destitute whites ; while of about sixty- five thousand whites, in the same time, sixteen hundred and seventyfive received relief The proportion, there- fore, of enfranchised persons receiving any kind of aid as paupers in the West Indies, is about one in three hundred and seventy : whereas the proportion among the whites of the West Indies is about one in forty ; and in England, generally one in twelve or thirteen — in some counties, one in eight or nine. *' Can any one read these statements, made by the colonists themselves, and still think it necessary to keep the negroes in slavery, lest they should be unable to maintain themselves if free 1 " In 1823, the Assembly of Grenada passed a resolu- tion, declaring that the free colored inhabitants of these colonies, were a respectable, well behaved class of the community, were possessed of considerable property, and were entitled to have their claims viewed with favor. *' In 1S24, when Jamaica had been disturbed for months by unfounded alarms relating to the slaves, a committee of the legislative assembly declared that ' the conduct of the freed people evinced not only zeal and alacrity, but a warm interest in the welfare of the col- ony, and every way identified them with those who are the most zealous promoters of its internal security.' The assembly confirmed this favorable report a few months ago, by passing a bill conferring on all free black and colored persons the same privileges, civil and political, with the white inhabitants. " In the orders issued in 1829, by the British Govern- ment, in St Lucia, placing all freemen of African de- scent upon the footing of equal rights with their white neighbors, the loyalty and good conduct of that class are distinctly acknowledged, and they are declared * to have 96 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. shown, hitherto, readiness and zeal in coming forward for the maintenance of order.' As similar orders have been issued for Trinidad, Berbice, and the Cape of Good Hope, it may be presumed that the conduct of the free blacks and colored persons in those colonies has like- wise given satisfaction to Government. " In the South African Commercial Advertiser of 9th of February, 1831, we are happy to find recorded one more of the numerous proofs which experience affords of the safety and expediency of immediate abolition. *' Three thousand prize negroes have received their freedom ; four hundred in one day ; but not the least difficulty or disorder occurred ; — servants found mas- ters — masters hired servants ; all gained homes, and at night scarcely an idler was to he seen. In the last month, one hundred and fifty were liberated under pre- cisely similar circumstances, and with the same result. These facts are within our own observation ; and to state that sudden and abrupt emancipation would create dis- order and distress to those you mean to serve, is not rea- son ; but the plea of all men who are adverse to eman- cipation. *' As far as it can be ascertained from the various documents which have been cited, and from others, which, from the fear of making this account too long, are not particularly referred to, it appears that in every place and time in which emancipation has been tried, not one drop of ivhite blood has been shed, or even en- dangered by it ; that it has everywhere greatly im- proved the condition of the blacks, and in most places has removed them from a state of degradation and suffering to one of respectability and happiness. Can it, then, be justifiable, on account of any vague fears of we know not what evils, to reject this just, salutary and hitherto uninjurious measure ; and to cling to a system which we know, by certain experience, is pro- ducing crime, misery and death, during every day of its existence ?" In Mexico, September 15, 1829, the following decree was issued ; " Slavery is forever abolished in the repub- lic ; and consequently all those individuals, who, until POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 97 this day, looked upon themselves as slaves, are free." The prices of slaves were settled by the magistrates, and they were required to work with their master, for stipulated wages, until the debt was paid. If the slave wished to change masters he could do so, if another per- son would take upon himself the liability of payment, in exchange for his labor ; and provided the master was se- cured against loss, he was obliged to consent to the trans- action. Similar transfers might take place to accommo- date the master, but never without the consent of the servant. The law regulated the allowance of provis- ions, clothing, &c., and if the negro wished for more, he might have it charged, and deducted from his wages ; but lest masters should take advantage of the improvi- dence of their servants, it was enacted, that all charges exceeding half the earnings of any slave, or family of slaves, should be void in law. The duties of servants were defined as clearly as possible by the laws, and magistrates appointed to enforce them ; but the master was entrusted with no power to punish, in any manner whatever. It was expressly required that the masters should furnish every servant with suitable means of re- ligious and intellectual instruction. A Vermont gentleman, who had been a slave holder in Mississippi, and afterward resident at Metamoras, in Mexico, speaks with enthusiasm of the beneficial effects of these regulations, and thinks the example highly im- portant to the United States. He declares that the value of the plantations was soon increased by the intro- duction of free labor. " No one was made poor by it. It gave property to the servant, and increased the riches of the master." The republics of Buenos Ayres, Chili, Bolivia, Peru, Co- lombia, Guatimala and Monte Video, likewise took steps for the abolition of slavery, soon after they themselves came into possession of freedom. In some of these states, means were taken for the instruction of young slaves, who were all enfranchised by law, on arriving at a cer- tain age ; in others, universal emancipation is to take place after a certain date, fixed by the laws. The em- pire of Brazil, and the United States are the only 9 98 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION, American nations, that have taken no measures to destroy this most pestilent system ; and I have recently been assured by intelligent Brazilians, that public opin- ion in that country is now so strongly opposed to slavery, that something effectual will be done toward abolition, at the very next meeting of the Cortes. If this sJiouId take place, the United States will stand alone in most hideous preeminence. When Necker wrote his famous book on French finances, he suggested a universal compact of nations to suppress the slave trade. The exertions of England alone have since nearly realized his generous plan, though avarice and cunning do still manage to elude her vigilance and power. She has obtained from Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, and Denmark, a mutual right to search all vessels suspected of being engag- ed in this wicked traffic* I believe I am correct in saying that ours is now the onli/ flag, which can pro- tect this iniquity from the just indignation of England. When a mutual right of search was proposed to us, a strong effort was made to blind the people with their own prejudices, by urging the old complaint of the impress- ment of seamen ; and alas, when has an unsuccessful appeal been made to passion and prejudice 1 It is evi- dent that nothing on earth ought to prevent cooperation in a cause like this. Besides, " It is useless for us to attempt to linger on the skirts of the age that is depart- ing. The action of existing causes and principles is steady and progressive. It cannot he retarded, unless we would ' blow out all the moral lights around us ;' and if we refuse to keep up with it, we shall be towed in the wake, whether we are willing or not." t When I think of the colonies established along the coast of Africa — of Algiers, conquered and civilized — of the increasing wealth and intelligence of Hayti — of the powerful efforts now being made all over the world to sway public opinion in favor of universal freedom — of the certain emancipation of slaves in all British Colonies * The British government actually paid Spain 400,000 pounds, as an indemnity to those engaged in the slave trade, on condition that tiie traffic should be abolished by law throughout her dominions. t Speech of Mr Brodnax of Virginia. POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 99 — and above all, the evident union of purpose existing between the French and English cabinets, — I can most plainly see the hand of God working for the deliverance of the negroes. We may resist the blessed influence, if we will ; but we cannot conquer. Every year the plot is thickening around us, and the nations of the earth, either consciously or unconsciously, are hastening the crisis. The defenders of the slave system are situated like the man in the Iron Shroud, the walls of whose prison daily moved nearer and nearer, by means of pow- erful machinery, until they crushed all that remained within them. But to return to the subject of emancipation. Nearly every one of the States north of Mason and Dixon's line once held slaves. These slaves were manumitted with- out bloodshed, and there was no trouble in making free colored laborers obey the laws. I am aware that this desirable change must be attend- ed with much more difficulty in the Southern States, simply because the evil has been suffered until it is fearfully overgrown ; but it must not be forgotten that while they are using their ingenuity and strength to sus- tain it for the present, the mischief is increasing more and more rapidly. If this be not a good time to apply a remedy, when will be a better ? They must annihi- late slavery, or slavery will annihilate them. It seems to be forgotten that emancipation from tyranny is not an emancipation from law; the negro, after he is made free, is restrained from the commission of crimes by the same laws which restrain other citi- zens : if he steals, he will be imprisoned : if he commits murder, he will be himg. It will, perhaps, be said that the free people of color in the slave portions of this country are peculiarly ignorant, idle, and vicious ? It may be so ; for our laws and our influence are peculiarly calculated to make them bad members of society. But we trust the civil power to keep in order the great mass of ignorant and vicious for- eigners continually pouring into the country ; and if the laws are strong enough for this, may they not be trusted to restrain the free blacks ? 100 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. In those countries where the slave codes are mild, where emancipation is rendered easy, and inducements are offered to industry, insurrections are not feared, and free people of color form a valuable portion of the com- munity. If we persist in acting in opposition to the es- tablished laws of nature and reason, how can we expect favorable results ? But it is pronounced unsafe to change our policy. Every progressive improvement in the world has been resisted by despotism, on the ground that changes were dangerous. The Emperor of Austria thinks there is need of keeping his subjects ignorant, that good order may be preserved. But what he calls good order, is sacrificing the happiness of many to the advancement of a few ; and no doubt knowledge is un- favorable to the continuation of such a state of things. It is precisely so with the slave holder ; he insists that the welfare of millions must be subordinate to his private interest, or else all good order is destroyed. It is much to be regretted that Washington enfran- chised his slaves in the manner he did ; because their poverty and indolence have furnished an ever ready ar- gument for those who are opposed to emancipation.* To turn slaves adrift in their old age, unaccustomed to take care of themselves, without employment, and in a community where all the prejudices were strongly ar- rayed against free negroes, w^as certainly an unhappy experiment. But if slaves were allowed to redeem themselves pro- gressively, by purchasing one day of the week after another, as they can in the Spanish colonies, habits of * With all my unbounded reverence for Washington, I have, I confess, sometimes found it hard to forgive him for not manumit- ting his slaves long before his death. A fact which has lately come to my knowledge, gave me great joy ; for it furnishes a rea- son for what had appeared to me unpardonable. It appears that Washington possessed a gang of negroes in right of his wife, with which his own negroes had intermarried. By the nuirriage settle- ment, the former were limited, in default of issue of the marriage, to the representatives of Mrs Washington at her death ; so that her negi-oes could not be enfranchised. Aw unwilhngness to sepa- rate parents and children, husbands and wives, induced Washing- ton to postpone the manumission of his own slaves. This motive is briefly, and as it were accidentally, referred to in his will. POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 101 industry would be gradually formed, and enterprise would be stimulated, by their successful efforts to acquire a little property. And if they afterward worked better as free laborers than they now do as slaves, it would surely benefit their masters, as well as themselves. That strong-hearted republican. La Fayette, when he returned to France in 1785, felt strongly urged by a sense of duty, to effect the emancipation of slaves in the Colony of Cayenne. As most of the property in the colony belonged to the crown, he was enabled to prose- cute his plans with less difficulty than he could other- wise have done. Thirty thousand dollars were expended in the purchase of plantations and slaves, for the sole purpose of proving by experiment the safety and good policy of conferring freedom.* Being afraid to trust the agents generally employed in the colony, he engaged a prudent and amiable man at Paris to undertake the busi- ness. This gentleman, being fully instructed in La Fay- ette's plans and wishes, sailed for Cayenne. The first thing he did when he arrived, was to collect all the cart- whips, and other instruments of punishment, and have them burnt amid a general assemblage of the slaves ; he then made known to them the laws and rules by which the estates would be governed. The object of all the regulations was to encourage industry by making it the means of freedom. This new kind of stimulus had a most favorable effect on the slaves, and gave promise of complete success. But the judicious agent died in con- sequence of the climate, and the French Revolution threw everything into a state of convulsion at home and abroad. The new republic of France bestowed uncon- ditional emancipation upon the slaves in her colonies : and had she persevered in her promises with good faith and discretion, the horrors of St Domingo might have been spared. The emancipated negroes in Cayenne came in a body to the agents, and declared that if the plantations still belonged to General La Fayette they were ready and willing to resume their labors for the benefit of * It is now reported that the Hon. Mr Wirt has purchased a plan- tation in Florida, with the same benevolent intent. Such a step, is worthy of that noble minded and distinguished man, 9* 102 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. one who had treated them like men, and cheered their toil by making it a certain means of freedom. I cannot forbear paying a tribute of respect to the venerable Moses Brown, of Providence, Rhode Island, now living in virtuous and vigorous old age. He was a slave owner in early life, and, unless I have been misin- formed, a slave dealer, likewise. When his attention became roused to religious subjects, these facts troubled his conscience. He easily and promptly decided that a Christian could not consistently keep slaves ; but he did not dare to trust his own nature to determine the best manner of doing justice to those he had wronged. He therefore appointed a committee, before whom he laid a statement of the expenses he had incurred for the food and clothing of his slaves, and of the number of years, during which he had had the exclusive benefit of their labors. He conceived that he had no right to charge them for their freedom, because God had given them an unalienable right to that possession, from the very hour of their birth ; but he wished the committee to decide what wages he ought to pay them for the work they had done. He cordially accepted the decision of the com- mittee, paid the negroes their dues, and left them to choose such employments as they thought best. Many of the grateful slaves preferred to remain with him as hired laborers. It is hardly necessary to add that Moses Brown is a Quaker. It is commonly urged against emancipation that white men cannot possibly labor under the sultry climate of our most southerly States. This is a good reason for not sending the slaves out of the country, but it is no argu- ment against making them free. No doubt we do need their labor ; but we ought to pay for it. Why should their presence be any more disagreeable as hired labor- ers, than as slaves J In Boston, we continually meet colored people in the streets, and employ them in vari- ous ways, without being endangered, or even incom- moded. There is no moral impossibility in a perfectly kind and just relation between the two races. If white men think otherwise, let them remove from climates which nature has made too hot for their consti- POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 103 tutions. Wealth or pleasure often induces men to change their abode ; an emigration for the sake of hu- manity would be an agreeable novelty. Algernon Sid- ney said, " When I cannot live in my own country, but by such means as are worse than dying in it, I think God shows me that I ought to keep myself out of it." But the slave holders try to stop all the efforts of be- nevolence, by vociferous complaints about infringing u^on their pro j)e7'fi/ ; and justice is so subordinate to self- interest, that the unrighteous claim is silently allowed, and even openly supported, by those who ought to blush for themselves, as Christians and as republicans. Let men simpUfy their arguments — let them confine them- selves to one single question, " What right can a man have to compel his neighbor to toil whhout reward, and leave the same hopeless inheritance to his children, in order that he may live in luxury and indolence ?" Let the doctrines of expediency return to the Father of Lies, who invented them, and gave them power to turn every way for evil. The Christian knows no appeal from the decisions of God, plainly uttered in his conscience. The laws of Venice allowed property in human be- ings ; and upon this ground Shylock demanded his pound of fiesh, cut nearest to the heart. Those who advertise mothers to be sold separately from their child- ren, likewise claim a right to human flesh ; and they too cut it nearest to the heart. The personal liberty of one man can never be the property of another. All ideas of property are founded upon the mutual agreement of the human race, and are regulated by such laws as are deemed most conducive to the general good. In slavery there is no mutual agree- ment ; for in that case it would not be slavery. The negro has no voice in the matter — no alternative is pre- sented to him — no bargain is made. The beginning of his bondage is the triumph of power over weakness ; its continuation is the tyranny of knowledge over ignor- ance. One man may as Vv ell claim an exclusive right to the air another man breathes, as to the possession of his limbs and faculties. Personal freedom is the birthright of every human being. God himself made it the first 104 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. great law of creation ; and no human enactment can render it null and void. " If," says Price, *' you have a right to make another man a slave, he has a right to make you a slave ;" and Ramsay says, " If we have in the beginning no right to sell a man, no person has a right to buy him." Am I reminded that the Imos acknowledge these vested rights in human flesh ? I answer, the laws them- selves were made by individuals, who wished to justify the wrong and profit by it. We ought never to have recognised a claim, which cannot exist according to the laws of God ; it is our duty to atone for the error ; and the sooner we make a beginning, the better will it be for us all. Must our arguments be based upon justice and mercy to the slave holders onli/ 1 Have the negroes no right to ask compensation for their years and years of unrewarded toil ? It is true that they have food and cloth- ing, of such kind, and in such quantities, as their mas- ters think proper. But it is evident that this is not the worth of their labor ; for the proprietors can give from one hundred to five and six hundred dollars for a slave, beside the expense of supporting those who are too old or too young to labor. They could not afford to do this, if the slave did not earn more than he receives in food and clothing. If the laws allowed the slave to redeem him- self progressively, the owner would receive his money back again ; and the negro's years of uncompensated toil would be more than lawful interest. The southerners are much in the habit of saying they really wish for emancipation, if it could he effected in safety ; but I search in vain for any proof that these as- sertions are sincere. (When I say this, I speak collec- tively ; there are, no doubt, individual exceptions.) Instead of profiting by the experience of other nations, the slave owners, as a body, have resolutely shut their eyes against the light, because they preferred darkness. Every change in the laws has rivetted the chain closer and closer upon their victims ; every attempt to make the voice of reason and benevolence heard has been overpow- ered with threatening and abuse. A cautious vigilance against improvement, a keen-eyed jealousy of all freedom EMANCIPATION NOT SINCERELY DESIRED. 105 of opinion, has characterized their movements. There can be no doubt that the majority wish to perpetuate slavery. They support it with loud bravado, or insidi- ous sophistry, or pretended regret ; but they never abandon the point. Their great desire is to keep the public mind turned in another direction. They are well aware that the ugly edifice is built of rotten timbers, and stands on slippery sands — if the loud voice of public opinion could be made to reverberate through its dreary chambers, the unsightly frame would fall, never to rise again. Since so many of their own citizens admit that the policy of this system is unsound, and its effects injurious, it is wonderful that they do not begin to destroy the *' costly iniquity" in good earnest. But long continued habit is very powerful ; and in the habit of slavery are concentrated the strongest evils of human nature — vanity, pride, love of power, licentiousness, and indolence. There is a minority, particularly in Virginia and Ken- tucky, who sincerely v/ish a change for the better ; but they are overpowered, and have not even ventured to speak, except in the great Virginia debate of 1832. In the course of that debate the spirit of slavery showed itself vv'ithout disguise. The member s, talked o^ emancipation ; but with one or two exceptions, they merely wanted to emancipate or rather to send away, the surplus popula- tion, which they could neither keep nor sell, and which might prove dangerous. They wished to get rid of the consequences of the evil, but were determined to keep the evil itself Some members from Western Virginia, who spoke in a better spirit, and founded their argu- ments on the broad principles of justice, not on the mere convenience of a certain class, were repelled with angry excitement. The eastern districts threatened to sepa- rate from the western, if the latter persisted in express- ing opinions opposed to the continuance of slavery. From what I have uniformly heard of the comparative prosperity of Eastern and V/estern Virginia, I should think this was very much like the town's poor threaten- ing to separate from the town. The mere circumstance of daring to debate on the 106 EMANCIPATION NOT SINCERELY DESIRED, subject was loudly reprimanded ; and there was a good deal of indignation expressed that " reckless editors, and imprudent correspondents, had presumed so far as to al- lude to it in the columns of a newspaper." Discussion in the Legislature was strongly deprecated until a plan had been formed ; yet they must have known that no plan could be formed, in a republican government, without previous discussion. The proposal contained within itself that self-perpetuating power, for which the schemes of slave owners are so remarkable. Mr Gholson sarcastically rebuked the restless spirit of improvement, by saying " he really had been under the impression that he owned his slaves. He had lately pur- chased four women and ten children, in whom he thought he had obtained a great bargain ; for he sup- posed they were his own property, as were his brood mares," To which Mr Roane replied, *' I own a con- siderable number of slaves, and am perfectly sure they are mine ; and I am sorry to add that I have occasion- ally, though not often, been compelled to make them feel the impression of that ownership. I would not touch a hair on the head of the gentleman's slave, any sooner than 1 would a hair in the mane of his horse." Mr R. likewise remarked, " I think slavery as much a correlative of liberty as cold is of heat. History, expe- rience, observation and reason, have taught me that the torch of liberty has ever burned brighter when sur- rounded by the dark and filthy, yet nutritious atmosphere of slavery ! I do not believe in the fanfaronade that all men are by nature equal. But these abstract specula- tions have nothing to do with the question, which I am willing to view as one of cold, sheer state policy, in which the safety, prosperity, and happiness of the ivhites alone are concerned." Would Mr Roane carry out his logic into all its de- tails ? Would he cherish intemperance, that sobriety might shine the brighter 1 Would he encourage theft, in order to throw additional lustre upon honesty ? Yet there seems to be precisely the same relation between these things that there is between slavery and freedom. Such sentiments sound oddly enough in the mouth of a republican of the nineteenth century ! EMANCIPATION NOT SINCERELY DESIRED. 107 When Mr Wirt, before the Supreme Federal Court, said that slavery was contrary to the laws of nature and of nations, and that the law of South Carolina concern- ing seizing colored seamen, was unconstitutional, the Governor directed several reproofs at him. In 1825, Mr King laid on the table of the United States Senate a re- solution to appropriate the proceeds of the public lands to the emancipation of slaves, and the removal of free negroes, provided the same could be done under and agreeable to, the laws of the respective States. He said he did not wish it to be debated, but considered at some future time. Yet kindly and cautiously as this move- ment was made, the whole South resented it, and Gov- ernor Troup called to the Legislature and people of Georgia, to *' stand to their arms." In 1827 the people of Baltimore presented a memorial to Congress, praying that slaves born in the District of Columbia after a given time, specified by law, might become free on arriv- ing at a certain age. A famous member from South Carolina called this an " impertinent interference, and a violation of the principles of liberti/ !" and the petition was not even committed. Another Southern gentleman in Congress objected to the Panama mission because Bo- livar had proclaimed liberty to the slaves. Mr Hayne, in his reply to Mr Webster, says : *' There is a spirit, which, like the father of evil, is constantly walking to and fro about the earth, seeking whom it may devour ; it is the spirit of false philanthropy. When this is infused into the bosom of a statesman (if one sO possessed can be called a statesman) it converts him at once into a visionary enthusiast. Then he indulges in golden dreams of national greatness and prosperity. He discovers that ' liberty is power,' and not content with vast schemes of improvement at home, which it would bankrupt the treasury of the world to execute, he flies to foreign lands to fulfil ' obligations to the human race, by inculcating the principles of civil and religious liberty,' &c. This spirit has long been busy with the slaves of the South ; and it is even now displaying itself in vain ef- forts to drive the government from its wise policy in rela- tion to the Indians." 108 EMANCIPATION NOT SINCERELY DESIRED. Governor Miller, of South Carolina, speaking of the tariff and ** the remedy," asserted that slave labor was preferable to free, and challenged the free states to compe- tition on fair terms. Governor Hamilton of the same State, in delivering an address on the same subject, ut- tered a eulogy upon slavery ; concluding as usual that nothing but the tariff — nothing but the rapacity of Northerners, could have nullified such great blessings of Providence, as the cheap labor and fertile soil of Carolina. Mr Calhoun, in his late speech in the Senate, alludes in a tone of strong disapprobation, and almost of reprimand, to the remarkable debate in the Virginia Legislature ; the occurrence of which offence he charges to the opinions and policy of the north. If these things evince any real desire to do away the evil, I cannot discover it. There are many who inherit the misfortune of slavery, and would gladly renounce the miserable birthright if they could ; for their sakes, I wish the majority were guided by a better spirit and a wiser policy. But this state of things cannot last. The ope- rations of Divine Providence are hastening the crisis, and move which way we will, it must come in some form or other ; if we take warning in time, it may come as a blessing. The spirit of philanthropy, which Mr Hayne calls ' false,' is walking to and fro in the earth ; and it will not pause, or turn back, till it has fastened the golden band of love and peace around a sinful world. — The sun of knowledge and liberty is already high in the heavens — it is peeping into every dark nook and corner of the earth — and the African cannot be always exclu- ded from its beams. The advocates of slavery remind me of a comparison I once heard differently applied : Even thus does a dog, unwilling to follow his master's carriage, bite the wheels, in a vain effort to stop its progress. CHAPTER IV. IXFLUEXCE OF SLAVERY ON THE POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. Casta. I believe these are portentous things Unto the climate that they point upon. Cicero. Indeed it is a strange disposed time : But men may construe thinss after tlicir fasliion, Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. Julius Cslh When slave representation was admitted into the Con- stitution of the United States, a wedge was introduced, which lias ever since effectually sundered the sympathies and interests of different portions of the country. By this step, the slave Stales acquired an undue advantage, which they have maintained with anxious jealousy, and in which the free States have never perfectly acquiesced. The latter would probably never have made the conces- sion, so contrary to their principles, and the express pro- visions of their State constitutions, if powerful motives had not been offered by the South. These consisted, first, in taking upon themselves a proportion of direct taxes, increased in the same ratio as their representation was increased by the concession to their slaves. Second. — In conceding to the small States an entire equality in the Senate. This was not indeed proposed as an item of the adjustment, but it operated as such ; for the small States, with the exception of Georgia, (which in fact expected to become one of the largest,) lay in the North, and were either free, or likely soon to become so. During most of the contest, Massachusetts, then one of the large States, voted with Virginia and Pennsylvania for unequal representation in the Senate ; but on the final question she was divided, and gave no vote. There 10 110 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE was probably an increasing tendency to view this part of the compromise not merely as a concession of thfe large to the small States, but also of the largely slave-holding, to the free, or slightly slave-holding States. The two questions of direct taxes in proportion to slave represen- tation, and of perfect equality in the Senate, were always connected together ; and a large committee of compro- mise, consisting of one member from each State, ex- pressly recommended that both provisions should be adopted, but neither of them without the other. Such were the equivalents, directly or indirectly of- fered, by which the free States were induced to consent to slave representation. It was not without very consid- erable struggles that they overcame their repugnance to admitting such a principle in the construction of a repub- lican government. Mr Gerry, of Massachusetts, at first exclaimed against it with evident horror, but at last, he was chairman of the committee of compromise. Even the slave States themselves, seem to have been a little embarrassed with the discordant element. A curious proof of this is given in the language of the Constitution. The ugly feature is covered as cautiously as the deformed visage of the Veiled Prophet. The words are as follows : *' Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the States according to their respective numbers ; which shall be ascertained by adding to the whole num- ber of free persons, including those hound to servitude for a term of years, and exeluding Indians not taxed^ three fifths of all other persons ^ In this most elaborate sentence, a foreigner would discern no slavery. None but those who already knew the venomous serpent, would be able to discover its sting. Governor Wright, of Maryland, a contemporary of all these transactions, and a slave holder, after delivering a eulogy upon the kindness of masters* expressed himself as follows : " The Constitution guaranties to us the ser- vices of these persons. It does not say slaves ; for the * It was stated, at the time, that this person frequently steamed his negroes, in order to reduce their size to an equal weight for riding race horses. This practice is understood to be common at the South. POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. Ill feelings of the framers of that glorious instrument would not suffer them to use that word, on account of its anti- congeniality — its incongeniality to the idea of a consti- tution for freemen. It says, ' persons held to service, or la- bor.' " — Gov. Wright's Speech in Congress, 3Iarch, 1822. This high praise bestowed on the form of our consti- tution, reminds me of an anecdote. A clergyman in a neighboring State, being obliged to be absent from his parish, procured a young man to supply his place, who w^as very worldly in his inclinations, and very gay in his manners. When the minister returned, his people said somewhat reproachfully, " How could you provide such a man to preach for us ; ^ou might at least have left us a hypocrite." While all parties agreed to act in opposition to the principles of justice, they all concurred to pay homage to them by hypocrisy of language ! Men are willing to try all means to appear honest, except the simple experi- ment of hcing so. It is true, there were individuals who distrusted this compromise at the time, if they did not wholly disapprove of it. It is said that Washington, as he was walking thoughtfully near the Schuylkill, was met by a member of the Convention, to whom, in the course of conversation, he acknowledged that he was meditating whether it would not be better to separate, without proposing a constitution to the people ; for he was in great doubt whether the frame of government, which was now nearly completed, v/ould be better for them, than to trust to the course of events, and await future emergencies. This anecdote was derived from an authentic source, and I have no doubt of its truth ; neither is there any doubt that Washington had in his mind this great com- promise, the pivot on which the system of government was to turn. If avarice was induced to shake hands with injustice, from the expectation of increased direct taxation upon the South, she gained little by the bargain. With the exception of two brief periods, during the French war, and the last war with England, the revenue of the 112 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERV ON THE United States has been raised by duties on i7nports. — The heavy debts and expenditures of the several States, which they had been accustomed to provide for by direct taxes, and which they probably expected ta see provided for by the same means in time to come, have been all paid by duties on imports. The greatest proportion of these duties are, of course, paid by the free States ; for here, the poorest laborer daily consumes several articles of foreign production, of which from one eighth to one half the price is a tax paid to government. The clothing of the slave population increases the reve- nue very little, and their food almost none at all. Wherever free labor and slave labor exist under the same government, there must be a perpetual clashing of interests. The legislation required for one, is, in its spirit and maxims, diametrically opposed to that required for the other. Hence Mr Madison predicteil, in the convention, which formed our Federal Constitution, that the contests would be between the great geographical sections ; that such had been the division, even during^ the war and the confederacy. In the same convention, Charles Pinckney, a man of great sagacity, spoke of the equal representation of large and small States as a matter of slight consequence ; no difficulties would ever arise on that point, he said ; the question would always be between the slave-holding and non-slave-holding interests. If the pressure of common danger, and the sense of individual weakness, during our contest for indepen- dence, could not bring the States to mutual confidence, nothing ever can do it, except a change of character. — From the adoption of the constitution to the present time,, the breach has been gradufdly widening. The South has pursued a uniform and sagacious system of policy, which, in all its bearings, direct and indirect, has been framed for the preservation and extension of slave power. This system, has in the very nature of the two things, constantly interfered with the interests of the free States ; and hitherto the South have always gained the victory. This has principally been accomplished by yoking all important questions together in pairs, and strenuously resisting the passage of one, unless accompanied by the POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 113 other. The South was desirous of removing the seat of government from Philadelphia to Washington, because the latter is in a slave territory, where republican repre- sentatives and magistrates can bring their slaves without danger of losing them, or having them contaminated by the principles of universal liberty: The assumption of the State debts, likely to bring considerable money back to the North, was linked with this question, and both were carried. The admission of Maine into the Union as a free State, and of Missouri as a slave State, were two more of these Siamese twins, not allowed to be sepa- rated from each other. A numerous smaller progeny may be found in the laying of imposts, and the succes- sive adjustment of protection to navigation, the fisheries, agriculture, and manufactures. There would perhaps be no harm in this system of compromises, or any objection to its continuing in in- finite series, if no injustice were done to a third party, which is never heard or noticed, except for purposes of oppression. I reverence the wisdom of our early legislators ; but they certainly did very wrong to admit slavery as an ele- ment into a free constitution; and to sacrifice the known and declared rights of a third and weaker party, in order to cement a union between two stronger ones. Such an arrangement ought not, and could not, come to good. It has given the slave States a controlling power which they will always keep, so long as we remain together. President John Adams was of opinion, that this ascendency might be attributed to an early mistake, originating in what he called the " Frankford advice." When the first Congress was summoned in Philadelphia, Doctor Rush, and two or three other eminent men of Pennsylvania, met the Massachusetts delegates at Frank- ford, a few miles from Philadelphia, and conjured them, as they valued the success of the common cause, to let no measure of importance appear to originate with the North, to yield precedence in all things to Virginia, and lead her if possible to commit herself to the Revolution. Above all, they begged that not a word might be said about " independence j" for that a strong prejudice 10* 114 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE already existed against the delegates from New England, on account of a supposed design to throw off their alle- giance to the mother country. " The Frankford advice" was followed. The delegates from Virginia took the lead on all occasions. His son, John Q. Adams, finds a more substantial reason. In his speech on the Tariff', February 4, 1833, he said : " Not three days since, Mr Clayton ot Geor- gia, called that species of population (viz. slaves) the machinery of the South. Now that machinery had twenty odd representatives* in that hall, — not elected by the machinery, but by those who owned it. And if he should go back to the history of this government from its foundation, it would be easy to prove that its decisions had been effected, in general, by less majorities than that. Nay, he might go farther, and insist that that very representation had ever been, in fact, the ruUng power of this government. ^^ " The history of the Union has afforded a continual proof that this representation of property, which they enjoy, as well in the election of President and Vice Pre- sident of the United States, as upon the floor of the House of Representatives, has secured to the slave-hold- ing States the entire control of the national policy, and, almost without exception, the possession of the highest executive oflice of the Union. Always united in the pur- pose of regulating the affairs of the whole Union by the standard of the slave-holding interest, their disproportion- ate numbers in the electoral colleges have enabled them, in ten otit of twelve quadrennial elections, to confer the Chief Magistracy upon one of their own citizens. — Their suffrages at every election, without exception, have been almost exclusively confined to a candidate of their own caste. Availing themselves of the divisions which, from the nature of man, always prevail in communities entirely free, they have sought and found auxiliaries in the other quarters of the Union, by associating the pas- sions of parties, and the ambition of individuals, with their own purposes, to establish and maintain throughout the confederated nation the slave-holding policy. The * There are now twcntyfivc orfd representatives — that is, repre seotatives of slaves. POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 115 office of Vice President, a station of high dignity, but of little other than contingent power, had been usually, by their indulgence, conceded to a citizen of the other sec- tion ; but even this political courtesy was superseded at the election before the last, and both the offices of Pre- sident and Vice President of the United States were, by the preponderancy of slave-holding votes, bestowed upon citizens of two adjoining and both slave-holding States. At this moment the President of the United States, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chief Justice of the United States, are all citizens of that favored portion of the united republic. The last of these offices, being, under the constitution, held by the tenure of good behaviour, has been honored and dignified by the occupation of the pre- sent incumbent upwards of thirty years. An overruling sense of the high responsibilities under which it is held, has effectually guarded him from permitting the sectional slave-holding spirit to ascend the tribunal of justice ; and it is not difficult to discern, in this inflexible impartiality, the source of the obloquy which that same spirit has not been inactive in attempting to excite against the Su- preme Court of the United States itself; and of the insu- perable aversion of the votaries of nullification to encoun- ter or abide by the decision of that tribunal, the true and legitimate umpire of constitutional, controverted law."* It is worthy of observation that this slave representation is always used to protect and extend slave power ; and in this way, the slaves themselves are made to vote for slavery : they are compelled to furnish halters to hang their posterity. Machiavel says that " the whole politics of rival states consist in checking the growth of one another." It is sufficiently obvious, that the slave and free States are, and must be, rivals, owing to the inevitable contradiction of their interests. It needed no Machiavel to predict the result. A continual strife has been going on, more or less earnest, according to the nature of the interests it involved, and the South has always had strength and * It seems to me that a political pamphlet was never written with more ability, clearness, and moderation, than Mr Adams's Report on the Tariff. 116 INFLUENCE OP SLAVERY ON THE skill to carry her point. Of all our Presidents, Washing- ton alone, had power to keep the jealousies of his coun- trymen in check ; and he used his influence nobly. — Some of his successors have cherished those jealousies, and made effective use of them. The people of the North have to manage a rocky and reluctant soil ; hence commerce and the fisheries early attracted their attention. The products of these employ- ments were, as they should be, proportioned to the dex- terity and hard labor required in their pursuit. The North grew opulent ; and her politicians, who came in contact with those of the South with anything like rival pretensions, represented the commercial class, which was the nucleus of the old Federal party. The Southerners have a genial climat6 and a fertile soil ; but in consequence of the cumbrous machinery of slave labor, which is slow for everything, (except exhaust- ing the soil,) they have always been less prosperous than the free States. It is said, I know not with how much truth, but it is certainly very credible, that a great pro- portion of their plantations are deeply mortgaged in New York and Philadelphia. It is likewise said that the ex- penses of the planters are generally one or two years in advance of their income. Whether these statements be true or not, the most casual observer will decide, that the free States are uniformly the most prosperous, notwith- standing the South possesses a political power, by which she manages to check-mate us at every important move. When we add this to the original jealousy spoken of by Mr Madison, it is not wonderful that Southern politicians take so little pains to conceal their strong dislike of the North. A striking difference of manners, also caused by slavery, serves to aggravate other differences. Slave holders have the habit of command; and from the supe- rior ease with which it sits upon them, they seem to imagine that they were " born to command," and we to obey. In time of war, they tauntingly told us that we might furnish the men, and they would furnish the offi- cers ; but in time of peace they find our list of pensioners so large, they complain that we did furnish so many men. POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 117 At the North, every body is busy in some employ- ment, and politics, with very few exceptions, form but a brief episode in the lives of the citizens. But the Southern politicians are men of leisure. They have nothing to do but to ride round their plantations, hunt, attend the races, study politics for the next legislative or congressional campaign, and decide how to use the prodigious mechanical power, of slave representation, which a political Archimedes may effectually wield for the destruction of commerce, or anything else, involving the prosperity of the free States. It has been already said, that most of the wealth in New England was made by commerce ; consequently the South became unfriendly to commerce. There was a class in New England, jealous, and not with- out reason, of their own commercial aristocracy. It was the policy of the South to foment these passions, and increase these prejudices. Thus was the old Democratic party formed ; and while that party honestly supposed they were merely resisting the encroachments of a nobil- ity at home, they were actually playing a game for one of the most aristocratic classes in the world — viz. the Southern planters. A famous slaveowner and politi- cian, openly boasted, that the South could always put down the aristocracy of the North, by means of her own democracy. In this point of view, democracy becomes a machine used by one aristocratic class against another, that has less power, and is therefore less dangerous. There are features in the organization of society, re- sulting from slavery, which are conducive to anything but the union of these States. A large class are with- out employment, are accustomed to command, and have a strong contempt for habits of industry. This class, like the nobility of feudal times, are restless, impetuous, eager for excitement, and prompt to settle all questions with the sword. Like the fierce old barons, at the head of their vassals, they are ever ready to resist and nullify the cen- tral power of the State, whenever it interferes with their individual interests, or even approaches the strong holds of their prejudices. All history shows, that men possess- ing hereditary, despotic power, cannot easily be brought 118 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE to acknowledge a superior, either in the administrators of the laws, or in the law itself. It was precisely such a class of men that covered Europe with camps, for up- wards often centuries. A Southern governor has dignified duelling with the name of an " institution" ; and the planters generally, seem to regard it as among those which they have denom- inated their " peculiar institutions." General Wilkinson, who was the son of a slave owner, expresses in his me- moirs, great abhorrence of duelling, and laments the powerful influence which his father's injunction, when a boy, had upon his after life : " James," said the old gentleman, " if you ever take an insult, I will disinherit you." A young law^yer, who Avent from Massachusetts to re- side at the South, has frequently declared that he could not take any stand there as a lawyer, or a gentleman, until he had fought : he was subject to continual insult and degradation, until he had evinced his readiness to kill, or be killed. It is obvious that such a state of morals elevates mere physical courage into a most undue impor- tance. There are indeed emergencies, when all the virtues, and all the best affections of man, are intertwined with personal bravery ; but this is not the kind of cour- age, which makes duelling in fashion. The patriot nobly sacrifices himself for the good of others ; the duellist wantonly sacrifices others to himself Brow-beating, which is the pioneer of the pistol, characterizes, particularly of late years, the Southern legislation. By these means, they seek to overawe the Representatives from the free States, whenever any ques- tion even remotely connected with slavery is about to be discussed ; and this, united with our strong reverence for the Union, has made our legislators shamefully cautious with regard to a subject, which peculiarly demands moral courage, and an abandonment of selfish considerations. If a member of Congress does stand his ground firmly, if he wants no preferment or profit, which the all powerful Southern influence can give, an effort is then made to intimidate him. The instances are numerous in which Northern men have been insulted and challenged by their Southern brethren, in consequence of the adverse POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 119 influence they exerted over the measures of the Federal government. This turbulent evil exists only in our slave States ; and the peace of the country is committed to their hands whenever twentyjive votes in Congress can turn the scale in favor of war. The statesmen of the South have generally been planters. Their agricultural products must pay the merchants — foreign and domestic, — the ship owner, the manufacturer, — and all others concerned in the ex- change or manipulation of them. It is universally agreed that the production of the raw materials is the least profitable employment of capital. The planters have always entertained a jealous dislike of those engaged in the more profitable business of the manufacture and exchange of products ; particularly as the existence of slavery among them destroys ingenuity and enterprise, and compels them to employ the merchants, manufactur- ers, and sailors of the free States.* Hence there has ever been a tendency to check New England, whenever she appears to shoot up with vigorous rapidity. Whether she tries to live by IiooJc or by crook, there is always an effort to restrain her within certain limited bounds. The embargo, passed without limitation of time, (a thing unprecedented,) was fastened upon the bosom of her commerce, until life was extinguished. The ostensible object of this measure, was to force Great Britain to terms, by distressing the West Indies for food. But while England commanded the seas, her colonies were not likely to starve ; and for the sake of this doubtful experiment, a certain and incalculable injury was in- flicted upon the Northern States. Seamen, and the numerous classes of mechanics connected with naviga- tion, were thrown out of employment, as suddenly as if they had been cast on a desert island by some convulsion of nature. Thousands of families were ruined by that ill-judged measure. Has any government a right to in- flict so much direct suffering on a very large portion of their own people, for the sake of an indirect and remote evil which may possibly be inflicted on an enemy ? * Virginia has great natural advantages for becoming a manufac- turing country ; but slavery, that does evil to all and good to none, produces a state of things which renders that impossible. 120 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE It is true, agriculture suflfered as well as commerce ; but acrricultural products could be converted into food and clothing ; they would not decay like ships, nor would the producers be deprived of employment and sustenance, like those connected with navigation. Whether this step was intended to paralyze the North or not, it most suddenly and decidedly produced that effect. We were told that it was done to save our commerce from falling into the hands of the English and French. But our merchants earnestly entreated not to be thus saved. At the very moment of the embargo, underwriters were ready to insure at the usual rates. The non-intercourse was of the same general charac- ter as the embargo, but less offensive and injurious. The war crowned this course of policy ; and like the other measures, was carried by slave votes. It was em- phatically a Southern, not a national war. Individuals gained glory by it, and many of them nobly deserved it ; but the amount of benefit which the country derived from that war might be told in much fewer words than would enumerate the mischiefs it produced. The commercial States, particularly New England, have been frequently reproached for not being willing to go to war for the protection of their own interests ; and have been charged with pusillanimity and ingratitude for not warmly seconding those who were so zealous to de- fend their cause. Mr Hayne, during the great debate with Mr Webster, in the Senate, made use of this cus- tomary sarcasm. It is revived whenever the sectional spirit of the South, or party spirit in the North, prompts individuals to depreciate the talents and character of any eminent Northern man. The Southern States have even gone so far on this subject, as to assume the designa- tion of ^'patriot States,'' in contra-distinction to their northern neighbors — and this too, while Bunker Hill and Faneuil Hall are still standing ! It certainly was a pleas- ant idea to exchange the appellation of slave States for that of patriot States — it removed a word which in a republic is unseemly and inconsistent. Whatever may be thought of the justice and expedi- ency of the last war, it was certainly undertaken against POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 121 the earnest wishes of the commercial States — two thirds of the Representatives from those States voted in oppo- sition to the measure. According to the spirit of the constitution it ought not to have passed unless there were two thirds in favor of it. Why then should the South have insisted upon conferring a boon, which was not wanted ; and how happened it, that Yankees, with all their acknowledged shrewdness in money matters, could never to this day perceive how they were protected by it ? Yet New England is reproached with cowardice and ingratitude to her Southern benefactors ! If one man were to knock another down with a broad axe, in the attempt to brush a fly from his face, and then blame him for not being sufficiently thankful, it would exactly illustrate the relation between the North and the South on this subject. If the protection of commerce had been the real ob- ject of the war, would not some preparations have been made for a navy 1 It was ever the policy of the slave States to destroy the navy. Vast conquests by land were contemplated, for the protection of Northern commerce. Whatever was intended, the work of destruction was done. The policy of the South stood for a while like a giant among ruins. New England received a blow, which crushed her energies, but could not annihilate them. Where the system of free labor prevails, and there is work of any kind to be done, there is a safety valve provided for any pressure. In such a community there is a vital and active principle, which cannot be long repressed. You may dam up the busy waters, but they will sweep away obstructions, or force a new channel. Immediately after the peace, when commerce again began to try her broken wings, the South took care to keep her down, by multiplying permanent embarrass- ments, in the shape of duties. The direct tax (which would have borne equally upon them, and which in the original compact was the equivalent for slave representa- tion), was forthwith repealed, and commerce was bur- dened with the payment of the national debt. The encouragement of manufactures, the consumption of domestic products, or living within ourselves, was then 11 122, INFLUENCE OP SLAVERY ON THE Urged upon us. This v/as an ancient doctrine of the democratic party. Mr Jefferson was its strongest advo- cate. Did he think it likely to bear unfavorably upon " the nation of shop keepers and pedlers f* The Northerners adopted it with sincere views to economy, and more perfect independence. The duties were so adjusted as to embarrass commerce, and to guard the in- terests of a few in the North, who, from patriotism, party spirit, or private interest, had established manufac- tures on a considerable scale. This system of protec- tion opposed by the North, was begun in 1816 by Southern politicians, and enlarged and confirmed by them in 1824. It was carried nearly as much by Southern influ- ence, asw^as the war itself; and if the votes were placed side by side, there could not be a doubt of the identity of the interests and passions, which lay concealed under both. But enterprise, that moral perpetual-motion, overcomes all obstacles. Neat and flourishing villages rose in every valley of New England. The busy hum of machinery made music with her neglected waterfalls. All her streams, like the famous Pactolus, flowed with gold. From her discouraged and embarrassed commerce arose a greater blessing, apparently indestructible. Walls of brick and granite could not easily be overturned by the Southern lever, and left to decay, as the ship timber had done. Thus Mordecai was again seated in the king's gate, by means of the very system intended for his ruin. As soon as this state of things became percep- tible, the South commenced active hostility with man- ufactures. Doleful pictures of Southern desolation and decay were given, and all attributed to manufactures. The North was said to be plundering the South, while she, poor dame, was enriching her neighbors, and growing poor upon her extensive labors. (If this state- ment be true, how much gratitude do we owe the ne- groes; for they do all the work that is done at the South. Their masters only serve to keep them in a condition, where they do not accomplish half as much as they otherwise would.) * Mr Jefferson's description of New England. POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 123 New England seems to be like the poor lamb that tried to drink at the same stream with the wolf. " You make the water so muddy I can't drink," says the wolf: "I stand below you," replied the lamb, '' and therefore it cannot be." " You did me an injury last year," retorted the wolf " I was not born last year," rejoined the lamb. *' Well, well," exclaimed the wolf, '* then it was your father or mother. I'll eat you, at all events." The bitter discussions in Congress have grown out of this strong dislike to the free States ; and the crown of the whole policy is nullification. The single state of South Carolina has undertaken to abolish the revenues of the whole nation ; and threatened the Federal Gov- ernment with secession from the Union, in case the laws were enforced by any other means than through the judicial tribunals. " South Carolina has the privilege of excessive repre- sentation, and is released from the payment of direct taxes, which, according to the ratio of her representation, would be nearly double that of any non-slave-holding State ; it is therefore not a little extraordinary that she should complain of an unequal proportion of duties of imposts. " It is not a little extraordinary that this new pretension of South Carolina, the State which above all others en- joys this unrequited privilege of excessive representa- tion, released from all payment of the direct taxes, of which her proportion would be nearly double that of any non-slave-holding State, should proceed from that very complaint that she bears an unequal proportion of duties of imposts, which, by the constitution of the United States, are required to be uniform throughout the Union. Vermont, with a free population of two hundred and eighty thousand souls, has five representatives in the popular House of Congress, and seven Electors for President and Vice President. South Carolina, with a free population of less than two hundred and sixty thousand souls, sends nine members to the House of Representatives, and honors the Governor of Virginia with eleven votes for the office of President of the United States. If the rule of repre- sentation were the same for South Carolina and for Vermont, they would have the same number of Repre- 124 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE sentatives in the House, and the same number of Elec- tors for the choice of President and Vice President. She has nearly double the number of both." What would the South have? They took the manage- ment at the very threshold of our government, and, excepting the rigidly just administration of Washington, they have kept it ever since. They claimed slave repre- sentation, and obtained it. For their convenience the revenues were raised by imposts instead of direct taxes, and thus they give little or nothing in exchange for their excessive representation. They have increased the slave States, till they have twentyfive votes in Congress — They have laid the embargo, and declared war — They have controlled the expenditures of the nation — They have acquired Louisiana and Florida for an eternal slave market, and perchance for the manufactory of more slave States — They have given five presidents out of seven to the United States — And in their attack upon manufactures, they have gained Mr Clay's concession bill. " But all this availeth not, so long as Mordecai the Jew sitteth in the king's gate." The free States must be kept down. But change their policy as they will, free States cannot be kept down. There is but one way to ruin them ; and that is to make them slave States. If the South w^ith all her power and skill cannot manage Jierself into prosperity, it is because the difficulty lies at her own doors, and she will not remove it. At one time her deserted villages were attributed to the undue patron- age bestowed upon settlers on the public lands ; at another, the tariff is the cause of her desolation. Slavery, the real root of the evil, is carefully kept out of sight, as fi " delicate subject," wdiich must not be alluded to. It is a singular fact in the present age of the world, that delicate and indelicate subjects mean precisely the same thing. If any proof were wanted, that slavery is the cause of all this discord, it is furnished by Eastern and West- ern Virginia. They belong to the same State, and are protected by the same laws ; but in the former, the slave- holding interest is very strong — while in the latter, it is scarcely anything. The result is, warfare, and con- tinual complaints, and threats of separation. There are POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 125 no such contentions between the different sections of free States; simply because slavery, the exciting cause of strife, does not exist among them. The constant threat of the slave-holding States is the dissolution of the Union ; and they have repeated it with all the earnestness of sincerity, though there are power- ful reasons why it would not be well for them to venture upon that untried state of being. In one respect only, are these threats of any consequence — they have famil- iarized the public mind with the subject of separation, and diminished the reverence, with which the free States have hitherto regarded the Union. The farewell advice of Washington operated like a spell upon the hearts and consciences of his countrymen. For many, many years after his death, it would almost have been deemed blas- phemy to speak of separation as a possible event. I would that it still continued so ! But it is now an every- day occurrence, to hear politicians, of all parties, con- jecturing what system would be pursued by different sec- tions of the country, in case of a dissolution of the Union. This evil is likewise chargeable upon slavery. The threats of separation have uniformly come from the slave-hold- ing States ; and on many important measures the free States have been awed into acquiescence by their respect for the Union. Mr Adams, in the able and manly report before alluded to, says : " It cannot be denied that in a community spreading over a large extent of territory, and politically founded upon the principles proclaimed in the declara- tion of independence, but differing so widely in the ele- ments of their social condition, that the inhabitants of one half the territory are wholly free, and those of the other half divided into masters and slaves, deep if not irreconcilable collisions of interest must abound. The question whether such a community can exist under one common government, is a subject of profound, phi- losophical speculation in theory. Whether it can con- tinue long to exist, is a question to be solved only by the experiment now making by the people of this Union, un- der that national compact, the constitution of the Unit- ed States." 11* 126 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE The admission of Missouri into the Union is another clear illustration of the slave-holding power. That contest was marked by the same violence and the same threats as have characterized nullification. On both occasions the planters were pitted against the commer- cial and manufacturing sections of the country. On both occasions the democracy of the North was, by one means or another, induced to throw its strength upon the Southern lever, to increase its already prodigious power. On both, and on all occasions, some little support has been given to Northern principles in Maryland, Vir- ginia, and North Carolina ; because in portions of those States there is a considerable commercial interest, and some encouragement of free labor. So true it is, in the minutest details, that slavery and freedom are always arrayed in opposition to each other. At the time of the Missouri question, the pestiferous effects of slavery had become too obvious to escape the observation of the most superficial statesman. The new free States admitted into the Union enjoyed tenfold prosperity compared with the new slave States. Give a free laborer a barren rock, and he will soon cover it with vegetation ; while the slave and his task-master, would change the garden of Eden to a desert. But Missouri must be admitted as a slave State, for two strong reasons. First, that the planters might per- petuate their predominant influence by adding to the slave representation, — the power of which is always concentrated against the interests of the free States. — Second, that a new market might be opened for their surplus slaves. It is lamentable to think that two votes in favor of Missouri slavery, were given by Massachu- setts men ; and that those two votes would have turned the scale. The planters loudly threatened to dissolve the Union, if slavery were not extended beyond the Mis- sissippi. If the Union cannot be preserved without crime, it is an eternal truth that nothing good can be preserved hy crime. The immense territories of Louis- iana, Arkansas, and Florida are very likely to be formed into slave States ; and every new vote on this side, places the free States more and more at the mercy of the South- POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 127 and gives a renewed and apparently interminable lease to the duration of slavery. The purchase or the conquest of the Texas, is a favor- ite scheme with Southerners, because it would occasion such an inexhaustible demand for slaves. A gentleman in the Virginia convention thought the acquisition of the Texas so certain, that he made calculations upon the in- creased value of negroes. We have reason to thank God that the jealousy of the Mexican government places a barrier in that direction. The existence of slavery among us prevents the recog- nition of Haytian independence. That republic is fast increasing in wealth, intelligence and refinement. — Her commerce is valuable to us and might become much more so. But our Northern representatives have never even made an effort to have her independence acknow- ledged, because a colored ambassador would be so disa- greeable to our prejudices. Few are aware of the extent o^ sectional dislike in this country ; and I would not speak of it, if I thought it pos- sible to add to it. The late John Taylor, a man of great natural talent, wrote a book on the agriculture of Vir- ginia, in which he acknowledges impoverishment, but attributes it all to the mismanagement of overseers. In this work, Mr Taylor has embodied more of the genuine spirit, the ethics and politics, of planters, than any other man ; excepting perhaps, John Randolph in his speeches. He treats merchants, capitalists, bankers, and all other people not planters, as so many robbers, who live by plundering the slave owner, apparently forgetting by what plunder they themselves live. Mr Jefferson and other eminent men from the South, have occasionally betrayed the same strong prejudices ; but they were more guarded, lest the democracy of the North should be undeceived, and their votes lost. Mr Taylor's book is in high repute in the Southern States, and its sentiments widely echoed ; but it is little known here. A year or two since, I received a letter from a pub- lisher who largely supplies the Southern market, in which he assured me that no book from the North would sell at 128 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY. the South, unless the source from which it came, were carefully concealed ! Yet New England has always yielded to Southern policy in preference to uniting with the Middle States, with which she has in most respects, a congeniality of interests and habits. It has been the constant policy of the slave States to prevent the free States from acting together. Who does not see that the American people are walk- ing over a subterranean fire, the flames of which are fed by slavery ? The South no doubt gave her influence to General Jackson, from the conviction that a slave owner would support the slave-holding interest. The Proclamation against the nullifiers, which has given the President such sudden popularity at the North, has of course offended them. No person has a right to say that Proclamation is insincere. It will be extraordinary if a slave owner does in reality depart from the uniform system of his brethren. In the President's last Message, it is maintained that the wealthy land holders, that is, the planters, are the best part of the population ; — it admits that the laws for raising of revenue by imposts have been in their operation oppressive to the South ; — it recom- mends a gradual withdrawing of protection from manu- factures ; — it advises that the public lands shall cease to be a source of revenue, as soon as practicable — that they be sold to settlers — and in a convenient time the disposal of the soil be surrendered to the States respec- tively in loliich it lies ; — lastly, the Message tends to discourage future appropriations of public money for purposes of internal improvement. Every one of these items is a concession to the slave- holding policy. If the public lands are taken from the nation, and given to the States in which the soil lies, who will get the largest share ? That best part of the population called planters. The Proclamation and the Message are very unlike each other. Perhaps South Carolina is to obtain her own will by a route more certain, though more circuitous, than open rebellion. Time will show. CHAPTER V. COLONIZATION SOCIETY, AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. It is not madness That I have utter'd : For love of grace, Lay not that flattering unction to your soul, That not your trespass but my madness speaks : It will but skin nndfilm the ulcerous place ; While rank corruption, mining all within, Infects unseen. Confess yourself to Heaven ; Repent what 's past ; avoid what is to come ; And do not spread the compost on the weeds, To make them ranker. Hamlet, ^c£ ///, Scene Zd. W!ien doctrines meet with general approbation, It is not heresy, but reformation. Garrick. So much excitement prevails with regard to these two societies at present, that it will be difficult to present a view of them which will be perfectly satisfactory to all. I shall say what appears to me, to be candid and true, without any anxiety as to whom it may please, and whom it may displease. I need not say that I have a decided predilection, because it has been sufficiently betrayed in the preceding pages ; and I allude to it for the sake of perfect sincerity, rather than from any idea that my opinion is important. The American Colonization Society was organized a little more than sixteen years ago at the city of Washing- ton, chosen as the most central place in the Union. — Auxiliary institutions have since been formed in almost every part of the country ; and nearly all the distinguish- ed men belong to it. The doing away of slavery in the United States, by gradually removing all the blacks to Africa, has been generally supposed to be its object. — The project at first excited some jealousy in the South- ern States ; and the Society in order to allay this, were anxious to make all possible concessions to slave owners, in their Addresses, Reports, &lq,. In Mr Clay's speech, printed in the first Annual Report of the Society, he said, 130 COLONIZATION SOCIETy, ''It is far from the intention of this Society to affect, in any manner, the tenure by which a certain species of property is held. I am myself a slave-holder, and I con- sider that kind of property as inviolable as any other in the country. I would resist encroachment upon it as soon, and with as much firmness as [ would upon any other property that I hold. Nor am I prepared to go as far as the gentleman, who has just spoken (Mr Mercer) in saying that I would emancipate my slaves, if the means were provided of sending them from the country." At the same meeting Mr Randolph said, *' He thought it necessary, being himself a slave-holder, to show that so far from being in the smallest degree connected with the abolition of slavery, the proposed Society woiild prove one of the greatest securities to enable the master to keep in possession his oion property J' In Mr Clay's speech, in the second Annual Report, he declares : " It is not proposed to deliberate upon, or con- sider at all, any question of emancipation, or any that is connected with the abolition of slavery. On this condi- tion alone gentlemen from the South and West can be expected to cooperate. On this condition only, I have myself attended." In the seventh Annual Report it is said, " An effort for the benefit of the blacks, in which all parts of the country can unite, of course must not have the abolition of slavery for its immediate object; nor may it aim di- rectly at the instruction of the blacks." Mr Archer of Virginia, fifteenth Annual Report, says, " The object of the Society, if I understand it aright, in- volves no intrusion on property, nor even 2ipon prejudice.'^ In the speech of James S. Green, Esq. he says : " This Society have ever disavowed, and they do yet disavow that their object is the emancipation of slaves. They have no wish if they could to interfere in the smallest degree with what they deem the most interesting and fearful subject, which can be pressed upon the American public. There is no people that treat their slaves with so much kindness and so little cruelty." In almost every address delivered before the Society similar expressions occur. — On the propriety of discuss- ing the evils of slavery, without bitterness and without AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 131 fear, good men may differ in opinion ; though I think the time is fast coming, when they will all agree. — But by assuming the ground implied in the above re- marks, the Colonization Society have fallen into the habit of glossing over the enormities of the slave system ; at least, it so appears to me. In their constitution they have pledged themselves not to speak, write, or do any- thing to offend the Southerners ; and as there is no pos- sible way of making the truth pleasant to those who do not love it, the Society must perforce keep the truth out of sight. In many of their publications, I have thought I discovered a lurking tendency to palliate slavery ; or, at least to make the best of it. They often bring to my mind the words of Hamlet : '^ Forgive me this my virtue ; For in the fatness of these pursy times, Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg ; Yea, curb and woo, for leave to do him good." Thus in an Address delivered March, 1833, we are told, " It ought never to be forgotten that the slave-trade between Africa and America, had its origin in a com- passionate endeavor to relieve, by the substitution of negro labor, the toils endured by native Indians. It was the simulated form of mercy that piloted the first slave- ship across the Atlantic." I am aware that Las Cases used this argument ; but it was less unbecoming in him than it is in a philanthro- pist of the present day. The speaker does indeed say that " the ' infinite of agonies' and the infinite of crime, since suffered and committed, proves that mercy cannot ex- ist in opposition to justice." I can hardly realize what sort of a conscience it must be, that needed the demonstration. The plain truth was, the Spaniards were in a hurry for gold ; they overworked the native Indians, who were inconsiderate enough to die in very inconvenient numbers ; but the gold must be had, and that quickly ; and so the Africans were forced to come and die in com- pany with the Indians. And in the nineteenth century, we are told it is our duty not to forget that this was a " simulated form of mercy" ! A c?z5simulated form would have been the better expression. If we may believe slave owners, the whole system, from 132 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, beginning to end, is a matter of mercy. They have described the Middle Passage, with its gags, fetters, and thumbscrews, as "the happiest period of a negro's life" ; they say they do the slaves a great charity in bringing them from barbarous Africa to a civilized and Christian country; and on the plantation, under the whip of the driver, the negroes are so happy, that a West India planter publicly declared he could not look upon them, without wishing to be himself a slave. In the speech above referred to, we are told, that as to any political interference, *' the slave States are foreign States. We can alienate their feelings until they be- come foreign enemies ; or, on the other hand, we can conciliate them until they become allies and auxiliaries in the sacred cause of emancipation." But so long as the South insist that slavery is unavoid- able, and say they will not tolerate any schemes tending to its abolition — and so long as the North take the ne- cessity of slavery for an unalterable truth, and put down any discussions, however mild and candid, which tend to show that it mai/ be done away with safety — so long as we thus strengthen each other's hands in evil, what re- mote hope is there of emancipation ? If by political interference is meant hostile interference, or even a desire to promote insurrection, I should at once pronounce it to be most wicked ; but if by political interference is meant the liberty to investigate this subject, as other subjects are investigated — to inquire into what has been done, mid w^hat may be done — I say it is our sacred duty to do it. To enlighten public opinion is the best way that has'yet been discovered for the removal of national evils ; and slavery is certainly a national evil. The Southern States, according to their ow^n evidence, are impoverished by it ; a great amount of w'retchedness and crime inevitably follows in its train ; the prosperity of the North is continually checked by it ; it promotes feelings of rivalry between the States ; it separates our interests ; makes our councils discordant ; threatens the destruction of our government ; and disgraces us in the eyes of the world. I have often heard Americans who had been abroad, declare that nothing embarrassed AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 133 them so much as being questioned about our slaves ; and that nothing was so mortifying as to have the pictures of runaway negroes pointed at in the newspapers of this re- public. La Fayette, with all his admiration for our insti- tutions, can never speak of the subject without regret and shame. Now a common evil certainly implies a common right to remedy ; and where is the remedy to be found, if the South in all their speeches and writings repeat that slavery must exist — if the Colonization Society re-echo, in all their Addresses and Reports, that there is no help for the evil, and it is very wicked to hint that there is — and if public opinion here brands every body as a fanatic and madman, who wishes to inquire what can be done ? The supineness of New England on this subject, reminds me of the man who being asked to work at the pump, be- cause the vessel was going down, answered, " I am only a passenger." An error often and urgently repeated is apt to receive the sanction of truth ; and so it is in this case. The public take it for granted that slavery is a " lamentable necessity,'^ Nevertheless there Z5 a way to effect its cure, if we all join sincerely, earnestly, and kindly in the work ; but if we expend our energies in palliating the evil, or mourning over its hopelessness, or quarreling about who is the most to blame for it, the vessel, — crew, passengers, and all, — will go down together. I object to the Colonization Society, because it tends to put public opinion asleep, on a subject where it needs to be wide awake. The address above alluded to, does indeed inform us of one thing which we are at liberty to do : " We must go to the master and adjure him, by all the sacred rights of humanity, by all the laws of natural justice, by his dread responsibilities, — which in the economy of Provi- dence, are always coextensive and commensurate with power, — to raise the slave out of his abyss of degrada- tion, to give him a participation in the benefits of mortal existence, and to make him a member of the intellectual and moral world, from which he, and his fathers, for so many generations, have been exiled." The practical 12 134 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, utility of such a plan needs no comment. Slave owners will smile when they read it. I will for a moment glance at what many suppose is still the intention of the Colonization Society, viz. grad- ually to remove all the blacks in the United States. The Society has been in operation more than fifteen years, during which it has transported between two and three thousand free people of color. There are in the United States two million of slaves, and three hundred thousand free blacks ; and their numbers are increasing at the rate of seventy thousand annually. While the Society have removed less than three thousand, — five hundred thousand have been born. While one hundred and fifty free blacks have been sent to Africa in a year, two hun- dred slaves have been born in a day. To keep the evil just where it is, seventy thousand a year must be trans- ported. How many ships, and how many millions of money, would it require to do this] It would cost 3,500,000 dollars a year, to provide for the safety of our Southern brethren in this way ! To use the lan- guage of Mr Hayne, it would " bankrupt the treasury of the world" to execute the scheme. And if such a great number could be removed annually, how would the poor fellows subsist ? Famines have already been , produced, even by the few that have been sent. What would be the result of landing several thousand destitute beings, even on the most fertile of our own cultivated shores ? And why should they be removed ? Labor is greatly needed, and we are glad to give good wages for it. We encourage emigration from all parts of the world ; why is it not good policy, as well as good feeling, to improve the colored people, and pay them for the use of their faculties ? For centuries to come, the means of suste- nance in this vast country must be much greater than the population ; then why should we drive away people, whose services may be most useful ? If the moral cultivation of negroes received the attention it ought, thousands and thousands would at the present moment be gladly taken up in families, factories, &c. And, like other men, they ought to be allowed to fit themselves for more important usefulness, as far and as fast as they can. AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, 135 There will, in all human probability, never be any de- crease in the black population of the United States. Here they are, and here they must remain, in very large numbers, do what we will. We may at once agree to live together in mutual good will, and perform a mutual use to each other — or we may go on, increasing tyranny on one side, and jealousy and revenge on the other, until the fearful elements complete their work of destruction, and something better than this sinful republic rises on the ruins. Oh, how earnestly do I wish that we may choose the holier and safer path ! To transport the blacks in such annual numbers as has hitherto been done, cannot have any beneiicial effect upon the present state of things. It is Dame Partington with her pail mopping up the rushing waters of the At- lantic ! So far as this gradual removal has any effect, it tends to keep up the price of slaves in the market, and thus perpetuate the system. A writer in the Kentucky Luminary, speaking of colonization, uses the following argument : " None are obliged to follow our example ; and those who do not, ^cill find the value of their ne- g7wes increased hy the departure of ours.'' If the value of slaves is kept up, it will be a strong temptation to smuggle in the commodity ; and thus while one vessel carries them out from America, another will be bringing them in from Africa. This would be like dipping up the waters of Chesapeake Bay into bar- rels, conveying it across the Atlantic, and emptying it into the Mediterranean : the Chesapeake would remain as full as ever, and by the time the vessel returned, wind and waves would have brought the same water back again. Slave owners have never yet, in any part of the world, been known to favor, as a body, any scheme, which could ultimately tend to abolish slavery ; yet in this country, they belong to the Colonization Society in large num- bers, and agree to pour from their State treasuries into its funds. Individuals object to it, it is true ; but the scheme is very generally favored in the slave States. The following extract from Mr Wood's speech in the Legislature of Virginia, will show upon what ground the 136 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, owners of slaves are willing to sanction any schemes of benevolence. The " Colonization Society may be a part of the grand system of the Ruler of the Universe, to provide for the transfer of negroes to their mother coun- try. Their introduction into this land may have been one of the inscrutable ways of Providence to confer bless- ings upon that race — it may have been decreed that they shall be the means of conveying to the minds of their benicfhted countrymen, the blessing of religious and civil liberty. But I fear there is little ground to be- lieve the means have yet been created to effect so glori- ous a result, or that the present race of slaves are to be benefited by such a removal. / shall trust that many of them may he carried to the southwestern States as slaves. Should this door be closed, how can Virginia get rid of so large a number as are now annually deported to the different States and Territories where slaves are wanted ? Can the gentlemen show us how from tioelve thousand to tioenty thousand can be annually carried to Liberia? " Yet : notwithstanding such numbers of mothers and ohildren are yearly sent from a single State, " separately or in lots," to supply the demands of the internal slave trade, Mr Hayne, speaking q{ freeing these people and sending them away, says : " It is wholly irreconcilable with our notions of humanity to tear asunder the tender ties, which they had formed among us, to gratify the feelings of a false philanthropy " ! As for the removal of blacks from this country, the real fact is this ; the slave States are very desirous to get rid of their troublesome surplus of colored population, and they are willing that we should help to pay for the transportation. A double purpose is served by this ; for the active benevolence which is eager to work in the cause, is thus turned into a harmless and convenient channel. Neither the planters nor the Colonization So- ciety, seem to ask what right we have to remove people from the places where they have been born and brought up^ — where they have a hom.e, which, however miser- able, is still their home, — and wiiere their relatives and acquaintances all reside. Africa is no more their native AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 137 country than England is ours,* — nay, it is less so, be- cause there is no community of language or habits : — besides, we cannot say to them, as Gilpin said to his horse, " 'Twas for your pleasure you came here, you shall go back for mine." In the Virginia Debate of 1^32 it was agreed that very few of the free colored people would be iciUing to go to Africa ; and this is proved by several petitions from them, praying for leave to remain. One of the Virginian legislators said, " either moral ox physical force must be used to compel them to go ;" some of them ad- vised immediate coercion ; others recommended persua- sion first, until their numbers were thinned, and coercion afterward. I believe the resolution finally passed the House without any proviso of this sort ; and I mention it merely to show that it was generally supposed the col- ored people would be unwilling to go. The planters are resolved to drive the free blacks away ; and it is another evil of the Colonization Society that their funds and their influence cooperate with them in this project. They do not indeed thrust the free negroes off, at the point of the bayonet ; but they make their laics and customs so very unequal and oppressive, that the poor fellows are surrounded by raging fires on every side, and must leap into the Atlantic for safety. In slave ethics I suppose this is called '^ moral force." If the slave popu- lation is left to its own natural increase, the crisis will soon come ; for labor will be so very cheap that slavery will not be for the interest of the whites. Why should we retard this crisis ? In the next place, many of the Colonizationists, (T do not suppose it applies to all) are averse to giving the blacks a good education ; and they are not friendly to the establishment of schools and colleges for that pur- pose. Now I would ask any candid person why colored *At the close of the last war, General Jackson issued a procla- mation to the colored people of the South, in wliich he says : " I knew that yon loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves, you had to defend all that is dear to man. But you sur- pass my hopes. I have found in you, united to those qualities, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great deed5^" 12* 138 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, children should not be educated ? Some say, it will raise them above their situation ; I answer, it will raise them m their situation — not ahove M. When a High School for white girls w^as first talked of in this city, several of the wealthy class objected to it ; because, said they, " if everybody is educated, we shall have no ser- vants." This argument is based on selfishness, and therefore cannot stand. If carried into operation, the welfare of many would be sacrificed to the convenience of a few\ We might as well protest against the sun- light, for the benefit of lamp-oil merchants. Of all mo- nopolies, a monopoly of knowledge is the worst. Let it be as active as the ocean — as free as the wind — as universal as the sun-beams ! Lord Brougham said very wisely, " If the higher classes are afraid of being left in the rear, they likewise must hasten onward." With our firm belief in the natural inferiority of ne- groes, it is strange we should be so much afraid that knowledge will elevate them quite too high for our con- venience. In the march of improvement, we are sev- eral centuries in advance ; and if, with this obstacle at the very beginning, they can outstrip us, why then, in the name of justice, let them go ahead ! Nay, give them three cheers as they pass. If any nation, or any class of men, can obtain intellectual preem- inence, it is a sure sign they deserve it ; and by this republican rule the condition of the world will be regu- lated as surely as the waters find their level. Besides, like all selfish policy, this is not true policy. The more useful knowledge a person has, the better he ful- fils his duties in any station ; and there is no kind of know- ledge, high or low, which may not be brought into use. But it has been said, that information will make the blacks discontented ; because, if ever so learned, they will not be allowed to sit at the white man's table, or marry the white man's daughter. In relation to this question, I would ask, " Is there anybody so high, that they do not see others above them ?" The working classes of this country have no social communication with the aristocracy. Every day of my life I see people who can dress better, and live in AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 139 better houses, than I can afford. There are many indi- viduals who would not choose to make my acquaintance because I am not of their caste — but I should speak a great untruth, if I said this made me discontented. They have their path and I have mine ; I am happy in my own way, and am willing they should be happy in theirs. If asked whether what little knowledge I have produces discontent, I should answer, that it made me happier, infinitely happier, than I could be without it. Under every form of government, there will be distinct classes of society, which have only occasional and tran- sient communication with each other ; and the colored people, whether educated or not, will form one of these classes. By giving them means of information, we in- crease their happiness, and make them better members of society. I have often heard it said that there was a disproportionate number of crimes committed by the colored people in this State. The same thing is true of the first generation of Irish emigrants ; but we univer- sally attribute it to their ignorance, and agree that the only remedy is to give their children as good an educa- tion as possible. If the policy is wise in one instance, why would it not be so in the other ? As for the possibility of social intercourse between the different colored races, I have not the slightest ob- jection to it, provided they were equally virtuous, and equally intelligent ; but I do not wish to w^ar with the prejudices of others ; I am willing that all, who consult their consciences, should keep them as long as ever they can. One thing is certain, the blacks will never come into your houses, unless you ask them ; and you need not ask them unless you choose. They are very far from being intrusive in this respect. With regard to marrying your daughters, I believe the feeling in opposition to such unions is quite as strong among the colored class, as it is among white people. — While the prejudice exists, such instances must be ex- ceedingly rare, because the consequence is degradation in society. Believe me, you may safely trust to anything that depends on the pride and selfishness of unregene^ rated human nature. 140 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, Perhaps, a hundred years hence, some negro Roths- child may come from Hayti, with his seventy millions of pounds, and persuade some white woman to sacrijice her- self to him — Stranger things than this do happen every year. — But before that century has passed away, I ap- prehend there will be a sufficient number of well-informed and elegant colored women in the world, to meet the de- mands of colored patricians. Let the sons and daughters of Africa both be educated, and then they will be fit for each other. They will not be forced to make war upon their white neighbors for wives ; nor will they, if they have intelligent women of their own, see anything so very desirable in the project. Shall we keep this class of people in everlasting degradation, for fear one of their descendants may marry our great-great-great-great-grand- child ? While the prejudice exists, such unions cannot take place ; and when the prejudice is melted away, they will cease to be a degradation, and of course cease to be an evil. My third and greatest objection to the Colonization Society is, that its members write and speak, both in public and private, as if the prejudice against skins darker colored than our own, was a fixed and unaltera- ble law of our nature, which cannot possibly be changed. The very existence of the Society is owing to this pre- judice : for if we could make all the colored people white, or if they could be viewed as impartially as if they were white, what would be left for the Colonization Society to do ? Under such circumstances, they would have a fair chance to rise in their moral and intellectual character, and we should be glad to have them remain among us, to give their energies for our money, as the Irish, the Dutch, and people from all parts of the world are now doing. I am aware that some of the Colonizationists make large professions on this subject ; but nevertheless we are constantly told by this Society, that people of color must be removed, not only because they are in our way, but because they must always be in a state of degradation here — that they never can have all the rights and privi^ AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 141 leges of citizens — and all this is because the prejudice is so great. " The Managers consider it clear that causes exist and are operating to prevent their (the blacks) im- provement and elevation to any considerable extent as a class, in this country, which are fixed, not only beyond the control of the friends of humanity, but of any human power. Christianity will not do for them here, what it will do for them in Africa. This is not the fault of the colored man, nor Christianity ; but an ordination of Providence, and no more to be changed than the laws of Nature !" — Last Annual Report of American Coloni- zation Society. " The habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of soci- ety — prejudices which neither refinement, nor argu- ment, nor education, nor religion itself, can sub- due — mark the people of color, whether bond or free, as the subjects of a degradation inevitable and incurable. The African in this country belongs by birth to the very lowest station in society ; and from that station he CAN never rise, be his talents, his enterprise, his vij'tues what they may. They constitute a class by them- selves — a class out of which no individual can be ele- vated, and below which none can be depressed." — Af- rican llcpository, vol. iv. pp. 118, 119. This is shaking hands with iniquity, and covering sin with a silver veil. Our prejudice against the blacks is founded in sheer pride ; and it originates in the circum- stance that people of their color only, are universally allowed to be slaves. We made slavery, and slavery makes the prejudice. No Christian, who questions his own conscience, can justify himself in indulging the feel- ing. The removal of this prejudice is not a matter of opinion — it is a matter of r/M^y. We have no right to palliate a feeling, sinful in itself, and highly injurious to a large number of our fellow beings. Let us no longer act upon the narrow-minded idea, that we must always continue to do wrong, because we have so long been in the habit of doing it. That there is no necessity for the prejudice is shown by facts. In England, it exists to a much less degree than it does here. If a respectable col- 142 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, ored person enters a church there, the pews are readily opened to him ; if he appears at an inn, room is made for him at the table, and no laughter, or winking, reminds him that he belongs to an outcast race. A highly re- spectable English gentleman residing in this country has often remarked that nothing filled him with such utter astonishment as our prejudice with regard to color. — There is now in old England a negro, with whose name, parentage, and history, I am well acquainted, who was sold into West Indian slavery by his New England mas- ter ; (I know his name.) The unfortunate negro became free by the kindness of an individual, and has now a handsome little property, and the command of a vessel. He must take care not to come into the ports of our Southern republics! — The anecdote of Prince Saunders is well known ; but it will bear repeating. He called upon an American family, then residing in London. — The fashionable breakfast hour was very late, and the family were still seated at the table. The lady fidgetted between the contending claims of politeness and preju- dice. At last, when all but herself had risen from the table, she said, as if struck by a sudden thought, "Mr Saunders, I forgot to ask if you had breakfasted." *' I thank you, madam," replied the colored gentleman ; *' but I have engaged to breakfast with the Prince Re- gent this morning." Mr Wilberforce and Mr Brougham have often been seen in the streets of London, walking arm in arm with people of color. The same thing is true of Brissot, La Fayette, and several other distinguished Frenchmen. — In this city, I never but once saw such an instance : When the Philadelphia company were here last summer, I met one of the officers walking arm in arm with a fine looking black musician. The circumstance gave me a good deal of respect for the white man ; for I thought he must have kind feelings and correct principles, thus fearlessly to throw off a worse than idle prejudice. In Brazil, people of color are lawyers, clergymen, merchants and military officers ; and in the Portuguese, as well as the Spanish settlements, intermarriages bring no degradation. On the shores of the Levant, some of AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 143 the wealthiest merchants are black. If we were accus- tomed to see intelligent and polished negroes, the preju- dice would soon disappear. There is certainly no law of our nature which makes a dark color repugnant to our feelings. We admire the swarthy beauties of Spain ; and the finest forms of statuary are often preferred in bronze. If the whole world were allowed to vote on the question, there would probably be a plurality in favor of complexions decidedly dark. Everybody knows how much the Africans were amused at the sight of Mungo Park, and what an ugly misfortune they considered his pale color, prominent nose, and thin lips. Ought we to be called Christians, if we allow a preju- dice so absurd to prevent the improvement of a large portion of the human race, and interfere whh what all civilized nations consider the most common rights of mankind ? It cannot be that my enlightened and gen- erous countrymen will sanction anything so narrow- minded and so selfish. Having found much fault with the Colonization Soci- ety, it is pleasant to believe that one portion of their enterprise affords a distant prospect of doing more good than evil. They now principally seek to direct the pub- lic attention to the founding of a Colony in Africa; and this may prove beneficial in process of time. If the col- ored emigrants were educated before they went there, such a Colony would tend slowly, but certainly, to enlighten Africa, to raise the character of the negroes, to strengthen the increasing liberality of public opinion, and to check the diabolical slave trade. If the Coloni- zationists will work zealously and judiciously in this de- partment, pretend to do nothing more, and let others work in another and more efficient way, they will deserve the thanks of the country ; but while it is believed that they do all the good which can be done in this important cause, they will do no more harm in America, than they can atone for in Africa. Very different pictures are drawn of Liberia ; one party represents it as thriving beyond description, the other insists that it will soon fall into ruin. It is but can- did to suppose that the colony is going on as well as 144 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, could possibly be expected, when we consider that the emigrants are almost universally ignorant and vicious, without property, and without habits of industry or en- terprise. The colored people in our slave States must, almost without exception, be destitute of information ; and in choosing negroes to send away, the masters would be very apt to select the most helpless and the most refractory. Hence the superintendents of Liberia have made reiterated complaints of being flooded with ship-loads of *' vagrants." These causes are powerful drawbacks. But the negroes in Liberia have schools and churches, and they have freedom, which, wherever it exists, is always striving to work its upward way. There is a palpable contradiction in some of the statements of this Society. " We are told that the Colonization Society is to civ- ilize and evangelize Africa. ' Each emigrant,' says Henry Clay, the ablest advocate which the Society has yet found, ' is a missionary , carrying with him creden- tials in the holy cause of civilization, religion and free institutions ! !' " ** Who are these emigrants — these missionaries ?" ** The Free people of color. ' They, and they only,' says the African Repository, the Society's organ, ' are QUALIFIED for colouizing Africa.' " " What are their qualijications ? Let the Society answer in its own words : " ' Free blacks are a greater nuisance than even slaves themselves.' " — African Repository , vol. ii. p. 328. " * A horde of miserable people — the objects of uni- versal suspicion — subsisting by plunder.' " — C. F. Mercer. " ' An anomalous race of beings, the most debased upon earth.' " — African Repository, vol. vii. p. 230. " * Of all classes of our population the most vicious is that of the free colored. ' " — Tenth Annual Report of Colonization Society. An Education Society has been formed in connection with the Colonization Society, and their complaint is principally that they cannot find proper subjects for in- struction. Why cannot such subjects be found 1 Sim- AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 145 ply because our ferocious prejudices compel the colored children to grow up in ignorance and vicious compan- ionship, and when we seek to educate them, we find their minds closed against the genial influence of knowledge. When I heard of the Education Society, I did hope to find one instance of sincere, thorough, disinterested good will for the blacks. But in the constitution of that Society, I again find the selfish principle predominant. They pledge themselves to educate no colored persons, unless they are solemnly bound to quit the country. The abolitionists are told that they must wait till the slaves are more fit for freedom. But if this system is pursued, when are they to be more fit for freedom ? Never — never — to the end of time. Whatever other good the Colonization Society may do, it seems to me evident that they do not produce any beneficial effect on the condition of colored people in America ; and indirectly they produce much evil. In a body so numerous as the Colonization Society, there is, of course, a great variety of character and opin- ions. I presume that many among them believe the ulti- mate tendency of the Society to be very difterent from what it really is. Some slave owners encourage it, because they think it cannot decrease slavery, and will keep back the inconvenient crisis when free labor will be cheaper than slave labor ; others of the same class join it because they really want to do some act of kindness to the unfortunate African race, and all the country in- sists upon it that this is the only way ; some politicians in the free States countenance it from similar motives, and because less cautious measures might occasion a loss of Southern votes and influence ; the time-serving class — so numerous in every community, — who are always ready to flatter existing prejudices, and sail smoothly along the current of popular favor, join it, of course ; but I am willing to believe that the largest pro- portion belong to it, because they have compassionate hearts, are fearful of injuring their Southern breth- ren, and really think there is no other way of doing so much good to the negroes. With this last mentioned class, I sympathize in feeling, but differ in opinion. 13 146 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, The Anti-Slavery Society was formed in January, 183*2. Its objects are distinctly stated in the second Article of their constitution, which is as follows : " Art. 2. The objects of the Society shall be, to endeavor, ]jy all means sanctioned by law, humanity and religion, to ef- fect the abolition of slavery in the United States ; to improve the character and condition of the free people of color, to in- form and correct ])ublic opinion in relation to their situation and rights, and obtain for them equal civil and political rights and privileges wath the whites." From this it will be seen that they think it a duty to give colored people all possible means of education, and instead of removing them away from the prejudice, to remove the prejudice away from them. They lay it down as a maxim that immediate emanci- pation is the only just course, and the only safe policy. They say that slavery is a common evil, and therefore there is a common right to investigate it, and search for modes of relief They say that New England shares, and ever has shared, in this national sin, and is therefore bound to atone for the mischief, as far as it can be done. The strongest reason why the Anti-Slavery Society wish for the emancipation of slaves, is because they think no other course can be pursued which does not, in its very nature, involve a constant violation of the laws of God. In the next place, they believe there is no other sure way of providing for the safety of the white population in the slave States. I know that many of the planters affect to laugh at the idea of fearing their slaves ; but why are their laws framed with such cautious vigilance? Why must not negroes of different plantations communicate together ? Why are they not allowed to be out in the evening, or to carry even a stick to defend themselves, in case of necessity ? In the Virginia Legislature a gentleman said, " It was high time for something to be done when men did not dare to open their own doors without pistols at their belts ;" and Mr Randolph has publicly declared that a planter was merely " a sentry at his own door." Mr Roane of Virginia, asks, — " Is there an intelli- gent man who does not know that this excess of slavery AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 147 is increasing, and will continue to increase in a ratio which is alarming in the extreme, and must overwhelm our descendants in ruin ? Why then should we shut our eyes and turn our backs upon the evil ? Will delay ren- der it less gigantic, or give us more Herculean strength to meet and subdue it at a future time I Oh, no — delay breeds danger — procrastination is the thief of time, and the refuge of sluggards." It is very true that insurrection is perfect madness on the part of the slaves ; for they are sure to be overpow- ered. But such madness has happened ; and innocent women and children have fallen victims to it. A few months ago, I was conversing with a very mild and jiidicious member of the Anti-Slavery Society, when a gentleman originally from the South came in. As he was an old acquaintance, and had been a long time resi- dent in New England, it was not deemed necessary, as a matter of courtesy, to drop the conversation. He soon became excited. " Whatever you may think, Mrs Child," said he, " the slaves are a great deal happier than either of us ; the less people know, the more merry they are." I replied, " I heard you a short time since talking over your plans for educating your son ; if know- ledge brings wretchedness, why do you not keep him in happy ignorance V " The fashion of the times requires some information," said he ; " but why do you concern yourself about the negroes ? Why don't you excite the horses to an insurrection, because they are obliged to work, and are whipped if they do not ? " " One horse does not whip another," said I ; " and besides, I do not w^ish to promote insurrections. I would, on the contrary, do all I could to prevent them." " Perhaps you do not like the comparison between slaves and horses," rejoined he ; " it is true, the horses have the advantage." I made no reply ; for where such ground is assumed, what can be said ; besides, I did not then, and I do not now, believe that he expressed his real feelings. He was piqued, and spoke unadvisedly. This gentleman denied that the lot of the negroes was hard. He said they loved their masters, and their masters loved them ; and in any cases of trouble or illness, a man's slaves were 1-18 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, his best friends. I mentioned some undoubted instances of cruelty to slaves ; he acknowledged that such instan- ces might very rarely happen, but said that in general the masters were much more to be pitied than the ne- groes. A lady, who had been in South Carolina when an insurrection Vvas apprehended, related several anec- dotes concerning the alarm that prevailed there at the time : and added, " I often wish that none of my friends lived in a slave State." " Why should you be anxious?" rejoined the Southern gentleman ; " You know that they have built a strong citadel in the heart of the city, to v.'hich all the inhabitants can repair, in case of insur- rection." " So," said I, " they have built a citadel to protect them from their happy, contented servants — a citadel against their best friends .'" I could not but be amused at the contradictions that occurred during this conversation. That emancipation has in several instances been ef- fected with safety has been already shown. But allowing that there is some danger in discontinuing slavery, is there not likewise danger in continuing it 1 In one case, the danger, if there were any, would soon be sub- dued ; in the other, it is continually increasing. The planter tells us that the slave is very happy, and bids us leave him as he is. If laughter is a sign of hap- piness, the Irishman, tumbling in the same mire as his pigs, is happy. The merely sensual man is no doubt merry and heedless ; but who would call him happy ? Is it not a fearful thing to keep immortal beings in a state like beasts ? The more the senses are subjected to the moral and intellectual powers, the happier man is, — the more we learn to sacrifice the present to the future, the higher do we rise in the scale of existence. The negro may often enjoy himself, like the dog when he is not beaten, or the hog when he is not starved ; but let not this be called happiness. How far the slave laws are conducive to the enjoyment of those they govern, each individual can judge for him- self In the Southern papers, we continually see pic- tures of runaway negroes, and sometimes the advertise- ments identify them by scars, or by letters branded upon. AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 149 them. Is it natural for men to run away from comfort and happiness, especially when any one who meets them may shoot them, like a dog ? and when whipping nearly unto death is authorized as the punishment? I forbear to describe how much more shocking slave whipping is than anything we are accustomed to see bestowed upon cattle. But the advocates of slavery tell us, that on the ne- gro's own account, it is best to keep him in slavery ; that witliout a master to guide him and take care of him, he is a wretched being; that freedom is the greatest curse that can be bestowed upon him. Then why do their Legislatures grant it as a reward for '^ ineritorious servi- ces to the State" ? Why do benevolent masters be- queath the legacy of freedom, " in consideration of long and faithful service" 1 Why did Jefferson so earnestly, and so very humbly request the Legislature of Virginia to ratify the manumission of his five favorite slaves ? Notwithstanding the disadvantageous position of free negroes in a community consisting of whites and slaves, it is evident that, even upon these terms, freedom is con- sidered a blessing. The Anti-Slavery Society agree with Harriet Marti- neau in saying, " Patience with the men, but no patience with the principles. As much patience as you please in enlightening those who are unaware of the abuses, but no patience with social crimes" I The Colonization Society are always reminding us that the master has rights as well as the slave : The Anti-Slavery Society urge us to remember that the slave has rights as well as the master. I leave it for sober sense to determine which of these claims is in the great- est danger of being forgotten. The abolitionists think it a duty to maintain at all times, and in all places, that slavery ought to be abol- ished, and that it can be abolished. When error is so often repeated it becomes very important to repeat the truth ; especially as good men are apt to be quiet, and selfish men are prone to be active. They propose no plan — they leave that to the wisdom of Legislatures. ■^— But they never swerve from the principle that slavery is 13* 150 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, both wicked ami unnecessary. Their object is to turn the public voice against this evil, by a plain exposition of facts. Perhaps it may seem of little use for individuals to maintain any particular lirinciple, while they do not at- tempt to prescribe the ways and means by which it can be carried into operation : But the voice of the public is mighty, either for good or evil ; and that far sounding echo is composed of single voices. Schiller makes his Fiesco exclaim, " Spread out the thunder into its single tones, and it becomes a lullaby for children; pour it forth in one quick peal, and the royal sound shall move the heavens !" If the work of abolition must necessarily be slow in its progress, so much the more need of beginning soon, and working vigorously. My life upon it, a safe remedy- can be found for this evil, whenever we are sincerely de- sirous of doing justice for its own sake. The Anti-Slavery Society is loudly accused of being seditious, fanatical, and likely to promote insurrections. It seems to be supposed, that they wish to send fire and sword into the South, and encourage the slaves to hunt dov/n their masters. Slave ovrners wish to have it viewed in this light, because they know that the subject they have chosen, will not bear discussion ; and men here, who give the tone to public opinion, have loudly re- peated the charge — some from good motives and some from bad. I once had a very strong prejudice against anti-slavery ; — (I am ashamed to think how strong — for mere prejudice should never be stubborn,) but a can- did examination has convinced me, that I was in an. error. I made the common mistake of taking things for granted, without stopping to investigate. This Society do not vv'ish to see any coercive or dan- jjerous measures pursued. They wish for universal emancipation, because they believe it is the only way to prevent insurrections. Almost every individual among them, is a strong friend to Peace Societies. They wish to move the public mind on this subject, in the same manner that it has been moved on other subjects : viz. by open, candid, fearless discussion. This is «// they want to do ; and this they are determined to do, because they believe it to be an important duty. For a long time AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETr. 151 past, public sympathy has been earnestly directed in the wrong way ; if it could be made to turn round, a most happy change would be produced. There are many people at the South who would be glad to have a safe method of emancipation discovered; but instead of en- couraging thtm, all our presses, and pulpits, and books^ and conversation, have been used to strengthen the hands of those who wish to perpetuate the " costly ini- quity." Divine Providence always opens the way for the removal of evils, individual or national, whenever man is sincerely willing to have them removed ; it may be difficult to do right, but it is never impossible. Yet a majority of my countrymen do, in effect, hold the fol- lowing language : " We know that this evil cannot be cured ; and we will speak and publish our opinion on every occasion ; but you must not, for your lives, dare to assert that there is a possibility of our being mistaken." If there were any apparent wish to get rid of this sin and disgrace, I believe the members of the Anti- Slavery Society would most heartily and courageously defend slave owners from any risk they might incur in a sincere effort to do right. They would teach the ne- gro that it is the Christian's duty meekly and patiently to suffer wrong ; but they dare not excuse the white man for continuing to injlict the wrong. They think it unfair that all arguments on this sub- ject should be founded on the convenience and safety of the master alone. They wish to see the white man's claims have their due weight ; but they insist that the negro's rights ought not to be thrown out of the balance. At the time a large reward was offered for the cap- ture of Mr Garrison, on the ground that his paper excited insurrections, it is a fact, that he had never sent or caused to be sent, a single paper south of Mason and Dixon's line. He afterwards sent papers to some of the leading politicians there ; but they of course were not the ones to promote negro insurrections. " But," it has been answered, " the papers did find their way there." Are we then forbidden to publish our opinions upon an important subject, for fear somehody will send them somewhere ? Is slavery to remain a sealed book in this most communicative of all ages, and this most inquisitive of 152 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, all countries ? If so, we live under an actual censorship of the press. This is like what the Irishman said of our paved cities — tying down the stones, and letting the mad dogs run loose. If insurrections do occur, they will no doubt be attri- buted to the Anti-Slavery Society. But we must not for- get that there were insurrections in the West Indies long before the English abolitionists began their efforts ; and tiiat masters were murdered in this country, before the Anti-Slavery Society was thought of. Neither must we forget that the increased severity of the laws is very likely to goad an oppressed people to madness. The very cruelty of the laws against resistance under any cir- cumstances, would be thought to justify a white man in rebellion, because it gives resistance the character of self- defence. *' The law," says Blackstone, " respects the passions of the human mind ; and when external violence is offered to a man himself, or those to whom he bears a near connexion, makes it lawful in him to do himself tliat immediate justice, to which he is prompted by nature, and which no prudential motives are strong enough to restrain." As it respects promoting insurrections by discussing tbis subject, it should be remembered that it is very rare for any colored person at the South to know how to read or write. Furthermore, if there be danger in the discussion, our silence cannot arrest it ; for the whole world is talking and writing about it; — even children's handkerchiefs seem to be regarded as sparks falling into a powder magazine. How much better it would be not to live in the midst of a powder magazine. The English abolitionists have labored long and ardu- ously. Every inch of the ground has been contested. — After obtaining the decision that negroes brought into England were freemen, it took them thirty five, years to obtain the abolition of the slave trad.e. But their pro- gress, though slow and difficult, has been certain. They are now on the very eve of entire, unqualified emanci- pation in all their colonies. I take very little interest in politics, unless they bear upon the subject of slavery ; — and then I throw my whole soul into them. Hence the AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 153 permanence of Lord Grey's ministry has become an ob- ject of intense interest. But all England is acting as one man on this subject, and she viust prevail. The good work has indeed been called by every odious epithet. It was even urged that the abolition of the slave trade would encourage the massacre of white men. Clarkson, who seems to have been the meekest and most patient of men, was stigmatized as an insurrectionist. — It was said he wanted to bring all the horrors of the French Revolution into England, m.erely because he wanted to abolish the slave trade. — It was said Liver- pool and Bristol would sink, never to rise again, if that traffic were destroyed. The insurrection at Barbadoes, in 1816, was ascribed to the influence of missionaries infected with the wicked philanthropy of the age ; but it was discovered that there was no missionary on the island at the time of that event, nor for a long time previous to it. The insurrec- tion at Demerara, several years after, was publicly and angrily ascribed to the Methodist missionaries ; they were taken up and imprisoned ; and it was lucky for these innocent men^ that, out of their twelve hundred black converts, only two had joined the rebellion. Ridicule and reproach has been abundantly heaped upon the laborers in this righteous cause. Power, v.-ealth, talent, pride, and sophistry, are all in arms against them ; but God and truth is on their side. The cause of anti-slavery is rapidly gaining ground. Wise heads as well as warm hearts, are joining in its support. In a few years I believe the opinion of Nev/ England will be unanimous in its favor. Maine, v,-hich enjoys the enviable distinction of never having had a slave upon her soil, has formed an Anti-Slavery Society composed of her best and most distinguished men. Those who are determined to be on the popular side, should be cautious how they move just now : It is a trying time for such characters, when public opinion is on the verge of a great change. Men who thinh upon the subject, are fast coming to the conclusion that slavery can never be much am.elior- ated, while it is allowed to exist. What Mr Fox said of the trade is true of the sTjstcm — '' you may as well try 154 COLONIZATION SOCIETY. to regulate murder." It is a disease as deadly as the cancer ; and while one particle of it remains in the con- stitution, no cure can be effected. The relation is unnat- ural in itself, and therefore it reverses all the rules which are applied to other human relations. Thus a free government, which in every other point of view is a ' blessing, is a curse to the slave. The liberty around him is contagious, and therefore the laws must be endowed with a tenfold crushing power, or the captive will break his chains. A despotic monarch can follow the impulses of humanity without scruple. When Vidius Pollio or- dered one of his slaves to be cut to pieces and thrown into his fish pond, the Emperor Augustus commanded him to emancipate immediately, not only that slave, but all his slaves. In a free State there is no such power ; and there would be none needed, if the laws were equal, — but the slave owners are legislators, and make the laws, in v>'hich the negro has no voice — the master in- fluences public opinion, but the slave cannot. Miss Martineau very wisely says ; " To attempt to combine freedom and slavery is to put new wine into old skins. Soon may the old skins burst ! for we shall never want for better wune than they have ever held." A work has been lately published, written by Jonathan Dymond, who was a member of the Society of Friends, in England ; it is entitled " Essays on the Principles of Morality" — and most excellent Essays they are. Ev- ery sentence recognises the principle of sacrificing all selfish considerations to our inward perceptions of duty ; and therefore every page shines with the mild but pow- erful light of true christian philosophy. I rejoice to hear that the book is likely to be republished in this country. In his remarks on slavery the author says : '* The supporters of the system will hereafter be regarded with the same public feelings, as he who v/as an advo- cate of the slave trade now is. How is it that legislators and public men are so indifferent to their fame ? Who would now be willing that biography should record of him, — This man defended the slave trade 1 The time will come when the record, — This man opposed the ab- olition of slavery, will occasion a great deduction from the public estimate of weight of character." CHAPTER VI. INTELLECT OF NEGROES. " We must not allow negroes to be men, lest v/e ourselves should be suspected of not being Christians.''^ Montesquieu. In order to decide what is our duty concerning the Africans and their descendants, we must first clearly make up our minds whether they are, or are not, human beings — whether they have, or have not, the same capa- cities for improvement as other men. The intellectual inferiority of the negroes is a common, though most absurd apology, for personal prejudice, and the oppressive inequality of the laws; for this reason, I shall take some pains to prove that the present degraded condition of that unfortunate race is produced by artifi- cial causes, not by the laws of nature. In the first place, naturalists are universally agreed concerning " the identity of the human type ;" by which they mean that all living creatures, that can, by any pro- cess, be enabled to perceive moral and intellectual truths, are characterized hy similar peculiarities of organization. They may differ from each other widely, but they still belong to the same class. An eagle and a wren are very unlike each other ; but no one would hesitate to pro- ilbunce that they were both birds : so it is with the almost endless varieties of the monkey tribe. We all know that beasts, however sagacious, are incapable of abstract thought, or moral perception. The most won- derful elephant in the world could not command an army, or govern a state. An ourang-outang may eat, and drink, and dress, and move like a man ; but he could never write an ode, or learn to relinquish his own good for the good of his species. The human conformation. 156 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. however it may be altered by the operation of physical or moral causes, differs from that of all other beings, and on this ground, the negro's claim to be ranked as Siman, is universally allowed by the learned. The condition of this people in ancient times is very far from indicating intellectual or moral inferiority. — Ethiopia held a conspicuous place among the nations. — Her princes were w^ealthy and powerful, and her people distinguished for integrity and wisdom. Even the proud Grecians evinced respect for Ethiopia, almost amounting to reverence, and derived thence the sublimest pctftions of their mythology. The popular belief that all the gods made an annual visit to the Ethiopians, shows the high estimation in which they were held ; for we are not told that such an honor was bestowed on any other nation. In the first book of the Iliad, Achilles is repre- sented as anxious to appeal at once to the highest author- ities ; but his mother tells him : " Jupiter set off yester- day, attended by all the gods, on a journey toward the ocean, to feast with the excellent Ethiopians, and is not expected back at Olympus till the twelfth day." In Ethiopia, was likewise placed the table of the Sun, reported to kindle of its own accord, when exposed to the rays of that great luminary. In Africa was the early reign of Saturn, under the appellation of Ouranus, or Heaven ; there the impious Titans warred with the sky ; there Jupiter was born and nursed ; there was the celebrated shrine of Ammon, ded- icated to Theban Jove, which the Greeks reverenced more highly than the Delphic Oracle ; there was the birth-place and oracle of Minerva ; and there, Atlas sup- ported both the heavens and the earth upon his shoul- ders. It will be said that fables prove nothing. — But there is probably much deeper meaning in these fables than we now understand ; there was surely some reason for giving them such a *' local habitation." Why did the ancients represent Minerva as born in Africa, — and why are we told that Atlas there sustained the heavens and the earth, unless they meant to imply that Africa was the centre, from which religious and scientific light had been diffused 1 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 157 Some ancient writers suppose that Egypt derived all the arts ai)d sciences from Ethiopia ; while others believe precisely tiie reverse. Diodorus supported the first opin- ion, — and asserts that the Ethiopian vulgar spoke the same language as the learned of Egypt. It is well known that Egypt was the great school of knowledge in the ancient world. It was the birth-place of Astronomy ; and we still mark the constellations as they were arranged by Egyptian shepherds. The wisest of the Grecian philosophers, among whom were Solon, Pythagoras and Plato, went there for instruction, as our young men now go to England and Germany. The Eleusinian mysteries \Vere introduced from Egypt ; and the important secret which they taught, is supposed to have been the existence of one, invisible God. A large portion of Grecian mythology was thence derived ; but in passing from one country to the other, the form of these poetical fables was often preserved, while the original meaning was lost. Herodotus, the earliest of the Greek historians, informs us that the Egyptians were negroes. This fact has been much doubted, and often contradicted. But Herodotus certainly had the best means of knowing the truth on this subject ; for he travelled in Egypt, and obtained his knowledge of the country by personal observation. He declares that the Colchians must be a colony of Egyp- tians, because, "like them, they have a black skin and frizzled hair." The statues of the Sphinx have the usual characteristics of the negro race. This opinion is confirmed by Blu- menbach, the celebrated German naturalist, and by Vol- ney, who carefully examined the architecture of Egypt. Concerning the sublimity of the architecture in this ancient negro kingdom, some idea may be conceived from the description of Thebes given by Denon, who accompanied the French army into Egypt : " This city, renowned for numerous kings, who through their wisdom have been elevated to the rank of gods ; for laws, which have been revered without being known ; for sciences, which have been confided to proud and mysterious in- scriptions ; for wise and earliest monuments of the arts, 14 158 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. which time has respected ; — this sanctuary, abandoned, isolated through barbarism, and surrendered to the desert from which it was won ; this city, shrouded in the veil of mystery by which even colossi are magnified ; this remote city, which imagination has only caught a glimpse of through the darkness of time — was still so gigantic an apparition, that, at the sight of its scattered ruins, the army halted of its own accord, and the soldiers with one spontaneous movement, clapped their hands." The Honorable Alexander Everett, in his work on America, says: "While Greece and Rome were yet barbarous, we find the light of learning and improvement emanating from the continent of Amca, (supposed to be so degraded and accursed,) out of the midst of this very woolly-haired, flat-nosed, thick-lipped, coal-black race, which some persons are tempted to station at a pretty low intermediate point between men and monkeys. It is to Egypt, if to any nation, that we must look as the real aritiqaa inater of the ancient and modern refine- ment of Europe. The great lawgiver of the Jews was prepared for his divine mission by a course of instruction in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." " The great Assyrian empires of Babylon and Nine- veh, hardly less illustrious than Egypt in arts and arms, were founded by Ethiopian colonies, and peopled by blacks. " Palestine, or Canaan, before its conquest by the Jews, is represented in Scripture, as well as in other histories, as peopled by blacks ; and hence it follows that Tyre and Carthage, the most industrious, wealthy, and polish- ed states of their time, were of this color." Another strong argument against the natural inferiority of negroes may be drawn from the present condition of Africa. Major Denham's account of the Sultan of Sack- atoo proves that the brain is not necessarily rendered stupid by the color of the face : " The palace as usual in Africa, consisted of a sort of inclosed town, with an open quadrangle in front. On entering the gate, he was con- ducted through three huts serving as guard-houses, after which he found Sultan Bello seated on a small carpet in a sort of painted and ornamented cottage. Bello had a INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 159 noble and commanding figure, with a high forehead and large black eyes. He gave the traveller a hearty wel- come, and after inquiring the particulars of his journey, proceeded to serious affairs. He produced books belong- ing to Major Denham, which had been taken in the dis- astrous battle of Dirkullah ; and though he expressed a feeling of dissatisfaction at the Major's presence on that occasion, readily accepted an apology, and restored the volumes. He only asked to have the subject of each explained, and to hear the sound of the language, which he declared to be beautiful. He then began to press his visiter with theological questions, and showed himself not wholly unacquainted with the controversies which have agitated the christian world ; indeed, he soon went beyond the depth of his visiter, who was obliged to own he was not versant in the abstruser mysteries of divinity. '' The Sultan now opened a frequent and familiar com- munication with the English envoy, in which he showed himself possessed of a good deal of information. The astronomical instruments, from which, as from imple- ments of magic, many of his attendants started with horror, were examined by the monarch with an intelligent eye. On being shown the planisphere, he proved his knowledge of the planets and many of the constellations, by repeating their Arabic names. The telescope, which presented objects inverted, — the compass, by which he could always turn to the East when praying, — and the sextant, which he called ' the looking glass of the sun,' excited peculiar interest. He inquired with evident jealousy, into some parts of English history ; particularly the conquest of India and the attack upon Algiers." The same traveller describes the capital of Loggun, be- neath whose high walls the river flowed in majestic beauty. " It was a handsome city, with a street as wide as Pall Mall, bordered by large dwellings, having spacious areas in front. Manufacturing industry was honored. The cloths woven here were superior to those of Bornou, being finely dyed with indigo, and beautifully glazed. — There was even a current coin, made of iron, somewhat in the form of a horse-shoe ; and rude as this was, none of their neighbors possessed anything similar. The wo- men were handsome, intelligent and lively." 160 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. All travellers in Africa agree, that the inhabitant?, particularly of the interior, have a good deal of mechani- cal skill. They tan and dye leather, sometimes thinning it in such a manner that it is as flexible as paper. In Houssa, leather is dressed in the same soft, rich style as in Morocco ; they manufacture cordage, handsome cloths, and fine tissue. Though ignorant of the turning ma- chine, they make good pottery ware, and some of their jars are really tasteful. They prepare indigo, and ex- tract ore from minerals. They make agricultural tools, and work skilfully in gold, silver and steel. Dickson, who knew jewellers and watch-makers among them, speaks of a very ingenious wooden clock made by a negro. Hornemann says the inhabitants of Haissa give their cut- ting instruments a keener edge than European artists, and their files are superior to those of France or England. Golberry assures us that some of the African stuffs are extremely fine and beautiful. Mungo Park says " The industry of the Foulahs, in pasturage and agriculture is everywhere remarkable. — Their herds and flocks are numerous, and they are opu- lent in a high degree. They enjoy all the necessaries of life in the greatest profusion. They display much skill in the management of their cattle, making them extremely gentle by kindness and familiarity." The same v/riter remarks that the negroes love instruction, and that they have advocates to defend the slaves brought before their tribunals. Speaking of Wasiboo he says : *' Cultivation is carried on here on a very extensive scale ; and, as the natives themselves express it, ' hunger is never known.' " On Mr Park's arrival at one of the Sego ferries, for the purpose of crossing the Niger to see the king, he says : " We found a great number waiting for a passage ; they looked at me with silent wonder. The view of this extensive city ; the numerous canoes upon the river ; the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the sur- rounding country, formed altogether a prospect of civili- zation and magnificence, v/hich I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa." " The public discussions in Africa, called i)alavers, INTELLECT OF NEGROES. IGl exhibit a fluent and natural oratory, often accompanied with much good sense and shrewdness. Above all, the passion for poetry is nearly universal. As soon as the evening breeze begins to blow, the song resounds throughout all Africa, — it cheers the despondency of the wanderer through the desert — it enlivens the social meetings — it inspires the dance, — and even the lamen- tations of the mourners are poured forth in measured ac-* cents. '' In these extemporary and spontaneous effusions, the speaker gives utterance to his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows. All the sovereigns are attended by singing men and women, who like the European minstrels and troubadours celebrate interesting events in verse, which they repeat before the public. Like all, whose business it is to rehearse the virtues of monarchs, they are of course, too much given to flattery. The effusions of the African muse are inspired by nature and animated by national enthusiasm. From the few specimens given, they seem not unlikely to reward the care of a collector. How few among our peasantry could have produced the pathetic lamentation uttered in tlie little Bambarra cot- tage over the distresses of Mungo Park ! These songs handed down from father to son, evidently contain all that exists among the African nations of traditional history. From the songs of the Jillimen, or minstrels, of Sooli- mani. Major Laing was enabled to compile the annals of that small kingdom for more than a century."* In addition to the arguments drawn from the ancient conditions of Africa, and the present character of people in the interior of that country, there are numerous individual examples of spirit, courage, talent, and magnanimity. History furnishes very ^e\v instances of bravery, intel-. ligence, and perseverance, equal to the famous Zhinga, the negro queen of Angola, born in 1582. Like other despotic princes, her character is stained with numerous acts of ferocity and crime ; but her great abilities cannot be for a moment doubted. During her brother's reign, Zhinga was sent as am-, bassadress to Loanda, to negotiate terms of peace with * English Family Library, No. XVI. 14* 162 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. the Portuguese. A palace was prepared for her recep- tion ; and she was received v\ ith the honors due to her rank. On entering the audience-chamber, she perceived that a magnificent chair of state was prepared for the Portuguese Viceroy, while in front of it, a rich carpet, and velvet cushions, embroidered with gold, were arranged on the floor for her use. The haughty princess observed this in silent displeasure. She gave a signal with her eyes, and immediately one of her women knelt on the carpet, supporting her weight on her hands. Zhinga gravely seated herself upon her back, and awaited the entrance of the Viceroy. The spirit and dignity with which she fulfilled her mission excited the admiration of the whole court. When an alliance was offered, upon the condition of annual tribute to the king of Portugal, she proudly answered : " Such proposals are for a people subdued by force of arms; they are unworthy of a pow- erful monarch, who voluntarily seeks the friendship of the Portuguese, and who scorns to be their vassal." She finally concluded a treaty, upon the single condi- tion of restoring all the Portuguese prisoners. When the audience was ended, the Viceroy, as he conducted her from the room, remarked that the attendant, upon whose back she had been seated, still remained in the same posture. Zhinga replied : " It is not fit that the ambas- sadress of a great king should be twice served with the same seat. I have no further use for the woman." Charmed with the politeness of the Europeans, and the evolutions of their troops, the African princess long delayed her departure. Having received instruction in the christian religion, she professed a deep conviction of its truth. Whether this was sincere, or merely assumed from political motives, is uncertain. During her visit, she received baptism, being then forty years old. She returned to Angola loaded with presents and honors. — Her brother, notwithstanding a solemn promise to pre- serve the treaty she had formed, soon made war upon the Portuguese. He was defeated, and soon after died of poison ; some said his death was contrived by Zhinga. She ascended the throne, and having artfully obtained possession of her nephew's person, she strangled him INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 163 with her own hands. Revenge, as well as ambition, im- pelled her to this crime ; for her brother had, many years before, murdered her son, lest he should claim the crown. The Portuguese increased so fast in numbers, wealth, and power, that the people of Angola became jealous of them, and earnestly desired war. Zhinga, having formed an alliance with the Dutch, and with several neighboring chiefs, began the contest with great vigor. She obtained several victories, at first, but was finally driven from her kingdom with great loss. Her conquerors offered to re-establish her on the throne, if she would consent to pay tribute. She haughtily replied, ''If my cowardly subjects are willing to bear shameful fetters, I cannot endure even the thought of dependence upon any foreign power." In order to subdue her stubborn spirit, the Portuguese placed a king of their own choosing upon the throne of Angola. This exasperated Zhinga to such a degree, that she vowed everlasting hatred against her enemies, and publicly abjured their religion. At the head of an intrepid and ferocious band, she, during eighteen years, ])erpetually harassed the Portuguese. She could neither be subdued by force of arms, nor appeased by presents. She demanded complete restitution of her territories, and treated every other proposal with the utmost scorn. Once, when closely besieged in an island, she asked a short time to reflect on the terms of surrender. The request being granted, she silently guided her troops through the river at midnight, and carried fire and sword into another portion of the enemy's country. The total defeat of the Hollanders, and the death of her sister, who had been taken captive during the wars, softened her spirit. She became filled with remorse for having renounced the christian religion. She treated her prisoners more mercifully, and gave orders that the captive priests should be attended with the utmost reve- rence. They perceived the change, and lost no opportu- nity of regaining their convert. The queen was ready to comply with their wishes, but feared a revolt among her subjects and allies, who were strongly attached to the custom.s of their fathers. The priest, by numerous arti- 164 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. fices, worked so powerfully upon the superstitious fears of the people, that they were prepared to hail Zhinga's return to the Catholic faith with joy. The queen, thus reconciled to the church, signed a treaty of peace ; took the Capuchins for her counsellors ; dedicated her capital city to the Virgin, under the name of Saint Mary of Matamba ; and erected a large church. Idolatry was forbidden, under the most rigorous pen- alties ; and not a few fell martyrs to Zhinga's fiery zeal. A law prohibiting polygamy excited discontent. — Zhinga, though seventyfive years old, publicly patronized marriage, by espousing one of her courtiers ; and her sister was induced to give the same example. The Por- tuguese again tried to make her a vassal to the crown ; but the priests, notwithstanding their almost unlimited in- fluence, could never obtain her consent to this degradation. In 1657, one of her tributaries having violated the treaty of peace, she marched at the head of her troops, defeated the rebel, and sent his head to the Portuguese. In 1758, she made war upon a neighboring king, who had attacked her territories ; and returned in triumph, after having compelled him to submit to such conditions as she saw fit to impose. The same year, she abolished the cruel custom of immolating human victims on the tombs of princes ; and founded a new city, ornamented with a beautiful church and palace. She soon after sent an embassage to the Pope, request- ing more missionaries among her people. The Pontiff's answer was publicly read in the church, where Zhinga appeared with a numerous and brilliant train. At a fes- tival in honor of this occasion, she and the ladies of her court performed a mimic battle, in the dress and armor of Amazons. Though more than eighty years old, this remarkable woman displayed as much strength, agility, and skill, as she could have done at twentyfive. She died in 1663, aged eightytwo. Arrayed in royal robes, ornamented with precious stones, with a bow and arrow in her hand, the body was shown to her sorrowing sub- jects. It was then, according to her wish, clothed in the Capuchin habit, with crucifix and rosary.* * See Biographic Universelle. INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 165 The commandant of a Portuguese fort, who expected the arrival of an African envoy, ordered splendid prepa- rations, that he might be dazzled with the idea of Euro- pean wealth. When the negro entered the richly orna- mented saloon, he was not invited to sit down. Like Zhinga, he made a signal to an attendant, who knelt upon the floor, and thus furnished him a seat. The commandant asked, " Is thy king as powerful as the king of Portugal ?" The colored envoy replied : *' My king has a hundred servants like the king of Portugal ; a thousand like thee ; and but one like myself." As he said this, he indignantly left the room. Michaud, the elder, says that in different places on the Persian Gulf, he has seen negroes as heads of great commercial houses, receiving orders and expediting ves- sels to various parts of India. Their intelligence in bu- siness is well known on the Levant. The Czar Peter of Russia, during his travels became acquainted with Annibal, an African negro, who was in- telligent and well educated. Peter the Great, true to his generous system of rewarding merit wherever he found it, made Annibal Lieutenant General and Director of the Russian Artillery. He was decorated with the riband of the order of St Alexander Nenski. His son, a mu- latto, was Lieutenant General of Artillery, and said to be a man of talent. St Pierre and La Harpe were ac- quainted with him. Job Ben Solomon, was the son of the Mohammedan king of Bunda, on the Gambia. He was taken in 1730, and sold in Maryland. By a train of singular adventures he was conveyed to England, where his intelligence and dignified manners gained him many friends; among whom was Sir Hans Sloane, for whom he translated several Ar- abic manuscripts. After being received with distinction at the Court of St James, the African Company became interested in his fate, and carried him back to Bunda, in the year 1734. His uncle embracing him, said, " Dur- ing sixty years, you are the first slave I have ever seen return from the American isles." At his father's death, 166 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. Solomon became king, and was much beloved in his states. The son of the king of Congo, and several of the young people of rank were sent to the Portuguese uni- versities, in the time of King Immanuel. Some of them were distinguished scholars, and several of them pro- moted to the priesthood. In 1765, a negro in England was ordained by Doctor ' Keppell, bishop of Exeter. In Prevot's General History of Voyages, there is an account of a black bishop who studied at Rome. Antonio Perura Reboupas, who is at the present time Deputy from Bahia, in the Cortes of Brazil, is a distin- guished lawyer, and a good man. He is learned in polit- ical economy, and has written ably upon the currency of Brazil. I have heard intelligent white men from that Country speak of him in terms of high respect and admi- ration. Henry Diaz, who is extolled in all the histories of Brazil, was a negro and slave. He became Colonel of a regiment of foot-soldiers, of his own color ; and such was his reputation for sagacity and valor, that it was con- sidered a distinction to be under his command. In the contest between the Portuguese and Hollanders, in 1637, Henry Diaz fought bravely against the latter. He com- pelled them to capitulate at Arecise, and to surrender Fernanbon. In a battle, struggling against the superi- ority of numbers, and perceiving that some of his soldiers began to give way, he rushed into the midst of them, exclaiming, '' Are these the brave companions of Henry Diaz !" His example renewed their courage, and they returned so impetuously to the charge, that the almost victorious army were compelled to retreat hastily. Having wounded his left hand in battle, he caused it to be struck off, rather than to lose the time necessary to dress it. This regiment, composed of blacks, long ex- isted in Brazil under the popular name of Henry Diaz. INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 167 Antony William Amo, born in Guinea was brought to Europe when very young. The Princess of Brunswick, Wolfenbuttle, defrayed the expenses of his education. He pursued his studies at Halle and at Wittemberg, and so distinguished himself by his character and abilities, that the Rector and Council of Wittemberg thought proper to give public testimony of their respect in a let- ter of congratulation. In this letter they remark that Terence also was an African — that many martyrs, doc- tors, and fathers of the church were born in the same country, where learning once flourished, and which by losing the christian faith, again fell back into barbarism. Amo delivered private lectures on philosophy, which are highly praised in the same letter. He became a doctor. Lislet Geoffrroy, a mulatto, was an officer of Artil- lery and guardian of the Depot of Maps and Plans of the Isle of IJrance. He was a correspondent of the French Academy of Sciences, to whom he regularly transmitted meteorological observations, and sometimes hydrograph- ical journals. His map of the Isles of France and Re- union is considered the best map of those islands that has appeared. In the archives of the Institute of Paris is an account of Lislet's voyage to the Bay of St Luce. He points out the exchangeable commodities and other resources which it presents ; and urges the importance of encouraging industry by the hope of advantageous commerce, instead of exciting the natives to war in order to obtain slaves. Lislet established a scientific society at the Isle of France, to which some white men refused to belong, because its founder had a skin more deeply col- ored than their own. James Derham, originally a slave at Philadelphia, was sold to a physician, who employed him in compounding drugs ; he was afterward sold to a surgeon, and finally to Doctor Robert Dove, of New Orleans. In 1788, at the age of twentyone, he became the most distinguished physician in that city, and was able to talk with French, Spanish, and English in their own languages. Doctor Rush says, *' I conversed with him on medicine, and found him very learned. I thought I could give him in- 168 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. formation concerning the treatment of diseases ; but I learned from him more than he could expect from me." Thomas Fuller^ an African residing in Virginia, did not know how to read or write, but had great facility in arithmetical calculations. He was once asked how many seconds has an individual lived when he is seventy years, seven months, and seven days old ? In a minute and a half he answered the question. One of the company took a pen, and after a long calculation, said Fuller had made the sum too large. " No," replied the negro, " the error is on your side. You did not calculate the leap- years." These factrs are mentioned in a letter from Doc- tor Rush, published in the fifth volume of the American Museum. In 1788, Otliello, a negro, published at Baltimore an Essay against Slavery. Addressing white men, he says, " Is not your conduct, compared with your principles, a sacrilegious irony ? When you dare to talk of civiliza- tion and the gospel, you pronounce your own anathema. In you the superiority of power produces nothing but a superiority of brutality and barbarism. Your fine polit- ical systems are sullied by the outrages committed against human nature and the divine majesty." Olandad Equiano, better known by the name of Gus- tavus Vasa, was stolen in Africa, at twelve years old, together with his sister. They were torn from each other; and the brother, after a horrible passage in a slave ship, was Fold at Barbadoes. Being purchased by a lieutenant, he accompanied his new master to England, Guernsey, and the siege of Louisbourg. He afterwards experienced great changes of fortune, and made voyages to various parts of Europe and America. In all his wan- derings, he cherished an earnest desire for freedom. He hoped to obtain his liberty by faithfulness and zeal in his master's service ; but finding avarice stronger than be- nevolence, he began trade with a capital of three pence, and by rigid economy was at last able to purchase — Ids own body and soul; this, however, was not eflfected, until he had endured much oppression and insult. He INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 169 was several times shipwrecked, and finally, after thirty years of vicissitude and suffering, he settled in London and published his Memoirs. The book is said to be written with ail the simplicity, and something of the roughness, of uneducated nature. He gives a naive description of his terror at an earthquake, his surprise when he first saw snow, a picture, a watch, and a quad- rant. He always had an earnest desire to understand navi- gation, as a probable means of one day escaping from slavery. Having persuaded a sea-captain to give him lessons, he applied himself with great diligence, though obliged to contend with many obstacles, and subject to frequent interruptions. Doctor Irving, with whom he once lived as a servant, taught him to render salt water fresh by distillation. Some time after, when engaged in - a northern expedition, he made good use of this know- ledge, and furnished the crew with water they could drink. His sympathies were, very naturally, given to the weak and the despised, wherever he found them. He deplores the fate of modern Greeks, nearly as much de- graded by the Turks as the negroes are by their white brethren. In 1789, Vasa presented a petition to the British parliament, for the suppression of the slave trade. His son, named Sancho, was assistant librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, and Secretary to the Committee for Vac- cination. Another negro, named Ignatius SancJio, was born on board a Guinea ship, where his parents were both cap- tives, destined for the South American slave market. — Change of climate killed his mother, and his father com- mitted suicide. At two years old the orphan was carried to England, and presented to some ladies residing at Greenwich. Something in his character reminded them of Don Quixote's squire, and they added Sancho to his original name of Ignatius. The Duke of Montague saw him frequently and thought he had a mind worthy of cultivation. He often sent him books, and advised the ladies to give him a chance for education ; but they had less liberal views, and often threatened to send the poor 15 170 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. boy again into slavery. After the death of his friends, he went into the service of the Duchess of Montague, who at her death left him an annuity of thirty pounds ; beside which he had saved seventy pounds out of his earnings. Something of dissipation mixed with his love of reading, and sullied the better part of his character. '— He spent his last shilling at Drury Lane, to see Garrick, who was extremely friendly to him. At one time he thought of performing African characters on the stage, but was prevented by a bad articulation. He afterward became very regular in his habits, and married a worthy West Tndian girl. After his death, two volumes of his letters were printed, of which a second edition was soon published, with a portrait of the author, designed by Gainsborough, and engraved by Bartolozzi. Sterne formed an acquaintance with Ignatius Sancho ; and in the third volume of his letters, there is an epistle addressed to this African, in which he tells him that va- rieties in nature do not sunder the bands of brotherhood ; and expresses his indignation that certain men wish to class their equals among the brutes, in order to treat them as such with impunity. Jefferson criticises Sancho with some severity, for yielding too much to an eccentric imagination ; but he acknowledges that he has an easy style, and a happy choice of expressions. The letters of Sancho are thought to bear some resem- blance to those of Sterne, both in their beauties and defects. Francis Williams, a negro, was born in Jamaica. — The Duke of Montaigne, governor of the island, think- ing him an unusually bright boy, sent him to England to school. He afterward entered the University of Cam- bridge, and became quite a proficient in mathematics. — During his stay in Europe, he published a song which became quite popular, beginning, '' Welcome, welcome, brother debtor." After his return to Jamaica, the Duke tried to obtain a place for him in the council of the gov- ernment, but did not succeed. He then became a teacher of Latin and mathematics. He wrote a good deal of INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 171 Latin verse, a species of composition of which he was very fond. This negro is described as having been pedantic and haughty ; indulging a profound contempt for men of his own color. Where learning is a rare at- tainment among any people, or any class of people, this effect is very apt to be produced. Phillis Wheatly, stolen from Africa when seven or eight years old, was sold to a wealthy merchant in Bos- ton, in 1761. Being an intelligent and winning child, she gained upon the affections of her master's family, and they allowed her uncommon advantages. When she was nineteen years old, a little volume of her poems was pub- lished, and passed through several editions, both in Eng- land and the United States. Lest the authenticity of the poems should be doubted, her master, the governor, the lieutenant governor, and fifteen other respectable per- sons, acquainted with her character and circumstances, testified that they were really her own productions. Jeffer- son denies that these poems have any merit ; but I think he would have judged differently, had he been perfectly unprejudiced. It would indeed be absurd to put Phillis Wheatly in competition with Mrs Hemans, Mary Hewitt, Mrs Sigourney, Miss Gould, and other modern writers ; but her productions certainly appear very respectable in comparison with most of the poetry of that day. Phillis Wheatly received her freedom in 1775 ; and two years after married a colored man, who, like herself was considered a prodigy. He was at first a grocer ; but afterward became a lawyer, well known by the name of Doctor Peter. He was in the habit of pleading causes for his brethren before the tribunals of justice, and gained both reputation and fortune by his practice. Phillis had been flattered and indulged from her earliest childhood ; and, like many literary women in old times, she acquired something of contempt for domestic occupations. This is said to have produced unhappiness between her and her husband. She died in 1780. Mr Wilberforce, (on whom may the blessing of God rest forever !) aided by several benevolent individuals, ^established a seminary for colored people at Clapham, a 172 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. few leagues from London. The first scholars were twentyone young negroes, sent by the Governor of Sierra Leone. The Abbe Gregoire says, " I visited this estab- lishment in 1802, to examine the progress of the schol- ars ; and I found there existed no difference between them and European children, except that of color. The same observation has been made, first at Paris, in the ancient college of La Marche, where Coesnon, professor of the University, taught a number of colored boys. — - Many members of the National Institute, who have care- fully examined this college, and watched the progress of the scholars in their particular classes, and public exer- cises, will testify to the truth of my assertion." Correa de Serra, the learned Secretary of the Acade- my at Portugal, informs us that several negroes have been able law'yers, preachers, and professors. In the Southern States, the small black children are proverbially brighter and more forward than white ones of the same age. Repartees, by no means indicative of stupidity, have sometimes been made by negroes. A slave was suddenly roused with the exclamation, *' Why don't you wake, when your master calls 1" The negro answered, " Sleep has no master." On a public day the New England Museum, in Boston, was thronged with visiters to see the representation of the Salem murder. Some colored women being jostled back by a crowd of white people, expostulated thus : " Don't you know it is always proper to let the mourners walk first ?" It argues some degree of philosophy to be able to indulge wit at the expense of what is, most unjustly, considered a degradation. Public prejudice shamefully fetters these people ; and it has been wisely said, *' If we cannot break our chains, the next best thing we can do, is io })lay with them."* Among Bonaparte's officers there was a mulatto Gene- ral of Division, named Alexander Dumas. In the army of the Alps, with charged bayonet, he ascended St Ber- nard, defended by a number of redoubts, took possession * In a beautiful little volume called Mary's Journey, by Francis Graeter. INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 173 of the enemy's cannon, and turned their own ammuni- tion against them. He likewise signalized himself in the expedition to Egypt. His troop, composed of blacks and mulattoes, were everywhere formidable. Near Lisle, Alexander Dumas, with only four men, attacked a post of fifty Austrians, killed six, and made sixteen prisoners. Napoleon called him the Horatius Codes of the Tyrols. On his return from Egypt, Dumas unluckily fell into the hands of the Neapolitan government, and was two years kept in irons. He died in 1807. Between 1620 and 1630, some fugitive negroes, united with some Brazilians, formed two free states in South America, called the Great and Little Palmares ; so named on account of the abundance of palm trees. The Great Palmares was nearly destroyed by the Hollanders, in 1644 ; but at the close of the war, the slaves in the neigh- borhood of Fernanbouc, resolved to form an establish- ment, which would secure their freedom. Like the old Romans, they obtained wives by making incursions upon their neighbors, and carrying off the women. They formed a constitution, established tribunals of justice, and adopted a form of worship similar to Chris- tianity. The chiefs chosen for life were elected by the people. They fortified their principal towns, cultivated their gardens and fields, and reared domestic animals. They lived in prosperity and peace, until 1696, when the Por- tuguese prepared an expedition against them. The Pal- marisians defended themselves with desperate valor, but were overcome by superior numbers. Some rushed upon death, that they might not survive their liberty ; others were sold and dispersed by the conquerors. Thus ended this interesting republic. Had it continued to the present time, it might have produced a very material change in the character and condition of the colored race. In the seventeenth century, when Jamaica was still un- der the dominion of the Spaniards, a party of slaves under the command of John de Bolas, regained their indepen- dence. They increased in numbers, elected the famous 15* 174 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. Cudjoe as their chief, and became very formidable. — Cudjoe established a confederation among all the Maroon tribes, and by his bravery and skilful management com- pelled the English to make a treaty, in which they ac- knowledged the freedom of the blacks, and ceded to them forever a portion of the territory of Jamaica. The French National Assembly admitted free colored deputies from St Domingo, and promised a perfect equal- ity of rights, without regard to complexion. But, as usual, the white colonists made every possible exertion to set aside the claims of their darker faced brethren. — It was very short-sighted policy ; for the planters abso- lutely needed the friendship of the free mulattoes and negroes, as a defence against the slaves. Oge, one of the colored deputies, an energetic and shrewd man, was in Paris, watching political movements with intense in- terest, — resolved to maintain the rights of his oppressed companions, " quietly if he could — forcibly if he must." Bay after day, a hearing was promised ; and day after day, upon some idle pretext or other, it was deferred. — Oge became exasperated. His friends in France recom- mended the only medicine ever offered by the white man to the heart-sick African, — patience — patience. — But he had long observed the operation of slavery, and he knew that patience, whatever it might do for the white man, brought upon the negro nothing but contempt and accumulated wrong. Discouraged in his efforts to make head against the intrigues of the slave-holders, he could not contain his indignation : "I begin," said he to CJarkson, " not to care whether the National Assem- bly will hear us or not. But let it beware of the conse- quences. We will no longer continue to be held in a deo-raded light. Despatches shall go directly to St Do- jningo; and we will soon follow them. We can pro- duce as good soldiers on our own estates, as those in France. Our own arms shall make us independent and respectable. If we are forced to desperate measures, it will be in vain that thousands are sent across the Atlan- tic to bring us back to our former state." The French government issued orders to prevent the embarkation of negroes and mulattoes ; but Oge, by the INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 175 way of England, contrived to return to St Domingo. On his arrival, he demanded the execution of decrees made in favor of his brethren, but either resisted or evaded by their white oppressors. His plea, founded in justice, and sanctioned by Divine authority, was rejected. The parties became exasperated, and an attack ensued. The Spanish government basely and wickedly delivered Oge to his enemies. He asked for a defender to plead his cause ; but he asked in vain. Thirteen of his com- panions were condenmed to the galleys ; more than twenty to the gibbet ; and Oge and Chavanne were tor- tured on the wheel. Where rests the guilt in this case ? Let those blame Oge, who can, My heart and conscience both refuse to do it. Toussaint V Ouverture, the celebrated black chieftain, was born a slave, in the year 1745, upon the plantation of Count de Noe. His amiable deportment as a slave, the patience, mildness, and benevolence of his disposi- tion, and the purity of his conduct amid the general laxity of morals which prevailed in the island, gained for him many of those advantages which afterwards gave him such absolute ascendency over his insurgent breth- ren. His good qualities attracted the attention of M, Bayou de Libertas, the agent on the estate, who taught him reading, writing, and arithmetic, — elements of knowledge, which hardly one in ten thousand of his fel- low slaves possessed. M. Bayou made him his postillion, which gave him advantages much above those of the field slaves. AVhen the general rising of the blacks took place, in 1791, much solicitation was used to induce Toussaint to join them ; but he declined, until he had procured an opportunity for the escape of M. Bayou and his family to Baltimore, shipping a considerable quantity of sugar for the supply of their immediate wants. In his subsequent prosperity, he availed himself of every occa- sion to give them new marks of his gratitude. Having thus provided security for his benefactor, he joined a corps of blacks, under the orders of General Biassou ; but was soon raised to the principal command, Biassou 176 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. being degraded on account of his cruelty and ferocity. Indeed, Toussaint was every way so much superior ta the other negroes, by reason of his general intelligence and education, his prudence, activity and address, not less than his bravery, that he immediately attained a complete ascendency over all the black chieftains. In 1797, Toussaint received from the French government a commission of General-in-Chief of the armies of St Do- mingo, and as such signed the convention with General Maitland for the evacuation of the island by the British. From 1798 until 1801, the island continued tranquil under the government of Toussaint, who adopted and enforced the most judicious measures for healing the wounds of his country, and restoring its commercial and agricultural prosperity. His efforts would have been attended with much success, but for the ill-judged expe^ dition, which Bonaparte sent against the island, under the command of LeClerc. This expedition, fruitless as it was in respect of its general object, proved fatal to the negro chieftain. Toussaint was noted for private virtues ; among the rest, warm affection for his family. Le Clerc brought out from France Toussaint's two sons, with their preceptor, whose orders were to carry his pupils to their ifather, and make use of them to work on his tenderness, and induce him to abandon his countrymen. If he yielded, he was to be made second in command to Le Clerc ; if he re- fused, his children were to be reserved as hostages of his fidelity to the French. Notwithstanding the greatness of the sacrifice demanded of him, Toussaint remained faithful to his brethren. We pass over the details of the war, which at length, ended in a treaty of peace con- cluded by Toussaint, Dessalines and Christophe, against their better judgment, but in consequence of the effect of Le Clerc's professions upon their simple followers, who were induoed to lay down their arms. Toussaint retired to his plantation, relying upon the solemn assu- rances of Le Clerc, that his person and property should be held sacred. Nothwithstanding these assurances, he was treacherously seized in the night, hurried on board a ship of war, and conveyed tQ Brest. He was con- INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 177 ducted first to close prison in Chateaux de Joux, and from thence to Besan§on, where he was plunged into a cold, wet, subterranean prison, which soon proved fatal to a constitution used only to the warm skies and free air of the West Indies. He languished through the win- ter of 180:2-1803 ; and his death, which happened in April, 1803, raised a cry of indignation against the gov- ernment, which had chosen this dastardly method of destroying one of the best and bravest of the negro race. Toussaint L'Ouverture is thus spoken of by Vincent, in his Reflections on the state of St Domingo : " Tous- saint L'Ouverture is the most active and indefatigable man, of whom it is possible to form an idea. He is always present wherever difficulty or danger makes his presence necessary. His great sobriety, — the power of living without repose, — the facility with which he re- sumes the aff"airs of the cabinet, after the most tiresome excursions, — of answering daily a hundred letters, — and of habitually tiring five secretaries — render him so superior to all around him, that their respect and submis- sion almost amount to fanaticism. It is certain no man in modern times has obtained such an influence over a mass of ignorant people, as General Toussaint possesses over his brethren of St Domingo. He is endowed with a prodigious memory. He is a good father and a good husband." Toussaint re-established religious worship in St Do- mingo ; and on account of his zeal in this respect, a cer- tain class of men called him, in derision, the Capuchin. With the genius and energy of Bonaparte, General Toussaint is said to have possessed the same political duplicity, and far-sighted cunning. These are qualities which almost inevitably grew out of the peculiar circum- stances in which they were placed, and the obstacles with which they were obliged to contend. Wordsworth addressed the following sonnet to Tous- eaint L'Ouverture : "Toussaint, thou most unhappy man of men ! Whether the whistling rustic tends his plough Within thy hearing, or thou liest now Buried in some deep dungeon's earless den ; — 178 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. O, miserable chieftain ! where and when Wilt thou find patience ? Yet die not ; do thou Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow : Though fallen thyself, never to rise again, Live, and take comfort. Thou has letl behind Powers that will work for thee ; air, earth, and skies ; There 's not a breathing of the common wind That will forget thee ; thou hast great allies. Thy friends are exultations, agonies, And love, and man's unconquerable mind." Godwin, in his admirable Lectures on Colonial Slavery, says : '' Can the West India islands, since their first dis- covery by Columbus, boast a single name which deserves comparison with that of Toussaint L'Ouverture V If we are willing to see and believe, we have full op- portunity to convince ourselves that the colored popula- tion are highly susceptible of cultivation. St Domingo produces black legislators, scholars, and gentlemen. — The very negroes who had been slaves, formed a consti- tution that would do credit to paler-faced statesmen — Americans may well blush at its consistent republicanism. The enemies of true freedom were very ready to predict that the government of Hayti could not continue for any length of time ; but it has now lasted nearly thirty years, constantly increasing in respectability and wealth. The affairs of Greece have been managed with much less ability and discretion, though all the cabinets of Europe have given assistance and advice. St Domingo achieved her independence alone and unaided — nay, in the very teeth of prejudice and scorn. The Greeks had loans from England, and contributions from America, and sympathy from half the world; the decisive battle of Navarino was gained by the combined fleets of England, France and Russia. Is it asked why Hayti has not pro- duced any examples of splendid genius ? In reply let me inquire, how long did the Europeans ridicule us for our poverty in literature ? When Raynal reproached the United States with not having produced one celebrated man, Jefferson requested him to wait until we had existed " as long as the Greeks before they had a Homer, the Romans a Virgil, and the French a Racine." Half a century elapsed before our republic produced Irving, Cooper, Sedgwick, Halleck, and Bryant. We must not INTELLECT OF NEGROES, 179 forget that the cruel prejudice, under which colored people labor, makes it extremely difficult for them to gain admission to the best colleges and schools ; they are obliged to contend with obstacles, which white men never encounter. It might seem wonderful that the descendants of wise Ethiopia, and learned Egypt, are now in such a state of degradation, if history did not furnish a remarkable parallel in the condition of the modern Greeks. The land of Homer, Pericles, and Plato, is now inhabited by ignorant, brutal pirates. Freedom made the Grecians great and glorious — tyranny has made them stupid and miserable. Yet their yoke has been light, compared with African bondage. In both cases the wrongs of the oppressed have been converted into an argument against them. We first debase the nature of man by making him a slave, and then very coolly tell him that he must always remain a slave because he does not know how to use freedom. We first crush people to the earth, and then claim the right of trampling on them forever, because they are prostrate. Truly, human selfishness never invented a rule, which worked so charmingly both ways ! No one thinks of doubting the intellect of Indians ; yet civilization has certainly advanced much farther in the interior of Africa, than it did among the North American tribes. The Indians have strong untutored eloquence, ■ — so have the Africans. And where will you find an Indian chieftain, whose pride, intellect, and valor, are more than a match for Zhinga's ? Both of these classes have been most shamefully wronged ; but public prejudice, which bows the negro to the earth, has borne with a far less crushing power upon the energies of the red man ; yet they have not produced a Shakspeare or a Newton. But I shall be asked how it is that the na- tions of Africa, having proceeded so far in the arts of civilization, have made a full stop, and remained century after century without any obvious improvement ? I will answer this by another question : How long did the an- cient Helvetians, Gauls, and Saxons remain in such a state of barbarism, that what they considered splendor and re- 180 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. finement, would be called poverty and rudeness, by their German, French, and English descendants'? — What was it that changed the intellectual and moral character of these people, after ages of ignorance and ferocity ? It was the art of printing. But, alas, with the introduction of printing, modern slavery was intro- duced ! While commerce has carried books and maps to other portions of the globe, she has sent kidnappers, with guns and cutlasses into Africa. We have not preached the Gospel of peace to her princes ; we have incited them to make war upon each other, to fill our markets with slaves. While knowledge, like a mighty pillar of fire, has guided the European nations still onward, and onward, a dark cloud has settled more and more gloomily over benighted Africa. The lessons of time, the experience of ages, from which we have learned so much, are entirely lost to this vast continent. I have heard it asserted that the Indians were evi- dently superior to the negroes, because it was impossible to enslave them. Our slave laws prove that there are some exceptions to this remark ; and it must be remem- bered that the Indians have been fairly met in battle, contending with but one nation at a time ; while the whole world have combined against the Africans — send- ing emissaries to lurk for them in secret places, or steal them at midnight from their homes. The Indian will seek freedom in the arms of death — and so will the negro. By thousands and thousands, these poor people have died for freedom. They have stabbed themselves for freedom — jumped into the waves for freedom — starved for freedom — fought like very tigers for freedom! But they have been hung, and burned, and shot — and their tyrants have been their historians ! When the Africans have writers of their own, we shall hear their efforts for liberty called by the true title of heroism in a glorious cause. We are told in the fable that a lion, looking at the picture of one of his own spe- cies, conquered and trampled on by man', calmly said, " We lions have no painters." I shall be told that in the preceding examples I have shown only the bright side of the picture. I readily INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 181 grant it ; but I have deemed it important to sliow that the picture has a bright side. I am well aware that most of the negro authors are remarkable, principally because they are negroes. With considerable talent, they gener- ally evince bad taste. I do not pretend that they are Scotts or Miltons ; but I wish to prove that they are men, capable of producing their proportion of Scotts and Mil- tons, if they could be allowed to live in a state of physical and intellectual freedom. But where, at the present time, can they live in perfect freedom, cheered by the hopes and excited by the rewards, which stimulate white men to exertion ? Every avenue to distinction is closed to them. Even where the body is suffered to be free, a hateful prejudice keeps the soul in fetters. I think every candid mind must admit that it is more wonderful they have done so much, than that they have done no more. As a class, I am aware that the negroes, Avith many honorable exceptions, are ignorant, and show little dis- position to be otherwise ; but this ceases to be the case just in proportion as they are free. The fault is in their unnatural situation, not in themselves. Tyranny always dwarfs the intellect. Homer tells us, that when Jupiter condemns a man to slavery, he takes from him half his mind. A family of children treated v.^ith habitual vio- lence or contempt, become stupid and sluggish, and are called fools by the very parents or guardians who have crushed their mental energies. It was remarked by M. Dupuis, the British Consul at Mogadore, that the gener- ality of Europeans, after a long captivity and severe treat- ment among the Arabs, seemed at first exceedingly dull and insensible. " If they had been any considerable time in slavery," says he, " they appeared lost to reason and feeling ; their spirits broken ; and their faculties sunk in a species of stupor, which I am unable adequate- ly to describe. They appeared degraded even below the negro slave. The succession of hardships, without any protecting law to which they can appeal for alleviation, or redress, seems to destroy every spring of exertion, or hope in their minds. They appear indifferent to every- thing around them ; abject, servile, and brutish." Lieutenant Hall, in his Travels in the United States, 16 183 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. makes the following just remark : *' Cut off hope for the future, and freedom for the present ; superadd a due pressure of bodily suffering, and personal degradation ; and you have a slave, who, (of whatever zone, nation or complexion,) will be what the poor African is, torpid, de- based, and lowered beneath the standard of humanity." The great Virginian, Patrick Henry, who certainly had a fair chance to observe the effects of slavery, says, " If a man be in chains, he droops and bows to the earth, because his spirits are broken ; but let him twist the fetters off his legs and he will stand erect." The following is the testimony of the Rev. R. Walsh, on the same subject ; he is describing his first arrival at Rio Janeiro : " The whole labor of bearing and moving burdens is performed by these people, and the state in which they appear is revolting to humanity. Here was a number of beings entirely naked, with the exception of a covering of dirty rags tied about their waists. Their skins, from constant exposure to the M'eather, had become hard, crusty, and seamed, resembling the coarse black cover- ing of some beast, or like that of an elephant, a wrinkled hide scattered with scanty hairs. On contemplating their persons you saw them with a physical organization resembling beings of a grade below the rank of man ; long projecting heels, the gastronymic muscle wanting, and no calves to their legs ; their mouths and chins pro- truded, their noses flat, their foreheads retiring, having exactly the head and legs of the baboon tribe. Some of these beings were yoked to drays, on which they dragged heavy burdens. Some were chained by the necks and legs, and moved with loads thus encumbered. Some followed each other in ranks, with heavy weights on their heads, chattering the most inarticulate and dismal ca- dence as they moved along. Some were munching young sugar-canes, like beasts of burden eating green proven- der ; and some were seen near the water, lying on the bare ground among filth and offal, coiled up like dogs, and seeming to expect or require no more comfort or ac- commodation, exhibiting a state and conformation so unhuman, that they not only seemed, but actually were. liXTELLECT OF NEGROES. 183 far below the inferior animals around them. Horses and mules were not employed in this way ; they were used only for pleasure, and not labor. They were seen in the same streets, pampered, spirited, and richly caparisoned, enjoying a state far superior to the negroes, and ap- pearing to look down on the fettered and burdened wretches they were passing, as on beings of an inferior rank in the creation. Some of the negroes actually seemed to envy the caparisons of their fellow brutes, and eyed with jealousy their glittering harness. In imita- tion of this finery, they were fond of thrums of many col- ored threads ; and I saw one creature, who supported the squalid rag that wrapped his waist by a suspender of gaudy worsted, which he turned every moment to look at, on his naked shoulder. The greater number, however, were as unconscious of any covering for use or ornament, as a pig or an ass. " The first impression of all this on my mind, was to shake the conviction I had always felt, of the wrong and hardship inflicted on our black fellow-creatures, and that they were only in that state which God and nature had assigned them ; that they were the lowest grade of hu- man existence, and the link that connected it with the brute ; and that the gradation was so insensible, and their natures so intermingled, that it was impossible to tell where one had terminated and the other commenced ; and that it was not surprising that people who contem- plated them every day, so formed, so employed, and so degraded, should forget their claims to that rank in the scale of being in which modern philanthropists are so anxious to place them. I did not at the moment myself recollect, that the white man, made a slave on the coast of Africa, suffers not only a similar mental but physical deterioration from hardships and emaciation, and be- comes in time the dull and deformed beast I now saw yoked to a burden. '* A few hours only were necessary to correct my first impressions of the negro population, by seeing them un- der a different aspect. We were attracted by the sound of military music, and found it proceeded from a regi- ment drawn up in one of the .streets. Their colonel had 184 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. just died, and they attended to form a procession to cele- brate his obsequies. They were all of different shades of black, but the majority were negroes. Their equip- ment was excellent ; they wore dark jackets, white pan- taloons, and black leather caps and belts, all which, with their arms, were in high order. Their band produced sweet and agreeable music, of the leader's own composi- tion, and the men went through some evolutions with regularity and dexterity. They were only a militia regi- ment, yet were as well appointed and disciplined as one of our regiments of the line. Here then was the first step in that gradation by which the black population of this country ascend in the scale of humanity ; he advances from the state below that of a beast of burden into a mili- tary rank, and he shows himself as capable of discipline and improvement as a human being of any other color. " Our attention w^as next attracted by negro men and v/omen bearing about a variety of articles for sale ; some in baskets, some on boards and cases carried on their heads. They belonged to a class of small shopkeepers, many of whom vend their w^ares at home, but the greater number send them about in this way, as in itinerant shops, A few of these people were still in a state of bondage, and brought a certain sum every evening to their owners, as the produce of their daily labor. But a large proportion, I was informed, were free, and exer- cised this little calling on their own account. They were all very neat and clean in their persons, and had a decorum and sense of respectability about them, superior to whites of the same class and calling. All their articles were good in their kind and neatly kept, and they sold them with simplicity and confidence, neither wishing to take advantage of others, nor suspect- ing that it v/ould be taken of themselves. I bought some confectionary from one of the females, and I was struck v\-ith the modesty and propriety of her manner ; she was a young mother, and had with her a neatly dressed child, of which she seem.ed very fond. I gave it a little comfit, and it turned up its dusky countenance to her and then to me, taking my sweetmeat and at the same time kissing my hand. As yet unacquainted v/ith the coin of the INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 185 country, I had none that was current about me, and was leaving the articles ; but the poor young woman pressed them on me with a ready confidence, repeating in broken Portuguese, outo tempo. I am sorry to say, the ' other time' never came, for I could not recognise her person afterwards to discharge her little debt, though I went to the same place for the purpose. " It soon began to grow dark, and I was attracted by a number of persons bearing large lighted wax tapers, like torches, gathering before a house. As I passed by, one was put into my hand by a man vvho seemed in some authority, and I was requested to fall into a procession that was forming. It was the preparation for a funeral, and on such occasions, I learned that they always request the attendance of a passing stranger, and feel hurt if they are refused. I joined the party, and proceeded with them to a neighboring church. When we entered we ranged ourselves on each side of a platform which stood near the choir, on which was laid an open coffin, covered with pink silk and gold borders. The funeral service was chanted by a choir of priests, one of whom was a negro, a large comely man, whose jet black visage formed a strong and striking contrast to his white vestments. — He seemed to perform his part with a decorum and sense of solemnity, which I did not observe in his brethren, — After scattering flowers on the coffin, and fumigating it with incense, they retired, the procession dispersed, and we returned on board. '' I had been but a few hours on shore for the first time, and I saw an African negro under four aspects of soci- ety ; and it appeared to me, that in every one his charac- ter depended on the state in which he was placed, and the estimation in which he was held. As a despised slave, he was far lower than other animals of burthen that surrounded him ; more miserable in his look, more revolting in his nakedness, more distorted in his person, and apparently more deficient in intellect, than the horses and mules that passed him by. Advanced to the grade of a soldier, he was clean and neat in his person, amena- ble to discipline, expert at his exercises, and showed the port and being of a white man similarly placed. As a 16* 186 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. citizen, he was remarkable for the respectability of his appearance, and the decorum of his manners in the rank assigned him ; and as a priest, standing in the house of God, appointed to instruct society on their most impor- tant interests, and in a grade in which moral and intel- lectual fitness is required, and a certain degree of supe- riority is expected, he seemed even more devout in his impressions, and more correct in his manners, than his white associates. I came, therefore, to the irresistible conclusion in my mind, that color was an accident affect- ing the surface of a man, and having no more to do with his qualities than his clothes — that God had equally created an African in the image of his person, and equally given him an immortal soul ; and that a Euro- pean had no pretext but his own cupidity, for impiously thrusting his fellow-man from that rank in the creation which the Almighty had assigned him, and degrading him below the lot of the brute beasts that perish." The Hon. A. H. Everett, in his able work on the po- litical situation of America, says, " Nations, and races, like individuals, have their day, and seldom have a second. The blacks had a long and glorious one ; and after what they have been and done, it argues not so much a mis- taken theory, as sheer ignorance of the most notorious historical facts, to pretend that they are naturally inferior to the whites. It would seem indeed, that if any race have a right claim to a sort of preeminence over others, on the fair and honorable ground of talents displayed, and benefits conferred, it is precisely this very one, which we take upon us, in the pride of a temporary supe- riority, to stamp with the brand of essential degradation. It is hardly necessary to add, that while the blacks were the leading race in civilization and political power, there was no prejudice among the whites against their color. On the contrary, we find that the early Greeks regarded them as a superior variety of the human species, not only in intellectual and moral qualities, but in outward appear- ance. ' The Ethiopians,' says Herodotus, ' surpass all other men in longevity, stature, and personal beauty.' " INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 187 Then let the slave-holder no longer apologize for himself by urging the stupidity and sensuality of negroes. It is upon the system^ which thus transforms men into beasts, that the reproach rests in all its strength and bitterness. And even if the negroes were, beyond all doubt, our inferiors in intellect, this would form no excuse for op- pression, or contempt. The use of law and public opin- ion is to protect the weak against the strong ; and the government, which perverts these blessings into means of tyranny, resembles the priest, who, administered poi- son with the Holy Sacrament. Is there an American willing that the intellectual and the learned should bear despotic sway over the simple and the ignorant ? If there be such an one, he may con- sistently vindicate our treatment of the Africans. CHAPTER VII. MOEAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. " Fleecy locks and black complexion Cannot forfeit Nature's claim; Skins may differ, but affection Dwells ill black and white the same. " Slaves of gold ! whose sordid dealings Tarnish all your boasted powers, Prove that you have human feelings, Ere you proudly question ours." The Negro's Complaint : by Coivpei The opinion that negroes are naturally inferior in in- tellect is almost universal among white men ; but the belief that they are worse than other people, is, I believe, much less extensive : indeed, I have heard some, who were by no means admirers of the colored race, main- tain that they were very remarkable for kind feelings, and strong affections. Homer calls the ancient Ethio- pians " the most honest of men ;" and modern travellers have given innumerable instances of domestic tender- ness, and generous hospitality in the interior of Africa. Mungo Park informs us that he found many schools in his progress through the country, and observed with pleasure the great docility and submissive deportment of the children, and heartily wished they had better instruct- ers and a purer religion. The following is an account of his arrival at Jumbo, in company with a native of that place, who had been absent several years : '* The meeting between the black- smith and his relations was very tender ; for these rude children of nature, free from restraint, display their emo- tions in the strongest and most expressive manner. — Amidst these transports, the aged mother was led forth, leaning upon a staff. Every one made way for her, and MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 189 she stretched out her hand to bid her son Vv^elcomc. Be- ing totally blind, she stroked his hands, arms, and face, with great care, and seemed highly delighted that her latter days were blessed by his return, and that her ears once more heard the music of his voice. From this in- terview, I was fully convinced, that whatever difference there is between the negro and the European, in the conformation of the nose, and the color of the skin, there is none in the genuine sympathies and character- istic feelings of our common nature." At a small town in the interior, called Wawra, he says, " In the course of the day, several women, hearing that I was going to Sago, came and begged me to inquire of Mansong, the king, what was become of their child- ren. One woman, in particular, told me that her son's name was Mamadee ; that he was no heathen ; but prayed to God morning and evening ; that he had been taken from her about three years ago by Mansong's army, since which she had never heard from him. She said she often dreamed about him, and begged me, if I should see him in Bambarra, or in my own country, to tell him that his mother and sister were still alive." At Sego, in Bambarra, the king, being jealous of Mr Park's intentions, forbade him to cross the river. Under these discouraging circumstances, he v>as advised to lodge at a distant village ; but there the same distrust of the white man's purposes prevailed, and no person would allow him to enter his house. He says, " I was regard- ed with astonishment and fear, and was obliged to sit all day without food, under the shade of a tree. The wind rose, and there was great appearance of a heavy rain, and the wild beasts are so very numerous in the neigh- borhood, that I should have been under the necessity of resting among the branches of the tree. About sunset, however, as I v/as preparing to pass the night in this manner, and had turned my horse loose, that he might graze at liberty, a woman, returning from the labors of the field, stopped to observe me. Perceiving that I was weary and dejected, she inquired into my situation, which I briefly explained to her ; whereupon, with looks of great compassion, she took up my saddle and bridle MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 191 and told me to follow her. Having conducted me into her hut, she lighted a lamp, spread a mat on the floor, and told me I might remain there for the night. Finding that I was hungry, she went out, and soon returned with a very fine fish, which being broiled upon some embers, she gave me for supper. The women then resumed their task of spinning cotton, and lightened their labor with songs, one of which must have been composed ex- tempore, for I was myself, the subject of it. It was sung by one of the young women, the rest joining in a kind of chorus. The air was sweet and plaintive, and the words, literally translated, were these : " The winds roar'd, and the rains fell ; The poor wliite man, faint and weary, Came and sat under our tree. — He has no mollier to briug him milk ; No wife to grind his corn. CHORUS. '•Let us pity the wliite man ; No mother has he to bring him milk, No wife to grind his corn." The reader can fully sympathize with this intelligent and liberal minded traveller, when he observes, " Tri- fling as this recital may appear, the circumstance was highly affecting to a person in my situation. I was op- pressed with such unexpected kindness, and sleep fled from my eyes. In the morning, I presented my com- passionate landlady with two of the four brass buttons remaining on my waistcoat; the only recompense I could make her." The Duchess of Devonshire, w^hose beauty and talent gained such extensive celebrity, was so much pleased with this African song, and the kind feelings in which it originated, that she put it into English verse, and em- ployed an eminent composer to set it to music : The loud wind roar'd, the rain fell fast; The white man yielded to the blast ; He sat him down beneath our tree, For weary, faint, and sad was he ; 192 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. And ah, no wife or mother's care^ For him the milk or corn prepare. CHORUS. The white man shall our pity share; Alas, no wife, or mother's care, For him the milk or corn prepare. The storm is o'er, the tempest past, And mercy's voice has hush'd the blast ; The wind is heard in whispers low ; The white man far away must go ; — But ever in his heart will bear Remembrance of the negro's care. CHORUS. Go, white man, go — but with thee bear The negro's wish, the negro's prayer. Remembrance of the negro's care. At another time, Mr Park thus continues his narrative : *' A little before sunset, I descended on the northwest side of a ridge of hills, and as I was looking about for a convenient tree, under which to pass the night, (for I had no hopes of reaching any town) I descended into a delightful valley, and soon afterward arrived at a roman- tic village called Kooma. I was immediately surrounded by a circle of the harmless villagers. They asked me a thousand questions about my country, and in return for my information brought corn and milk for myself, and grass for my horse ; kindled a fire in the hut where I was to sleep, and appeared very anxious to serve me." Afterward, being robbed and stripped by banditti in the wilderness, he informs us that the robbers stood con- sidering whether they should leave him quite destitute : even in their minds, humanity partially prevailed over avarice ; they returned the worst of two shirts, and a pair of trowsers; and as they went away, one of them threw back his hat. At the next village, Mr Park entered a complaint to the Dooty, or chief man, who continued very calmly smoking Vviiile he listened to the narration : but when he had heard all the particulars, he took the pipe from his mouth, and tossing up the sleeve of his cloak with an indignant air, he said, " You shall have every- thing restored to you — I have sworn it." Then, turn- MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 193 ing to an attendant, he added, '' Give the white man a draught of water ; and with the first light of morning go over the hills, and inform the Dooty of Bammakoo, that a poor white man, the king of Bambarra's stranger, has been robbed by the king of Foolodoo's people." He then invited the traveller to remain with him, and share his provisions, until the messenger returned. Mr Park accepted the kind offer most gratefully : and in a few days his horse and clothes were restored to him. At the village of Nemacoo, where corn was so scarce that the people were actually in a state of starvation, a negro pitied his distress and brought him food. At Kamalia, Mr Park was earnestly dissuaded by an African named Karfa, from attempting to cross the Ja- lonka wilderness during the rainy reason ; to which he replied that there was no alternative — for he was so poor, that he must either beg his subsistence from place to place, or perish with hunger. Karfa eagerly inquired if he could eat the food of the country, adding that, if he would stay wdth him, he should have plenty of victuals, and a hut to sleep in ; and that after he had been safely conducted to the Gambia, he might make what return he thought proper. He was accordingly provided with a mat to sleep on, an earthen jar for holding water, a small calabash for a drinking cup, and two meals a day, with a supply of wood and water, from Karfa' s own dwelling. Here he recovered from a fever, which had tormented him several weeks. His benevolent landlord came daily to inquire after his heahh, and see that he had everything for his comfort. Mr Park assures us that the simple and affectionate manner of those around him contributed not a little to his recovery. He adds, " Thus was I delivered, by the friendly care of this be- nevolent negro, from a situation truly deplorable. Dis-. tress and famine pressed hard upon me ; I had before me the gloomy wilderness of Jallonkadoo, where the traveller sees no habitation for five successive days. I had observed, at a distance, the rapid course of the river Kokaro, and had almost marked out the place where I thought I was doomed to perish, when this friendly negro stretched out his hospitable hand for my relief." Mr 17 194 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. Park having travelled in company with a coffle of thirty- five slaves, thus describes his feelings as they came near the coast ; *' Although I was now approaching the end of my tedious and toilsome journey, and expected in an- other day to meet with countrymen and friends, I could not part with my unfortunate fellow travellers, — doomed as I knew most of them to be, to a life of slavery in a foreign land, — without great emotion. During a pere- grination of more than five hundred miles, exposed to the burning rays of a tropical sun, these poor slaves, amidst their own infinitely greater sufferings, would commiserate mine, and frequently, of their own accord, bring water to quench my thirst, and at night collect branches and leaves to prepare me a bed in the wilder- ness. We parted with mutual regret and blessings. — My good wishes and prayers were all I could bestow upon them, and it afforded me some consolation to be told that they were sensible I had no more to give." The same enlightened traveller remarks, " All the negro nations that fell under my observation, though di- vided into a number of petty, independent states, subsist chiefly by the same means, live nearly in the same tem- perature, and possess a wonderful similarity of disposition. The Mandingoes, in particular, are a very gentle race, cheerful, inquisitive, credulous, simple, and fond of flattery. Perhaps the most prominent defect in their character, was that insurmountable propensity, which the reader must have observed to prevail in all classes, to steal from me the few effects I was possessed of No complete justification can be offered for this conduct, because theft is a crime in their own estimation ; and it must be observed that they are not habitually and gen- erally guilty of it towards each other. But before we pro- nounce them a more depraved people than any other, it were well to consider, whether the lower class of people in any part of Europe, would have acted, under similar circumstances, with greater honesty towards a stranger. It must be remembered that the laws of the country af- forded me no protection ; that every one was permitted to rob me with impunity ; and that some part of my ef- fects were of as great value in the estimation of the MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 195 negroes, as pearls and diamonds woidd have been in the eyes of a European. Let us suppose a black merchant of Hindostan had found his way into England, with a box of jewels at his back, and the laws of the kingdom afforded him no security — in such a case, the wonder would be. not that the stranger w^as robbed of any part of his riches, but that any part was left for a second depre- dator.* Such, on sober reflection, is the judgment I have formed concerning the pilfering disposition of the Man- dingo negroes toward me. " On the other hand, it is impossible for me to forget the disinterested charity, and tender solicitude, with which ma^iy of these poor heathens, from the sovereign of Sego, to the poor women, who at different times received me into their cottages, sympathized with my sufferings, relieved my distress, and contributed to my safety. Perhaps this acknowledgment is more particu- larly due to the female part of the nation. Among the men, as the reader must have seen, my reception, though generally kind, was sometimes otherwise. It varied according to the tempers of those to whom I made application. Avarice in some, and bigotry in others, had closed up the avenues to compassion; but I do not recol- lect a single instance of hard-heartedness towards me in the women. In all my wanderings and wretchedness, I found them uniformly kind and compassionate ; and I can truly say, as Mr Ledyard has eloquently said before me — 'To a vvoman, I never addressed myself in the lan- guage of decency and friendship, without receiving a de- cent and friendly answer. If I was hungry, or thirsty, wet, or ill, they did not hesitate, like the men, to perform a generous action. In so free and so kind a manner, did they contribute to my relief, that if I were dry, I drank the sweeter draught ; and if I were hungry, I ate the coarsest meal with a double relish.' "It is surely reasonable to suppose that the soft and amiable sympathy of nature, thus spontaneously mani- fested to me in my distress, is displayed by these poor people as occasion requires, much more strongly toward * Or suppose a colored pedier with valuable goods travelling in slave states, where the laws afford little or no protection to negro property, what would probably be his fate ? 196 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. those of their own nation and neighborhood. Maternal affection, neither suppressed by the restraints, nor divert- ed by the solicitudes of civilized life, is everywhere con- spicuous among them, and creates reciprocal tenderness in the child. ' Strike me,' said a negro to his master, who spoke disrespectfully of his parent,' but do not curse my mother.' The same sentiment I found to prevail universally." " I perceived, with great satisfaction, that the maternal solicitude extended not only to growth and security of the person, but also, in a certain degree, to the improve- ment of the character ; for one of the first lessons, which the Mandingo women teach their children is the practice of truth. A poor unhappy mother, w-hose son had been murdered by Moorish banditti, found consolation in her deepest distress from the reflection that her boy, in the whole course of his blameless life, had never told a lie." Adanson, who visited Senegal, in 1754, describes the negroes as sociable, obliging, humane, and hospitable. " Their amiable simplicity," says he, " in this enchant- ing country, recalled to me the idea of the primitive race of man ; I thought I saw the world in its infancy. They are distinguished by tenderness for their parents, and great respect for the aged." Robin speaks of a slave at Martinico, who having gained money sufficient for his own ransom, preferred to purchase his mother's freedom. Proyart, in his history of Loango, acknowledges that the negroes on the coast, who associate with Europeans, are inclined to licentiousness and fraud ; but he says those of the interior are humane, obliging, and hospitable. Golberry repeats the same praise, and rebukes the pre- sumption of white men in despising " nations improperly called savage, among whom we find men of integrity, models of filial, conjugal, and paternal affection, who know all the energies and refinements of virtue ; among whom sentimental impressions are more deep, be- cause they observe, more than we, the dictates of nature, and know how to sacrifice personal interest to the ties of friendship." Joseph Rachel, a free negro of Barbadoes, having be- come rich by commerce, consecrated all his fortune to acts of charity and beneficence. The unfortunate of all MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 197 colors, shared his kindness. He gave to the needy, lent without hope of return, visited prisoners, and endeavor- ed to reform the guilty. He died in 1758. The philan- thropists of England speak of him with the utmost respect. Jasmin Thoumazeau was born in Africa, 1714, and sold at St Domingo, 1736. Having obtained his freedom, he returned to his native country, and married a negro girl of the Gold Coast. In 175G, he established a hospi- tal for poor negroes and mulattoes. During more than forty years, he and his wife devoted their time and for- tune to the comfort of such invalids as sought their pro- tection. The Philadelphian Society, at the Cape, and the Agricultural Society of Paris, decreed medals to this worthy and benevolent man. Louis Desrouleaux was the slave of M. Pinsum, a cap- tain in the negro trade, who resided at St Domingo. The master having amassed great riches, went to reside in France, where circumstances combined to ruin him. Depressed in fortune and spirits, he returned to St Do- mingo ; but those who had formerly been proud of his friendship, now avoided him. Louis heard of his mis- fortunes and immediately went to see him. The scales were now turned ; the negro was rich, and the white man poor. The generous fellow offered every assistance, but advised M. Pinsum by all means to return to France, where he would not be pained by the sight of ungrateful men. " But I cannot gain a living there," replied the white man. " Will the annual revenue of fifteen thousand francs be sufficient?" asked Louis. The Frenchman's eyes filled with tears. The negro signed the contract, and the pension was regularly paid, till the death of Louis Desrouleaux, in 1774. Benoit of Palermo, also named Benoit of Santo Fra- tello, sometimes called The Holy Blade, was a negro,, and the son of a female slave. Roccho Pirro, author of the Sicilia Sacra, eulogizes him thus : *' Nigro quidem corpore sed candore animi prceclarisimus quern miraculis Deus contestatum esse voluit." " His body was black, but it pleased God to testify by miracles the whiteness of his soul." He died at Palermo, in 1589, where his tomb and memory are much revered. A few years ago, it was 17* 198 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. said the Pope was about to authorize his canonization. Whether he is yet registered as a saint in the Calendar, I know not ; but many writers agree that he was a saint indeed — eminent for his virtues, which he practised in meekness and silence, desiring no witness but his God. The moral character of Toussaint L'Ouverture is even more worthy of admiration than his intellectual acute- ness. What can be more beautiful than his unchanging gratitude to his benefactor, his warm attachment to his family, his high-minded sacrifice of personal feeling to the public good ! He was a hero in the sublimest sense of the word. Yet he had no white blood in his veins — he was all negro. The following description of a slave-market at Brazil 13 from the pen of Doctor Walsh : " The men were gen- erally less interesting objects than the women ; their countenances and hues were very varied, according to the part of the African coast from which they came ; some were soot black, having a certain ferocity of aspect that indicated strong and fierce passions, like men who were darkly brooding over some deep-felt wrongs, and meditating revenge. When any one was ordered, he came forward with a sullen indifference, threw his arms over his head, stamped with his feet, shouted to show the soundness of his lungs, ran up and down the room, and was treated exactly like a horse put through his paces at a repository ; and when done, he was whipped to his stall. '' Many of them were lying stretched on the bare boards ; and among the rest, mothers with young child- ren at their breasts, of which they seemed passionately fond. They were all doomed to remain on the spot, like sheep in a pen, till they were sold ; they have no apartment to retire to, no bed to repose on, no covering to protect them ; they sit naked all day, and lie naked all night, on the bare boards, or benches, where we saw them exhibited. " Among the objects that attracted my attention in this place were some young boys, who seemed to have formed a society together. I observed several times in passing by, that the same little group was collected near MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 199 a barred window ; they seemed very fond of each other, and their kindly feelings were never interrupted by peev- ishness ; indeed, the temperament of a negro child is gen- erally so sound, that he is not affected by those little mor- bid sensations, which are the frequent cause of crossness and ill-temper in our children. I do not remember, that I ever saw a young black fretful, or out of humor ; cer- tainly never displaying those ferocious fits of petty pas- sion, in which the superior nature of infant whites in- dulges. I sometimes brought cakes and fruit in my pocket, and handed them in to the group. It was qliite de- lightful to observe the generous and disinterested manner in which they distributed them. There was no scramb- ling with one another ; no selfish reservation to them- selves. The child to whom I happened to give them, took them so gently, looked so thankfully, and distributed them so generously, that I could not help thinking that God had compensated their dusky hue, by a more than usual human portion of amiable qualities." Several negroes in Jamaica were to be hung. One of them was offered his life, if he would hang the others ; he preferred death. A negro slave who was ordered to doit, asked time to prepare; he went into his cabin, chopped off his right hand with an axe, and then came back, saying he was ready. Sutcliff in his Travels, speaks of meeting a coffle of slaves in Maryland, one of whom had voluntarily gone into slavery, in hopes of meeting her husband, who was a free black and had been stolen by kidnappers. The poor creature was in treacherous hands, and it is a great chance whether she ever saw her husband again. An affecting instance of negro friendship may be found in 1 Bay's Report, 260-3. A female slave in South Carolina was allowed to work out in the town, on con- dition that she paid her master a certain sum of money, per month. Being strong and industrious, her wages amounted to more than had been demanded in their agreement. After a time she earned enough to buy her freedom ; but she preferred to devote the sum to the emancipation of a negro girl, named Sally, for whom she had conceived a stroncr affection. For a long time the •200 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. master pretended to have no property in his slave's man- umitted friend, never paid taxes for her, and often spoke of her as a free negro. But, from some motive or other, he afterward claimed Sally as his slave, on the ground that no slave could make any purchase on his own ac- count, or possess anything which did not legally belong to his master. It is an honor to Chief Justice Rutledge that his charge was given in a spirit better than the laws. He concluded by saying, " If the wench chose to appro- priate the savings of her extra labor to the purchase of this girl, in order to set her free, will a jury of the country say, No ? I trust not. I hope they are too upright and humane, to do such manifest violence to such an extra- ordinary act of benevolence." By the prompt decision of the jury, Sally was declared free.* In speaking of the character of negroes, it ought not to be omitted that many of them were brave and faithful soldiers during our Revolution. Some are now receiving pensions for their services. At New Orleans, likewise, the conduct of the colored troops was deserving of the highest praise. It is common to speak of the negroes as a very unfeel- ing race ; and no doubt the charge has considerable truth when applied to those in a state of bondage : for slavery blunts the feelings, as well as stupifies the intel- lect. The poor negro is considered as having no right in his wife and children. They may be suddenly torn from him to be sold in a distant market ; but he cannot prevent the wrong. He may see them exposed to every species of insult and indignity ; but the law, which stretches forth her broad shield to guard the white man's rights, excludes the negro from her protection. They may be tied to the whipping post and die under moderate punishment; but he dares not complain. If he murmur, there is the tormenting lash ; if he resist, it is death. — And the injustice extends even beyond the grave ; for the story of the slave is told by his oppressor, and the manly spirit which the poor creature shows, when stung * Stroud says of the above, " This is an isohited case, of pretty early date ; it deserves to be noticed because it is in opposition to. the spirit of the laws, and to later decisions of the courts." MORAL CHARACTER OP NEGROES, 201 to the very heart's core, is represented as diabolical re- renge. A short time ago, 1 read in a Georgia paper, what was called a horrid transaction, on the part of the negro. A slave stood by and saw his wife whipped, as long as he could possibly endure the sight ; he then called out to the overseer, who was applying the lash, that he would kill him if he did not use more mercy. This probably made matters worse ; at all events the lashing continued. The husband, goaded to frenzy, rushed upon the overseer, and stabbed him three times. White men ! what would you do, if the laws admitted that your wives might " die'' of" moderate jninishmenf," administered by your employers ? The overseer died, and his murderer was either burned or shot, — I forget which. The Georgia editor viewed the subject only on one side — viz. — the monstrous outrage against the white man — - the negro's wrongs passed for nothing ! It was very gravely added to the account (probably to increase the odiousness of the slave's offence,) that the overseer be- longed to the Presbyterian church ! I smiled, - because it made me think of a man, whom I once heard described as '' a most excellent Christian, that would steal timber to build a church." This instance shows that even slaves are not quite des- titute of feeling — yet we could not wonder at it, if they were. Who could expect the kindly affections to expand in such an atmosphere ! Where there is no hope, the heart becomes paralyzed : it is a merciful arrangement of Divine Providence, by which the acuteness of sensi- bility is lessened when it becomes merely a source of suf- fering. But there are exceptions to this general rule ; instan- ces of very strong and deep affection are sometimes found in a state of hopeless bondage. Godwin, in his eloquent Lectures on Colonial Slavery, quotes the fol- lowing anecdote, as related by Mr T. Pennock, at a pub- lic meeting in England : '" A few years ago it was enacted, that it should not be legal to transport once established slaves from one island to another ; and a gentleman owner, finding it advisable to do so before the act came in force, the re- 202 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. moval of a great part of his live stock was the conse- quence. He had a female slave, a Methodist, and highly valuable to him (not the less so for being the mother of eight or nine children), whose husband, also of our con- nexion, was the property of another resident on the island, where I happened to be at the time. Their mas- ters not agreeing on a sale, separation ensued, and I went to the beach to be an eye witness of their behaviour in the greatest pang of all. One by one, the man kissed his children, with the firmness of a hero, and blessing them, gave as his last words — (oh! will it be believed, and have no influence upon our veneration for the ne- gro 1) ' Farewell ! Be honest, and obedient to your mas- ter T At length he had to take leave of his wife : there he stood (I have him in my mind's eye at this moment), five or six yards from the mother of his children, unable to move, speak, or do anything but gaze, and still to gaze, on the object of his long affection, soon to cross the blue waves forever from his aching sight. The fire of his eyes alone gave indication of the passion within, until after some minutes standing thus, he fell senseless on the sand, as if suddenly struck down by the hand of the Al- mighty. Nature could do no more ; the blood gushed from his nostrils and mouth, as if rushing from the ter- rors of the conflict within ; and amid the confusion occa- sioned by the circumstance, the vessel bore off his family forever from the island ! After some days he recovered, and came to ask advice of me. What could an English- man do in such a case ? I felt the blood boiling within me ; but I conquered. I browbeat my own manhood, and gave him the humblest advice I could." The following account is given by Mr Gilgrass, one of the Methodist missionaries at Jamaica: "A master of slaves, who lived near us in Kingston, exercised his barbarities on a Sabbath morning while we were worship- ing God in the Chapel ; and the cries of the female sufferers have frequently interrupted us in our devotions. But there was no redress for them, or for us. This man wanted money ; and one of the female slaves having two fine children, he sold one of them, and the child was torn from her maternal affection. In the agony of her MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 203 feelings, she made a hideous howling ; and for that crime she was flogged. Soon after he sold her other child. This ' turned her heart within her,' and impelled her into a kind of madness. She howled night and day in the yard ; tore her hair ; ran up and down the streets and the parade, rending the heavens with her cries, and literally watering the earth with her tears. Her con- stant cry was, ' Da wicked massa, he sell me children. — Will no huckr a master pity nega? What me do ! Me have no child V As she stood before my window, she said, lifting her hands towards heaven, ' Do, me master minister, pity me ! Me heart do so, (shaking herself violently,) me heart do so, because me have no child. Me go a massa house, in massa yard, and in me hut, and me no see em ;' and then her cry went up to God. I durst not be seen looking at her." A similar instance of strong affection happened in the city of Washington, December, 1815. A negro woman, with her two children, was sold, near Bladensburgh, to Georgia traders ; but the master refused to sell her hus- band. When the coffle reached Washington, on their way to Georgia, the poor creature attempted to escape, by jump- ing from the garret window of a three-story brick tavern. Her arms and back were dreadfully broken. When ask- ed why she had done such a desperate act, she replied, " They brought me away, and would n't let me sec my hus- band; and I did n't want to go. I was so distracted that I did not know what I ivas about : but I did n't want to go — and I jumped out of the window." The unfortu- nate woman was given to the landlord as a compensation for having her taken care of at his house ; her children were sold in Carolina ; and thus was this poor forlorn being left alone in her misery. In all this wide land of benevolence and freedom, there was no one who could protect her : for in such cases, the Icms come in, with iron grasp, to check the stirrings of human sympathy. Another complaint is that slaves have most inveterate habits of laziness. No doubt this is true — it would be strange indeed if it were otherwise. Where is the hu- man being, who will work from a disinterested love of toil, when his labor brings no improvement to himself, no increase of comfort to his wife and children ? 204 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. Pelletan, in his Memoirs of the French Colony of Se- negal, says, " The negroes work with ardor, because they are now unmolested in their possessions and enjoy- ments. Since the suppression of slavery, the Moors make no more inroads upon them, and their villages are rebuilt and re-peopled." Bosman, who was by no means very friendly to colored people, says : " The negroes of Cabomonte and Juido, are indefatigable cultivators, economical of their soil, they scarcely leave a foot-path to form a communication between the different possessions ; they reap one day, and the next they sow the same earth, without allowing it time for repose." It is needless to multiply quotations ; for the concur- rent testimony of all travellers proves that industry is a common virtue in the interior of Africa. Again, it is said that the negroes are treacherous, cun- ning, dishonest, and profligate. Let me ask you, candid reader, what you would be, if you labored under the same unnatural circumstances? The daily earnings of the slave, nay, his very wife and children, are constantly wrested from him, under the sanction of the laws; is this the way to teach a scrupulous regard to the property of others? How can purity be expected from him, who sees almost universal licentiousness prevail among those whom he is taught to regard as his superiors ? Besides, we must remember how entirely unprotected the negro is in his domestic relations, and how very frequently husband and wife are separated by the caprice, or avarice, of the white man. I have no doubt that slaves are artful ; for they must be so. Cunning is always the resort of the weak against the strong ; children, who have violent and unreasonable parents, become deceitful in self-defence. The only way to make young people sincere and frank, is to treat them with mildness and perfect justice. The negro often pretends to be ill in order to avoid labor ; and if you were situated as he is, you would do the same. But it is said that the blacks are malignant and revengeful. Granting it to be true, — is it their faulty or is it owing to the cruel circumstances in which they are placed ? Surely there are proofs enough that they are naturally a kind and gentle people. True, they do MORAL CHARACTER OR NEGROES. 205 sometimes murder their masters and overseers ; but where there is utter hopelessness, can we wonder at occasional desperation ? I do not believe that any class of people subject to the same influences, would commit fewer crimes. Dickson, in his letters on slavery, informs us that among one hundred and twenty thousand negroes and Creoles of Barbadoes, only three murders have been known to be committed by them in the course of thirty years ; although often provoked by the cruelty of the planters." In estimating the vices of slaves, there are several items to be taken into the account. In the first place, we hear a great deal of the negroes' crimes, while we hear very little of their provocations. If they murder their masters, newspapers and almanacs blazon it all over the country ; but if their masters murder them, a trifling fine is paid, and nobody thinks of mentioning the matter. I believe there are twenty negroes killed by white men, where there is one white man killed by a black. If you believe this to be mere conjecture, I pray you examine the Judicial Reports of the Southern States. The voice of humanity, concerning this subject, is weak and stifled ; and when a master kills his own slave we are not likely to hear the tidings — but the voice o^ avarice is loud and strong ; and it sometimes happens that negroes " die" *' under a moderate punishment" administered by other hands : then prosecutions ensue, in order to recover the price of the slave ; and in this way we are enabled to form a tolerable conjecture concerning the frequency of such crimes. I have said that we seldom hear of the grievous wrongs which provoke the vengeance of the slave ; I will tell an anecdote, which I know to be true, as a proof in point. Within the last two years, a gentleman residing in Bos- ton, was summoned to the West Indies in consequence of troubles on his plantation. His overseer had been killed by the slaves. This fact was soon made public ; and more than one exclaimed, " what diabolical passions these negroes have !" To which I replied that I only wondered they were half as good as they were. It was not long, however, before I discovered the particulars of 18 206 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. the case ; and I took some pains that the public should likewise be informed of them. The overseer was a bad, licentious man. How long and how much the slaves en- dured under his power I know not, but at last, he took a fancy to two of the negroes' wives, ordered them to be brought to his house, and in spite of their entreaties and resistance, compelled them to remain as long as he thought proper. The husbands found their little huts deserted, and knew very well where the blame rested. In such a case, you would have gone to law ; but the law does not recognise a negro's rights — he is the property of his master, and subject to the will of his agent. If a slave should talk of being protected in his domestic re- lations, it would cause great merriment in a slave-holding State ; the proposition would be deemed equally inconve- nient and absurd. Under such circumstances, the negro husbands took justice into their own hands. They mur- dered the overseer. Four innocent slaves were taken up, and upon every slight circumstantial evidence were condemned to be shot ; but the real actors in this scene passed unsuspected. When the unhappy men found their companions were condemned to die, they avowed the fact, and exculpated all others from any share in the deed. Was not this true magnanimity? Can you help respecting those negroes? If you can, I pity you. Since the condition of slaves is such as I have describ- ed, are you surprised at occasional insurrections? You may regret it most deeply ; but can you wonder at it. The famous Captain Smith, when he was a slave in Tar- tary, killed his overseer and made his escape. I never heard him blamed for it — it seems to be universally con- sidered a simple act of self-defence. The same thing has often occurred with regard to white men taken by the Algerines. The Poles have shed Russian " blood enough to float our navy ; " and we admire and praise them, because they did it in resistance of oppression. Yet they have suffered less than black slaves, all the world over, are suffering. We honor our forefathers because they re- belled against certain principles dangerous to political freedom ; yet from actual, personal tyranny, they suffered MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 207 nothing : the negro, on the contrary, is suffering all that oppression can make human nature suffer. Why do we execrate in one set of men, what we laud so highly in another ? I shall be reminded that insurrections and mur- ders are totally at variance with the precepts of our reli- gion ; and this is most true. But according to this rule, the Americans, Poles, Parisians, Belgians, and all who have shed blood lor the sake of liberty, are more to blame than the negroes ; for the former are more enlightened, and can always have access to the fountain of religion ; while the latter are kept in a state of brutal ignorance — not allowed to read their Bibles — knovv'ing nothing of Christianity, except the examples of their masters, who profess to be governed by its maxims. I hope I shall not be misunderstood on this point. I am not vindicating insurrections and murders ; the very thought makes my blood run cold. I believe revenge is ahoays wicked ; but I say, what the laws of every country acknowledge, that great provocations are a palliation of great crimes. When a man steals food because he is starving, we are more disposed to pity, than to blame him. And what can human nature do, subject to continual and oppressive wrong — hopeless of change — not only unpro- tected by law, but the law itself changed into an enemy — and to complete the whole, shut out from the instructions and consolations of the Gospel ! No wonder the West Indian missionaries found it very diliicult to decide what they ought to say to the poor, suffering negroes ! They could indeed tell them it was very impolitic to be rash and violent, because it could not, under existing circum- stances, make their situation better, and would be very likely to make it w^orse ; but if they urged the maxims of religion, the slaves might ask the embarrassing question, is not our treatment in direct opposition to the precepts of the gospel ? Our masters can read the Bible — they have a chance to know better. Why do not Christians deal justly by us, before they require us to deal merci- fully with them ? Think of all these things, kind-hearted reader. Try to judge the negro by the same rules you judge other men ; and while you condemn his faults, do not forget his manifold provocations. CHAPTER VIII. PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR, AND OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. " A negi'o has a soul, an' please your honor," said the Corporal, Cdoubtivgbj.J " I am not much versed, Corporal," quoth my Uncle Toby, " in things of that kind ; but I suppose God would not leave him without one, any more than tJiee or nie." " It would be putting one sadly over the head of the other," quoth the Corporal. " It would so," said my Uncle Toby. " Why then, an' please your lionor, is a black man to be used worse than a white one ?" '< I can give no reason," said my Uncle Toby. " Only," cried the Corporal, shaking his head, " because he has no one to stand up for him." " It is that very thing, Trim," quoth my Uncle Toby, " which recommends him to protection." While we bestow our earnest disapprobation on the system of slavery, let us not flatter ourselves that we are in reality any better than our brethren of the South. Thanks to our soil and climate, and the early exertions of the Quakers, iheforin of slavery does not exist among us ; but the very spirit of the hateful and mischievous thing is here in all its strength. The manner in which we use what power we have, gives us ample reason to be grateful that the nature of our institutions does not intrust us with more. Our prejudices against colored people is even more inveterate than it is at the South. The plan- ter is often attached to his negroes, and lavishes caresses and kind words upon them, as he would on a favorite hound: but our cold-hearted, ignoble prejudice admits of no exception — no intermission. The Southerners have long continued habit, apparent interest and dreaded danger, to palliate the wrong they do ; but we stand without excuse. They tell us that North- ern ships and Northern capital have been engaged in this PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 209 wicked business ; and the reproach is true. Several for- tunes in this city have been made by the sale of negro blood. If these criminal transactions are still carried on, they are done in silence and secrecy, because public opinion has made them disgraceful. But if the free States wished to cherish the system of slavery forever, they could not take a more direct course than they now do. Those who are kind and liberal on all other subjects, unite with the selfish and the proud in their unrelenting efforts to keep the colored population in the lowest state of degradation ; and the influence they unconsciously exert over children early infuses into their innocent minds the same strong feelings of contempt. The intelligent and well informed have tlie least share of this prejudice ; and when their minds can be brought to reflect upon it, I have generally observed that they soon cease to have any at all. But such a general apathy pre- vails and the subject is so seldom brought into view, that few are really aware how oppressively the influence of society is made to bear upon this injured class of the community. When I have related facts, that came under my own observation, T have often been listened to with surprise, which gradually increased to indignation. In order that my readers may not be ignorant of the ex- tent of this tyrannical prejudice, I will as briefly as pos- sible state the evidence, and leave them to judge of it, as their hearts and consciences may dictate. In the first place, an unjust law exists in this Common- wealth, by which marriages between persons of different color is pronounced illegal. I am perfectly aware of the gross ridicule to which I may subject myself by alluding to this particular ; but I have lived too long, and observed too much, to be disturbed by the world's mockery. In the first place, the government ought not to be invested with power to control the affections, any more than the consciences of citizens. A man has at least as good a right to choose his wife, as he has to choose his religion. His taste may not suit his neighbors ; but so long as his deportment is correct, they have no right to interfere with his concerns. In the second place, this law is a useless disgrace to Massachusetts. Under existing cir- 18* 210 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. curastances, none but those whose condition in life is too low to be much affected by public opinion, will form such alliances; and they, when they choose to do so, will make such marriages, in spite of the law. I know two or three instances where women of the laboring class have been united to reputable, industrious colored men. These husbands regularly bring home their wages, and are kind to their families. If by some of the odd chances, which not unfrequently occur in the world, their w ives should become heirs to any property, the children may be wronged out of it, because the law pronounces them illegitimate. And while this injustice exists with regard to honest, industrious individuals, who are merely guilty of differing from us in a matter of taste, neither tlie legislation nor customs of slave-holding States exert their influence against immoral connexions. In one portion of our country this fact is shown in a very peculiar and striking manner. There is a numer- ous class at New Orleans, called Quateroons, or Quad- roons, because their colored blood has for several succes- sive generations been intermingled with the white. The women are much distinguished for personal beauty and gracefulness of motion ; and their parents frequently send them to France for the advantages of an elegant education. White gentlemen of the first rank are desirous of being invited to their parties, and often become seriously in love with these fascinating but unfortunate beings. Prejudice forbids matrimony, but universal custom sanctions tem- porary connexions, to which a certain degree of respec- tability is allowed, on account of the peculiar situation of the parties. These attachments often continue for years — sometimes for life — and instances are notunfre- quent of exemplary constancy and great propriety of deportment. What eloquent vituperations we should pour forth, if the contending claims of nature and pride produced such a tissue of contradictions in some other country, and not in our own ! There is another Massachusetts law, which an enlight- ened community would not probably suffer to be carried into execution under any circumstances ; but it still re- OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 211 mains to disgrace the statutes of this Commonwealth. — It is as follows : "No African or Negro, other than a subject of the Emperor of Morocco, or a citizen of the United States, (proved so by a certificate of the Secretary of the State of which he is a citizen,) shall tarry within this Common- wealth longer than two months ; and on complaint a jus- tice shall order him to depart in ten days ; and if he do not then, the justice may commit such African or Ne- gro to the House of Correction, there to be kept at hard labor ; and at the next term of the Court of C. P., he shall be tried, and if convicted of remaining as aforesaid, shall be whipped not exceeding ten lashes ; and if he or she shall not then depart such process shall be repeated and punishment inflicted tolies quoties." Stat. 1788, Ch. 54. An honorable Haytian or Brazilian, who visited this country for business or information, might come under this law, unless public opinion rendered it a mere dead letter. There is among the colored people an increasing de- sire for information, and a laudable ambition to be respectable in manners and appearance. Are we not foolish as well as sinful, in trying to repress a tendency so salutary to themselves, and so beneficial to the commu- nity ? Several individuals of this class are very desirous to have persons of their own color qualified to teach something more than mere reading and writing. But in the public schools, colored children are subject to many discouragements and difiiculties ; and into the pri- vate schools they cannot gain admission. A very sensi- ble and well-informed colored woman in a neighboring town, whose family have been brought up in a manner that excited universal remark and approbation, has been extremely desirous to obtain for her eldest daughter the advantages of a private school ; but she has been reso- lutely repulsed, on account of her complexion. The girl is a very light mulatto, with great modesty and propriety of manners ; perhaps no young person in the Common- wealth was less likely to have a bad influence on her associates. The clergyman respected the family, and 212 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. he remonstrated with the instructer ; but while the lat- ter admitted tlie injustice of the thing, he excused him- self by saying such a step would occasion the loss of all his white scholars. In a town adjoining Boston, a well-behaved colored boy was kept out of the public school more than a year, by vote of the trustees. His mother, having some in- formation herself, knew the importance of knowledge, ^.nd was anxious to obtain it for her family. She wrote repeatedly and urgently ; and the school-master himself told me that the correctness of her spelling, and the neat- ness of her hand-v/riting formed a curious contrast with the notes he received from many white parents. At last, this spirited woman appeared before the committee, and reminded them that her husband, having for many years paid taxes as a citizen, had a right to the privileges of a citizen ; and if her claim were refused, or longer post- poned, she declared her determination to seek justice from a higher source. The trustees were, of course, obliged to yield to the equality of the laws, with the best grace they could. The boy was admitted, and made good progress in his studies. Had his mother been too ignorant to know her rights, or too abject to demand them, the lad would have had a fair chance to get a living out of the State as the occupant of a workhouse, or pen- itentiary. The attempt to establish a school for African girls at Canterbury, Connecticut, has made too much noise to need a detailed account in this volume. I do not know the lady who first formed the project, but I am told that she is a benevolent and religious woman. It certainly is difficult to imagine any other motives than good ones, for an undertaking so arduous and unpopular. Yet had the Pope himself attempted to establish his supremacy over that commonwealth, he could hardly have been re- pelled with more determined and angry resistance. — Town meetings were held, the records of which are not highly creditable to the parties conceined. Petitions were sent to the Legislature, beseeching that no African school might be allowed to admit individuals not re- siding in the town where said school was established ; OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 213 and strange to relate, this law, which makes it impossible to collect a sufficient number of pupils, was sanctioned by the State. A colored girl, who availed herself of this opportunity to gain instruction, was warned out of town, and fined for not complying ; and the instructress was imprisoned for persevering in her benevolent plan. It is said, in excuse, that Canterbury will be inundated with vicious characters, who will corrupt the morals of the young men ; that such a school will break down the distinctions betvv'een black and white ; and that mar- riages between people of different colors will be the prob- able result. Yet they seem to assume the ground that colored people must always be an inferior and degraded class — that the prejudice against them must be eternal; being deeply founded in the laws of God and nature. — Finally, they endeavored to represent the school as one of the incendiary proceedings of the Anti-Slavery Society; and they appeal to the Colonization Society, as an ag- grieved child is wont to appeal to its parent. The objection with regard to the introduction of vicious characters into a village, certainly has some force; but are such persons likely to leave cities for a quiet country town, in search of moral and intellectual improvement? Is it not obvious that the best portion of the colored class are the very ones to prize such an opportunity for in- struction ? Grant that a large proportion of these unfor- tunate people rtre vicious — is it not our duty, and of course our wisest policy, to try to make them other- wise ? And what will so effectually elevate their char- acter and condition, as knowledge? I beseech you, my countrymen, think of these things wisely, and in season. As for intermarriages, if there be such a repugnance between the two races, founded in the laws of nature, methinks there is small reason to dread their frequency. The breaking down of distinctions in society, by means of extended information, is an objection which appropri- ately belongs to the Emperor of Austria, or the Sultan of Egypt. I do not know how the affair at Canterbury \?> g^eneraJly considered ; but I have heard individuals of all parties 214 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. and all opinions speak of it — and never without merri- ment or indignation. Fifty years hence, the hlack laws of Connecticut will be a greater source of amusement to the antiquarian, than her famous 6/Me laws. A similar, though less violent opposition arose in con- sequence of the attempt to establish a college for colored people at New Haven. A young colored man, who tried to obtain education at the Wesleyan college in Middleton, was obliged to relinquish the attempt on account of the persecution of his fellow students. Some collegians from the South objected to a colored associate in their reci- tations ; and those from New England promptly and zeal- ously joined in the hue and cry. A small but firm party were in favor of giving the colored man a chance to pur- sue his studies without insult or interruption ; and I am told that this manly and disinterested band were all Southerners. As for those individuals, who exerted their influence to exclude an unoffending fellow-citizen from privileges which ought to be equally open to all, it is to be hoped that age will make them wiser — and that they will learn, before they die, to be ashamed of a step attended with more important results than usually belong to youthful follies. It happens that these experiments have all been made in Connecticut ; but it is no more than justice to that State to remark that a similar spirit would probably have been manifested in Massachusetts, under like circum- stances. At our debating clubs and other places of pub- lic discussion, the demon of prejudice girds himself for the battle, the moment negro colleges and high schools are alluded to. Alas, while we carry on our lips that religion which teaches us to " love our neighbor as our- selves," how little do we cherish its blessed influence within our hearts ! How much republicanism we have to speak of, and how little do we practise ! Let us seriously consider what injury a negro college could possibly do us. It is certainly a fair presumption that the scholars would be from the better portion of the colored population ; and it is an equally fair presumption that knowledge would improve their characters. There are already many hundreds of colored people in the city OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 215 of Boston. — In the street they generally appear neat and respectable ; and in our houses they do not " come be- tween the wind and our nobility." Would the addition of one or two hundred more even be perceived 1 As for giving offence to the Southerners by allowing such estab- lishments — they have no right to interfere with our internal concerns, any more than we have with theirs. — Why should they not give up slavery to please us, by the same rule that we must refrain from educating the ne- groes to please them ? If they are at liberty to do wrong, we certainly ought to be at liberty to do right. They may talk and publish as much about us as they please ; and we ask for no other influence over them. It is a fact not generally known that the brave Kosci- usko left a fund for the establishment of a negro college in the United States. Little did he think he had been fighting for a people, who would not grant one rood of their vast territory for the benevolent purpose ! According to present appearances, a college for col- ored persons will be established in Canada; and thus, by means of our foolish and wicked pride, the credit of this philanthropic enterprise will be transferred to our mother country. The preceding chapters show that it has been no un- common thing for colored men to be educated at English, German, Portuguese and Spanish Universities. In Boston there is an Infant School, three Primary Schools, and a Grammar School. The two last, are I believe supported by the public ; and this fact is highly creditable. A building for the colored Grammar School is not supplied by the city, though such provision is always made for similar institutions for white boys. — The apartment is close and uncomfortable, and many pupils stay away, who would gladly attend under more convenient circumstances. There ought likewise to be a colored teacher instead of a white one. Under the do- minion of existing prejudices, it is difficult to find a white man, well qualified to teach such a school, who feels the interest he ought to feel, in these Pariahs* of our republic. * The Pariahs are the lowest and most degraded caste in Hindoe- tan. The laws prevent them from ever rising in their condition, or minglins with other castes. 216 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. The parents would repose more confidence in a colored instructer ; and he, both from sympathy and pride, would be better fitted for his task. It is peculiarly incumbent on the city authorities to supply a commodious building for the colored grammar school, because public prejudice excludes these oppress- ed people from all lucrative employments, and they can- not therefore be supposed to have ample funds of their own. I was much pleased with the late resolution awarding Franklin medals to the colored pupils of the grammar school ; and I was still more pleased with the laudable project, originated by Josiah Holbrook, Esq. for the es- tablishment of a colored Lyceum. Surely a better spirit is beginning to work in this cause ; and when once begun, the good sense and good feeling of the commu- nity will bid it go on and prosper. How much this spirit will have to contend with is illustrated by the following fact. When President Jackson entered this city, the white children of all the schools were sent out in uniform, to do him honor. A member of the Committee proposed that the pupils of the African schools should be invited likewise ; but he was the only one who voted for it. He then proposed that the yeas and nays should be recorded ; upon which, most of the gentlemen walked off, to pre- vent the question from being taken. Perhaps they felt an awkward consciousness of the incongeniality of such proceedings with our republican institutions. By order of the Committee the vacation of the African schools did not commence until the day after the procession of the white pupils ; and a note to the instructer intimated that the pupils were not expected to appear on the Common. The reason given was because " their numbers were so few ;" but in private conversation, fears were expressed lest their sable faces should give offence to our slave- holding President. In all probability the sight of the colored children would have been agreeable to General Jackson, and seemed more like home, than anything he witnessed. In the theatre, it is not possible for respectable colored people to obtain a decent seat. They must either be ex- cluded, or herd with the vicious. PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 217 A fierce excitement prevailed, not long since, because a colored man had bought a pew in one of our churches. I heard a very kind-hearted and zealous democrat de- clare his opinion that " the fellow ought to be turned out by constables, if he dared to occupy the pew he had purchased." Even at the communion-table, the mock- ery of human pride is mingled with the worship of Jeho- vah. Again and again have I seen a solitary negro come up to the altar, meekly and timidly, after all the white communicants had retired. One Episcopal clergyman of this city, forms an honorable exception to this remark. When there is room at the altar, Mr often makes a signal to the colored members of his church to kneel be- side their white brethren ; and once, when two v, hite infants and one colored one were to be baptized, and the parents of the latter bashfully lingered far behind the others, he silently rebuked the unchristian spirit of pride, by first administering the holy ordinance to the little dark-skinned child of God. An instance of prejudice lately occurred, which I should find it hard to believe, did I not positively know it to be a fact. A gallery pew was purchased in one of our churches for two hundred dollars. A few Sabbaths after, an address was delivered at that church, in favor of the Africans. Some colored people, who very naturally wish- ed to hear the discourse, went into the gallery ; probably because they thought they should be deemed less intru- sive there than elsewhere. The man who had recently bought a pew, found it occupied by colored people, and indignantly retired with his family. The next day, he purchased a pev/ in another meeting-house, protesting that nothing would tempt him again to make use of seats, that had been occupied by negroes. A well known country representative, who makes a very loud noise about his democracy, once attended the Cath- olic church. A pious negro requested him to take off his hat, while he stood in the presence of the Virgin Mary. The white man rudely shoved him aside, saying, " You son of an Ethiopian, do you dare to speak to me!" I more than once heard the hero repeat this story ; and he seemed to take peculiar satisfaction in telling it. Had he 19 218 PREJUDICES AGAINSf PEOPLE OF COLOlt. been less ignorant, he would not have chosen *' son of an Ethiopian'' as an ignoble epithet; to have called the Af- rican his own equal would have been abundantly more sarcastic. The same republican dismissed a strong, in- dustrious colored man, who had been employed on the farm during his absence. " I am too great a democrat," quoth he, " to have any body in my house, who don't sit at my table ; and I'll be hanged, if I ever eat with the son of an Ethiopian." Men whose education leaves them less excuse for such illiberality, are yet vulgar enough to join in this ridiculous prejudice. The colored woman, whose daughter has been mentioned as excluded from a private school, was once smuggled into a stage, upon the supposition that she Yja.s a white woman, with a sallow complexion. Her manners were modest and prepossessing, and the gentle- men were very polite to her. But when she stopped at her own door, and was handed out by her curly-headed husband, they were at once surprised and angry to find they had been riding with a mulatto — and had, in their ignorance, been really civil to her ! A worthy colored woman, belonging to an adjoining town, wished to come into Boston to attend upon a son, who was ill. She had a trunk with her, and was too feeble to walk. She begged permission to ride in the stage. But the passengers with nohle indignation, de- clared they would get out, if she were allowed to get in. After much entreaty, the driver suffered her to sit by liim upon the box. When he entered the city, his com- rades began to point and sneer. Not having sufficient moral courage to endure this, he left the poor woman, with her trunk, in the middle of the street, far from the place of her destination ; telling her, with an oath, that he would not carry her a step further. A friend of mine, lately wished to have a colored girl admitted into the stage with her, to take care of her babe. The girl was very lightly tinged with the sable hue, had handsome Indian features, and very pleasing manners. It was, however, evident that she was not white ; and therefore the passengers objected to her company. This of course, produced a good deal of in- PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 219 convenience on one side, and mortification on the other. My friend repeated the circumstance to a lady, who, as the daughter and wife of a clergyman, might be supposed to have imbibed some liberality. The lady seemed to think the experiment was very preposterous ; but when my friend alluded to the mixed parentage of the girl, she exclaimed, with generous enthusiasm, "Oh, that alters the case, Indians certainly have their rights." Every year a colored gentleman and scholar is becom- ing less and less of a rarity — thanks to the existence of the Haytian Republic, and the increasing liberality of the world ! Yet if a person of refinement from Hayti, Brazil, or other countries, which we deem less enlight-, ened than our own, should visit us, the very boys of this republic w^ould dog his footsteps with the vulgar outcry of " Nigger ! Nigger !" 1 have known this to be done, from no other provocation than the sight of a colored man with the dress and deportment of a gentleman. Were it not that republicanism, like Christianity, is often per- verted from its true spirit by the bad passions of mankind, such things as these would make every honest mind dis- gusted with the very name of republics. I am acquainted with a gentleman from Brazil who is shrewd, enterprising, noble-spirited, and highly respect- able in character and manners ; yet he has experienced almost every species of indignity on account of his color. Not long since, it became necessary for him to visit the southern shores of Massachusetts, to settle certain ac- counts connected with his business. His wife was in a feeble state of health, and the physicians had recom- mended a voyage. For this reason, he took passage for her with himself in the steam-boat; and the captain, as it appears, made no objection to a colored gentleman's money. After remaining on deck some time, Mrs — attempted to pass into the cabin ; but the captain pre- vented her ; saying, "You must go down forward." — The Brazilian urged that he had paid the customary price, and therefore his wife and infant had a right to a place in the ladies' cabin. The captain answered, '' Your wife a'n't a lady ; she is a nigger." The forward cabin was occupied by sailors ; was entirely without 220 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OP COLOR. accommodations for women, and admitted the sea- water, so that a person could not sit in it comfortably with- out keeping the feet raised in a chair. The husband stated that his wife's health would not admit of such ex- posure ; to which the captain still replied, " I don't allow any nif^gers in my cabin." With natural and honest in- diirnation, the Brazilian exclaimed, " You Americans talk about the Poles ! You are a great deal more Russian than the Russians." The affair was concluded by placing the colored gentleman and his invalid wife on the shore, and leaving them to provide for themselves as they could. Had the cabin been full, there would have been some excuse ; but it was occupied only by two sailors* wives. The same individual sent for a relative in a distant town on account of illness in his family. After staying several weeks, it became necessary for her to return ; and he procured a seat for her in the stage. The same ridiculous scene occurred ; the passengers were afraid of losing their dignity by riding with a neat, respectable person, whose face was darker than their own. No pub- lic vehicle could be obtained, by which a colored citizen could be conveyed to her home ; it therefore became absolutely necessary for the gentleman to leave his busi- ness and hire a chaise at great expense. Such proceed- ings are really inexcusable. No authority can be found for them in religion, reason, or the laws. The Bible informs us that " a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure, came to Jerusalem to worship." Returning in his chariot, he read Esaias, the Prophet; and at his request Phillip went lip into the chariot and sat with him, explaining the Scriptures. Where should we now find an apostle, who would ride in the same chariot with an Ethiopian ! Will any candid person tell me why respectable colored people should not be allowed to make use of public con- veyances, open to all who are able and willing to pay for the privilege ? Those who enter a vessel, or a stage- coach, cannot expect to select their companions. If they can afford to take a carriage or boat for themselves, then, and then only, they have a right to be exclusive. I PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 221 was lately talking with a young gentleman on this sub- ject, who professed to have no prejudice against colored people, except so far as they were ignorant and vulgar ; but still he could not tolerate the idea of allowing them to enter stages and steam-boats. "Yet, you allow the same privilege to vulgar and ignorant white men, with- out a murmur," I replied ; '* Pray give a good republican reason why a respectable colored citizen should be less favored." For want of abetter argument, he said — (pardon me, fastidious reader) — he implied that the pres- ence of colored persons was less agreeable than Otto of Rose, or Eau de Cologne ; and this distinction, he urged was made by God himself. I answered, " Whoever takes his chance in a public vehicle, is liable to meet with uncleanly white passengers, whose breath may be redolent with the fumes of American cigars, or American gin. Neither of these articles have a fragrance peculiarly agreeable to nerves of delicate organization. Allowing your argument double the weight it deserves, it is utter nonsense to pretend that the inconvenience in the case I have supposed is not infinitely greater. But what is more to the point, do you dine in a fashionable hotel, do you sail in a fashionable steam-boat, do you sup at a fashionable house, without having negro servants behind your chair. Would they be any more disagreeable, as passengers seated in the corner of a stage, or a steam-boat, than as waiters in such immediate attendance upon your person?" Stage-drivers are very much perplexed when they at- tempt to vindicate the present tyrannical customs; and they usually give up the point, by saying they themselves have no prejudice against colored people — they are merely afraid of the public. But stage-drivers should re- member that in a popular government, they, in common with every other citizen, form a part and portion of the dreaded public. The gold was never coined for which I would barter my individual freedom of acting and thinking upon any subject, or knowingly interfere with the rights of the meanest human being. The only true courage is that which impels us to do right without regard to consequen- 19* 222 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. ces. To fear a populace is as servile as to fear an empe- ror. The only salutary restraint is the fear of doing wrong. Our representatives to Congress have repeatedly rode in a stage with colored servants at the request of their masters. Whether this is because New Englanders are willing to do out of courtesy to a Southern gentleman, what they object to doing from justice to a colored citi- zen, — or whether those representatives, being educated men, were more than usually divested of this absurd pre- judice, — I will not pretend to say. The state of public feeling not only makes it difficult for the Africans to obtain information, but it prevents them from making profitable use of what knowledge they have. A colored man, however intelligent, is not allowed to pursue any business more lucrative than that of a barber, a shoe-black, or a waiter. These, and all other employments, are truly respectable, whenever the duties connected with them are faithfully performed ; but it is unjust that a man should, on account of his com- plexion, be prevented from performing more elevated uses in society. Every citizen ought to have a fair chance to try his fortune in any line of business, which he thinks he has ability to transact. Vv hy should not colored men be employed in the manufactories of various kinds? If their ignorance is an objection, let them be enlightened, as speedily as possible. If their moral char- acter is not sufficiently pure, remove the pressure of pub- lic scorn, and thus supply them with motives for being respectable. All this can be done. It merely requires an earnest wish to overcome a prejudice, which has " grown with our growth and strengthened with our strength," but which is in fact opposed to the spirit of our religion, and contrary to the instinctive good feel- ings of our nature. When examined by the clear light of reason, it disappears. Prejudices of all kinds have their strongest holds in the minds of the vulgar and the ignorant. In a community so enlightened as our own, they must gradually melt away under the influence of public discussion. There is no want of kind feelings and liberal sentiments in the American people ; the sim- Prejudices against people of color. 223 pie fact is, they have not thought upon this subject. — An active and enterprising community are not apt to concern themselves about laws and customs, which do not obviously interfere with their interests or convenience; and various political and prudential motives have com- bined to fetter free inquiry in this direction. Thus we have gone on, year after year, thoughtlessly sanctioning, by our silence and indifference, evils which our hearts and consciences are far enough from approving. It has been shown that no other people on earth in- dulge so strong a prejudice with regard to color, as we do. It is urged that negroes are civilly treated in Eng- land, because their numbers are so few. I could never discover any great force in this argument. Colored peo- ple are certainly not sufficiently rare in that country to be regarded as a great show, like a giraffe, or a Sand- wich Island king; and on the other hand, it would seem natural that those v/ho were more accustomed to the sight of dark faces would find their aversion diminished, rather than increased. The absence of prejudice in the Portuguese and Span- ish settlements is accounted for, by saying that the white people are very little superior to the negroes in knowledge and refmement. But Doctor ^7alsh's book certainly gives us no reason to think meanly of the Bra- zilians ; and it has been my good fortune to be acquaint- ed with many highly intelligent South Americans, who w'ere divested of this prejudice, and much surprised at its existence here. If the South Americans are really in such a low state as the argument implies, it is a still greater disgrace to us to be outdone in liberality and consistent republican- ism by men so much less enlightened than ourselves. Pride will doubtless hold out with strength and adroit- ness against the besiegers of its fortress ; but it is an ob- vious truth that the condition of the v/orld is rapidly im- proving, and that our laws and customs must change with it. Neither ancient nor modern history furnishes a page more glorious than the last twenty years in England; for at every step, free principles, after a long and arduous 224 OUR DUTIES Struggle, have conquered selfishness and tyranny. Al- most all great evils are resisted by individuals who di- rectly suffer injustice or inconvenience from them ; but it is a peculiar beauty of the abolition cause that its de- fenders enter the lists against wealth, and power, and talent, not to defend their own rights, but to protect weak and injured neighbors, who are not allowed to speak for themselves. Those, who become interested in a cause laboring so heavily under the pressure of present unpopularity, must expect to be assailed by every form of bitterness and so- phistry. At times, discouraged and heart-sick, they will perhaps begin to doubt whether there are in reality any unalterable principles of right and wrong. But let them cast aside the fear of man, and keep their minds fixed on a few of the simple, unchangeable laws of God, and they will certainly receive strength to contend with the adversary. Paragraphs in the Southern papers already begin to imply that the United States will not look tamely on, while England emancipates her slaves ; and they inform us that the inspection of the naval stations has become a subject of great importance since the recent measures of the British Parliament. A republic declaring war with a monarchy, because she gave freedom to her slaves, would indeed form a beautiful moral picture for the ad- miration of the world ! Mr Garrison was the first person who dared to edit a newspaper, in which slavery was spoken of as altogether wicked and inexcusable. For this crime the Legislature ofGeorgia have offered five thousand dollars to any one who will " arrest and prosecute him to conviction under the laws of that State." An association of gentlemen in South Carolina have likewise offered a large reward for the same object- It is, to say the least, a very remarkable step for one State in this Union to promul- gate such a law concerning a citizen of another State, merely for publishing his opinions boldly. The disciples of Fanny Wright promulgate the most zealous and viru- lent attacks upon Christianity, without any hindrance from the civil authorities ; and this is done upon the IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 225 truly rational ground that individual freedom of opinion ought to be respected — that what is false cannot stand, and what is true cannot be overthrown. We leave Chris- tianity to take care of itself; but slavery is a "delicate subject," — and whoever attacks that must be punished. Mr Garrison is a disinterested, intelligent, and remark- ably pure-minded man, whose only fault is that he cannot be moderate on a subject which it is exceedingly difficult for an honest mind to examine with calmness. Many, who highly respect his character, and motives, regret his tendency to use wholesale and unqualified expressions ; but it is something to have the truth told, even if it be not in the most judicious way. Where an €vil is powerfully supported by the self-interest and prejudice of the community, none but an ardent indi- vidual will venture to meddle with it. Luther was deemed indiscreet even by those who liked him best ; yet a more prudent man would never have given an impetus sufficiently powerful to heave the great mass of corruption under which the church was buried. Mr Garrison has certainly the merit of having first called public attention to a neglected and very important sub- ject. 1 believe whoever fairly and dispassionately exam- ines the question, will be more than disposed to forgive the occasional faults of an ardent temperament, in con- sideration of the difficulty of the undertaking, and the violence with which it has been opposed. The palliator of slavery assures the abolitionists that their benevolence is perfectly quixotic — that the negroes are happy and contented, and have no desire to change their lot. An answer to this may, as I have already said, be found in the Judicial Reports of slave-holding States, in the vigilance of their laws, in advertisements for run- away slaves, and in the details of their own newspapers. The West India planters make the same protestations concerning the happiness of their slaves; yet the cruel- ties proved by undoubted and unanswerable testimony are enough to break a compassionate heart. It is said that slavery is a great deal worse in the West Indies than in the United States ; but I believe precisely the re- verse of this proposition has been true within late years; for the English government have been earnestly trying to 226 OUR DUTIES atone for their guilt, by the introduction of laws express- ly framed to guard the weak and defenceless. A gentle- man who has been a great deal among the planters of both countries, and who is by no means favorable to anti-slavery, gives it as his decided opinion that the slaves are better off in the West Indies, than they are in the United States. It is true we hear a great deal more about West Indian cruelty than we do about our own. — English books and periodicals are continually full of the subject; and even in the colonies, newspapers openly de- nounce the hateful system, and take every opportunity to prove the amount of wretchedness it produces. In this country, we have not, until very recently, dared to pub- lish anything upon the subject. Our books, our re- views, our newspapers, our almanacs, have all been si- lent, or exerted their influence on the wrong side. The negro's crimes are repeated, but his sufferings are never told. Even in our geographies it is taught that the col- ored race must always be degraded. Now and then an- ecdotes of cruelties committed in the slave-holding States are told by individuals who witnessed them ; but they are almost always afraid to give their names to the public, because the Southerners will call them " a disgrace to the soil," and the Northerners will echo the sentiment. — The promptitude and earnestness with which New Eng- land has aided the slave-holders in repressing all discus- sions which they were desirous to avoid, has called forth many expressions of gratitude in their public speeches, and private conversation ; and truly we have well earned Randolph's favorite appellation, " the white slaves of the North," by our tameness and servility with regard to a subject Vv'here good feeling and good principle alike demanded a firm and independent spirit. We are told that the Southerners will of themselves do away slavery, and they alone understand how to do it. — But it is an obvious fact that all their measures have tend- ed to perpetuate the system ; and even if we have the fullest faith that they mean to do their duty, the belief by no means absolves us from doing ours. The evil is gigantic ; and its removal requires every heart and head in the community. IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 227 II is said that our sympathies ought to be given to the masters, who are abundantly more to be pitied than the slaves. If this be the case, the planters are singularly disinterested not to change places with their bondmen. Our sympathies have been given to the masters — and to those masters who seemed most desirous to remain for- ever in their pitiable condition. There are hearts at the South sincerely desirous of doing right in this cause ; but their generous impulses are checked by the laws of their respective States, and the strong disapprobation of their neighbors. I know a lady in Georgia, who vwould, I believe, make any personal sacrifice to instruct her slaves, and give them freedom ; but if she were found guilty of teaching the alphabet, or manumhting her slaves, fines and imprisonment would be the consequence ; if she sold them, they would be likely to fall into hands less merciful than her own. Of such slave-owners we can- not speak with too much respect and tenderness. They are comparatively few in number, and stand in a most per- plexing situation ; it is a duty to give all our sympathy to tlicjn. It is mere mockery to say, what is so often said, that the Southerners, as a body, really wish to abolish slavery. If they wished it, they certainly w^ould make the attempt. When the majority heartily desire a change, it is effected, be the difhculties what they may. The Americans are peculiarly responsible for the example they give ; for in no other country does the unchecked voice of the people constitute the whole of government. We must not be induced to excuse slavery by the plau- sible argument that England introduced it among us. — The wickedness of beginning such a work unquestiona- bly belongs to her ; the sin of continuing it is certainly our own. It is true that Virginia, while a province, did petition the British government to check the introduc- tion of slaves into the colonies ; and their refusal to do so was afterward enumerated among the public reasons for separating from the mother country : but it is equally true that when we became independent, the Southern States stipulated that the slave trade should not be abol- ished by law until 1808. The strongest and best reason that can be given for 228 OUR DUTIES our supineness on the subject of slavery, is the fear of dissolving the Union. The Constitution of the United States demands our highest reverence. Those who ap- prove, and those who disapprove of particular portions, are equally bound to yield implicit obedience to its au- thority. But we must not forget that the Constitution provides for any change that may be required for the general good. The great machine is constructed with a safety valve, by which any rapidly increasing evil may be expelled whenever the people desire it. If the Southern politicians are determined to make a Siamese question of this also — if they insist that the Union shall not exist without slavery — it can only be said that they join two things, which have no affinity with each other, and which cannot permanently exist together. — They chain the living and vigorous to the diseased and dying ; and the former will assuredly perish in the infect- ed neighborhood. The universal introduction of free labor is the surest way to consolidate the Union, and enable us to live to- gether in harmony and peace. If a history is ever writ- ten entitled *' The Decay and Dissolution of the North American Republic," its author will distinctly trace our dow^nfall to the existence of slavery among us. There is hardly anything bad, in politics or religion, that has not been sanctioned or tolerated by a suffer- ing community, because certain powerful individuals were able to identify the evil with some other principle long consecrated to the hearts and consciences of men. Under all circumstances, there is but one honest course ; and that is to do right, and trust the consequen- ces to Divine Providence. '* Duties are ours ; events are God's." Policy, with all her cunning, can devise no rule so safe, salutary, and effective, as this simple maxim. We cannot too cautiously examine arguments and excuses brought forward by those whose interest or convenience is connected with keeping their fellow crea- tures in a state of ignorance and brutality ; and such we shall find in abundance, at the North as well as the South. I have heard the abolition of slavery condemned on the ground that New England vessels would not be IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 229 employed to export the produce of the South, if they had free laborers of their own. This objection is so utterly bad in its spirit, that it hardly deserves an answer. As- suredly it is a righteous plan to retard the progress of liberal principles, and " keep human nature forever in the stocks " that some individuals may make a few hundred dollars more per annum ! Besides, the experience of the world abundantly proves that all such forced expedients are unwise. The increased prosperity of one country, or of one section of a country, always contributes, in some form or other, to the prosperity of other states. — To "love our neighbor as ourselves " is, after all, the shrewdest way of doing business. In England, the abolition of the traffic was long and stoutly resisted, in the same spirit, and by the same ar- guments, that characterize the defence of the system here ; but it would now be difficult to find a man so reck- less, that he would not be ashamed of being called a slave dealer. Public opinion has nearly conquered one evil^ and if rightly directed, it will ultimately subdue the other. Is it asked what can be done ? I answer, much, very much, can be effected, if each individual will try to de- serve the commendation bestowed by our Saviour on the woman of old — " She hath done what she could." The Quakers, — always remarkable for fearless obe- dience to the inward light of conscience, — early gave an example worthy of being followed. At their annual meeting in Pennsylvania, in 1688, many individuals urged the incompatibility of slavery, and Christianity ; and their zeal continued until, in 1776, all Quakers who bought or sold a slave, or refused to emancipate those they already owned, were excluded from communion with the society. Had it not been for the early exer- tions of these excellent people, the fair and flourishing State of Pennsylvania might now, perchance, be with- ering under the effects of slavery. To this day, the Society of Friends, both in England and America,, omit no opportunity, public or private, of discountenancing this bad system ; and the Methodists (at least in Eng- land) have earnestly labored in the same glorious cause. 20 2JiO OUR DUTIES . The famous Anthony Benezet, a Quaker in Philadel- phia, has left us a noble example of what may be done for conscience' sake. Being a teacher, he took effectual care that his scholars should have ample knowledge and christian impressions concerning the nature of slavery ; he caused articles to be inserted in the almanacs likely to arrest public attention upon the subject ; he talked about it, and wrote letters about it ; he published and distributed tracts at his own expense ; if any person was going a journey, his first thought was how he could make him instrumental in favor of his benevolent purposes ; he addressed a petition to the Queen for the suppression of the slave-trade ; and another to the good Countess of Huntingdon beseeching that the rice and indigo planta- tions belonging to the orphan-house, which she had en- dowed near Savannah, in Georgia, might not be cultivated by those who encouraged the slave trade ; he took care to increase the comforts and elevate the character of the colored people within his influence ; he zealously pro- moted the establishment of an African school, and devoted much of the two last years of his life to personal attendance upon his pupils. By fifty years of constant industry he had amassed a small fortune ; and this was left, after the decease of his widow, to the support of the African school. Similar exertions, though on a less extensive scale, v.ere made by the late excellent John Kenrick, of Newton, Mass, For more, than thirty years the constant object of his thoughts, and the chief purpose of his life, was the abolition of slavery. His earnest conversation arous- ed many other minds to think and act upon the subject. He wrote letters, inserted articles in the newspapers, gave liberal donations, and circulated pamphlets at his own expense. Cowper contributed much to the cause when he wrote the " Negro's Complaint," and thus excited the compas- sion of his numerous readers. Wedgewood aided the work, when he caused cameos to be struck, representing a kneeling African in chains, and thus made even capri- cious fashion an avenue to the heart. Clarkson assisted by patient investigation of evidence ; and Fox and Wil- IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 231 berforce by eloquent speeches. Mungo Park gave his powerful influence by the kind and liberal manner in which he always represented the Africans. The Duch- ess of Devonshire wrote verses and caused them to be set to music ; and wherever those lines were sung, some hearts were touched in favor of the oppressed. This fascinating woman made even her far-famed beauty serve in the cause of benevolence. Fox was returned for Parliament through her influence, and she is said to have procured more than one vote, by allowing the yeo- manry of England to kiss her beautiful cheek. All are not able to do so much as Anthony Benezet and John Kenrick have done ; but v/c can all do something. We can speak kindly and respectfully of colored people upon all occasions ; we can repeat to our children such traits as are honorable in their character and history ; we can avoid making odious caricatures of negroes ; we can teach boys that it is unmanly and contemptible to insult an unfortunate class of people by the vulgar outcry of " Nigger ! — Nigger !" — Even Mahmoud of Turkey rivals us in liberality — for he long ago ordered a fine to be levied upon those who called a Christian a dog ; and in his dominions the prejudice is so great that a Christian must be a degraded being. A residence in Turkey might be profitable to those Christians who patronize the eternity of prejudice ; it would afford an opportunity of testing the goodness of the rule, by showing how it works both ways. If we are not able to contribute to African schools, or do not choose to do so, we can at least refrain from op- posing them. If it be disagreeable to allow colored people the same rights and privileges as other citizens, we can do with our prejudice, what most of us often do with better feelings — we can conceal it. Our almanacs and newspapers can fairly show both sides of the question ; and if they lean to either party, let it not be to the strongest. Our preachers can speak of slavery, as they do of other evils. Our poets can find in this subject abundant room for sentiment and pathos. Our orators (provided they do not want office) may ven- ture an allusion to our m-'' glorious institutions." 23*2 OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. The union of individual influence produces a vast amount of moral force, which is not the less powerful because it is often unperceived. A mere change in the direction of our efforts, without any increased exertion, would in the course of a few years, produce an entire revolution of public feeling. This slow but sure way of doing good is almost the only means by which benevo- lence can effect its purpose. Sixty thousand petitions have been addressed to the English parliament on the subject of slavery, and a large number of them were signed by women. The same steps here would be, with one exception, useless and injudicious; because the general government has no con- trol over the legislatures of individual States. But the District of Columbia forms an exception to this rule. — There the United States have power to abolish slavery \ and it is the duty of the citizens to petition }ear after year, until a reformation is effected. But who will pre- sent remonstrances against slavery ? The Hon. John Q,. Adams was intrusted with fifteen petitions for the aboli- tion of slavery in the District of Columbia ; yet, clearly as that gentleman sees and defines the pernicious effects of the system, he offered the petitions only to protest against them ! Another petition to the same effect, intrusted to another Massachusetts representative, was never noticed at all. " Brutus is an honorable man : — So are they all — all honorable men." Nevertheless, there is, in this popular government, a subject on which it is impossihh for the people to make themselves heard. By publishing this book I have put my mite into the treasury. The expectation of displeasing all classes has not been unaccompanied with pain. But it has been strongly impressed upon my mind that it was a duty to fulfil this task ; and earthly considerations should never stifle the voice of conscience. /' .>;% .^ ^•\ ^^^ ^ .^^ "'^^ o>' ,0^^ , X -^ ^'^ -f V .'^' '.^^/^'^^^K^^^-^ O V^' \^ • ^^ ^ . . ^ .A ^ ' * « /• C' ■#:-.: .Oo. -0- Oo. ■S OO oo^ ^. cf^- ^ ^-^' .^^% -/ -^ /^^ \-o' .- vOo. H.^^ ^ .0^ ,'^^^^^^ o 0^ n^ ''c^, . ^tF^\- aV .\v ^. ':^'jf o 0' #^ .^<< ^' 'f^. ■X^ '\ ^ ^ ^ n K^ A o «: .^^ ^^. .'-^' O^^ V~^<-/-^^^ ^s^^''