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 THE CASE STATED 
 
 TllE FRIEIS Al lEMIK 
 
 OF 
 
 THE AMERICM SLAVE, 
 
 JAMES W. MASSIE, D.D., LL.D., 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 UNION AND EMANCIPATION SOCIETY, 51, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1863. 
 
 PRICE ONE PENNY. 
 

 THE CASE STATED. 
 
 The answer of the Lord Jesus Christ to the question, «' Who is my 
 Neighbour?" presents the divine measure which is unchan^^eable of 
 mutual benevolence, enjoined on all mankind. The Good Samaritan 
 is a comprehensive model. iThe commandment, " Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbour as thyself," is permanent and of paramount obligation ; and 
 the law is of universal authority, whose prescription is, '•' as ye would 
 that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." The Christian 
 should therefore feel bound to cherish the oppressed and enthralled of 
 every land, as the legitimate objects of his compassion, and, accordin*^ 
 to his ability, he will combine with others to break every yoke and 
 promote the freedom of all that are in bonds. The Kedeemer assumed 
 the office of one " sent to heal the broken-hearted,— to preach deliver- 
 ance to the captives,— to set at liberty them that are bruised;" and 
 such will ever be the aim of his consistent and faithful ministers 
 They have not so learned the law of their Creator as to acknowledc^e" 
 that any man can righteously have property and control over the soSl 
 and body of his fellow-man. He alone who has ransomed the Church 
 with his own blood can require mankind to submit to his proprietary 
 control, and only in his name can it be said, "ye are not your own 
 for ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and 
 spirit, which are God's." The Slavery of Man, under the bonda"-e of 
 his fellow-man, is incompatible with the natural rights of every man, 
 and cannot be maintained in any Christian relation, except in defiance 
 of that principle which elevates the converted servant above a servant 
 and renders him a brother beloved to the minister, honoured in his 
 conversion ; but much more to the former master, if a Christian, both 
 in the flesh and in the Lord. 
 
 The Census of the United States, taken in 18G0, numbers 3 953 751 
 men, women, and children, held as Slaves by about 350,000 'persons' 
 reputed as owners of their enthralled fellow-creatures ; of these mil- 
 lions many have been herded together like cattle, that they mi^ht 
 increase their numbers to provide a supply for the market,— sold a'lid 
 bought according to the proportions of their frame, the elasticity of 
 their muscles, and the vigour of their constitution ; bid for competition 
 at the auction mart, disposed of in lots, or severally, at the pleasure of 
 the traffickers; every feeling of delicacy, every endearment of i)areiifal 
 tenderness, and every bond of infantile sympathy or dcpendenco 
 crushed, violated, and set at naught. Besides the actual Slaves it is 
 conjectured there may be nearly 000,000 more who inherit many 
 consequences of Slavery as people of colour, everv one of whom, iu 
 J 800, was deemed or e.xposed to the treatment of a Slave, unless lie 
 could by legal documents ]u-ove his acquired freedom. Thus all 
 natives of America, and all strangers, who sustained relation by blood 
 and colour to the African race, were subjected to the ignominy, priva- 
 tions and toils, the laceration and bereavements of bondage, the 
 suflerings and sorrows of the Slave. The description given of the 
 servitude to which these millions have been reduced, is labour without 
 
 n 
 
wages and toil without respite, so long as life continues; during 
 which, both men and women, the child and the aged, are held under 
 this violent constraint ; while tlieir task-master is the alone practical 
 judge of the kind, degree, and time of labour, and of the subsistence 
 received by the Slave. The owner himself can imprison, beat, wound, 
 scourge, and in any way injure the body, grieve and vex the spirit of 
 the bond-man, or depute such power to the lowest menial, or a fellow- 
 slave. He can wrench asunder at his caprice, or for his profit, the 
 ties of husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, and 
 make merchandise of the natural attractions of innocent woman. To 
 meet his exigences, creditors, taxgatherers, or legatees, the Slave, his 
 wife, children, or parents, or the produce of his hands can be seized, 
 sold or ahenated in lots, or severally, so that unknown, unfeeling, un- 
 righteous men-stealers and traffickers in Slaves may call them their 
 goods ; no remonstrance avails, no right of redemption is reserved ; 
 while the death of the tyrant or owner only more severely embitters 
 and surely rivets the manacles, aggravates the yoke, and causes the 
 iron to enter the deeper into the soul of the victim. 
 
 No language could depict the carnival of crime and woe which must 
 follow this violation of natural right. But it is enough to fill every 
 human mind with horror, to be assured that the Slave-holding citizens 
 of the United States commenced the present conflict in that country, 
 with a demand for a large extent of territory for the further develop- 
 ment of this system and polity ; and having by the infraction of 
 compromises, by the perversion of Statutes, by legislative modifications 
 and judicial decisions, by persistent encroachments on States which 
 were free from and abhorred Slavery, by purchase, compact, or con- 
 templated conquest, sought to render all the continent of America 
 and its adjacent isles subject to the pollutions and usurpations of 
 Slavery. The exciting struggle connected with the Fugitive Slave-law, 
 while passing through the legislature ; the litigation which preceded 
 the " Dred Scott " decision, the violent efforts to incorporate Kansas 
 as a Slave State, and to intrude Slavery into California, and so invigo- 
 rate the Senatorial Slave power ; the pathetic chivalry of Captain 
 John Brown and his heroic death ; the oft-repeated efforts of Slaves 
 to escape from thraldom, and of their friends to restrict the power 
 and limit the area of Slave-holding dominion, have not been unheeded 
 in Europe; and even those who but partially knew the difficulties to 
 be encountered, and the self sacrifices to be made by the earnest and 
 faithful chamj)ions of the downtrodden negro, sympathized in the 
 events. Many hearts eagerly panted for success to Colonel Freemont 
 when a candidate, and exulted in the election of the present supreme 
 Magistrate of the United States, because their policy was favourable 
 to liberty and oftered resistance to the growth of Slavery. It is an 
 honour to be permitted to sympathize in the events now contemplated. 
 
 Eighty-six years ago, the Fathers of the American Eepublic recog- 
 nised as self-evident truths the affirmations, "that all men are created 
 equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable 
 rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; 
 that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, 
 deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ; that 
 whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, 
 it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new 
 
Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing 
 its power in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect 
 their safety and happiness," The circumstances to which the United 
 States owed their early prosperity, have been traced by many hands ; 
 but by none more truly than by one who affirmed they "will be 
 found to consist in liberal institutions wisely and faithfully ad- 
 ministered ; a rigid adherence to the constitution, without which, 
 one branch of the Government usurps the prerogatives of another ; 
 a perfect submission to the will of the people constitutionally ex- 
 pressed ; a universal desire to promote the common good, and an 
 intimate union for this end ; a strict and impartial administration of 
 justice, — the liberty which every one enjoys of employing his time 
 and means in improving his condition without the intei-'ference of the 
 Government; the equality of all before the law; direct and purely 
 popular elections, which elevate the character of the mass of the 
 people, — and lastly, the means of education abundant and cheap, 
 which makes the people capable of governing themselves." Let these 
 principles and circumstances be ensured and applied to coloured and 
 white men in the United States, and where will Slavery appear ? 
 
 But what now is the source and cause of American trouble and 
 wide-spread calamity ; in which every friend of mankind may cor- 
 dially express his sympathy? President Jefferson answered this 
 question as if by prophetic augury and far-seeing intelligence. " What 
 an incomprehensible machine is man ! who can endure toil, famine, 
 stripes, imprisonment and death itself, in vindication of his own 
 liberty ; and the next moment be deaf to all those motives, whose 
 power supported him through his trial ; and inflict on his fellow-men a 
 bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages 
 of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose. But we must await 
 with patience the workings of an over-ruling Providence, and hope 
 that that is preparing the deliverance of these our suffering brethren. 
 When the measure of their tears shall be full, when their groans 
 shall have involved Heaven itself in darkness — doubtless a God of 
 justice will awaken to their distress, and by diffusing light and liber- 
 ality among their oppressors, or at length by his exterminating thunders, 
 manifest his attention to the things of this world, and that they are 
 not left to the guidance of a blind fatality." The exterminating thun- 
 der has boomed from the instruments of war. God can make the 
 wrath of man to praise him and restrain the remainder of that wrath. 
 He must be sceptical indeed who would ascribe to blind fataUly the 
 events of the last three years in America. Ingratitude and indis- 
 crimination must be the failing of such as do not observe the diffusion 
 of light and liberality among many who once inflicted cruel bondage 
 on their fellow-men. The friend of the Slave must thankfully ac- 
 knowledge that a God [of justice has given to the United States a 
 President as their chief-ruler, so kindred in sympathy and sentiment 
 with Jerterson, and so placed in Providence as to be able to give effect 
 to the policy Avhich that great Patriot enunciated. 
 
 France and England had revolved such utterances as the language? 
 of humanity and patriotism, and as the growing conviction of American 
 statesmen and rulers ; and it was fondly imagined that the era was 
 near its dawn, when Slavery should be doomed, as it had been de- 
 nounced by her philanthropists; and when its abettors, enlightened 
 
and warned, would seek a peaceful solution of their great national 
 problem. It was believed that the United States had already con- 
 tended with, and overcome greater difficulties than might be found 
 in the way of the enfranchisement of the negroes. They liad secured 
 their national independence, amidst many dangers and sacrifices ; 
 though that was not to Avipe away so foul a blot, as Slavery was upon 
 their banners. When war had been brought to their borders they 
 were enabled to repel the invader. They had opened paths in the 
 pi'imeval forest, reai'ed cities in the wilderness, and found ports in 
 every part of the world for their produce and commerce. They had 
 risen from being a colony of outcast pilgrim Fathers to occupy an 
 equality with the greatest nations, and be welcomed as a confederate 
 with the most renowned empires on the earth. No menace could 
 daunt them, and no foe dared insult with impunity their national 
 honour. Their sails were unfurled and their standard floated in every 
 region, on every sea, and before every Avind. They had become a great 
 nation and might legitimately contemplate the noblest and most phi- 
 lanthropic achievements. 
 
 Strangers should not i^resumptuously intermeddle in political 
 subtilties, or debate as to the power, prerogatives, or relative obliga- 
 tions of the several States in the Federal Union. The language and 
 declarations of official men, however, and the ordinances of Seceding 
 States, are published as the manifestoes of those concerned. The 
 Vice-President of the Confederacy is no subordinate authority, and his 
 frank avoAval, so far as it has been corroborated by documentary 
 authority, leaves Europe in no doubt as to the end contemplated by the 
 leaders of the warlike Secession. The accredited causes of the present con- 
 flict countenance no hesitation, and open no subterfuge for the disputant. 
 South Carolina " declares" as ends for which the Federal constitution 
 was framed, " the formation of a more perfect Union ; the establish- 
 ment of justice, insuring of domestic tranquility, providing for the 
 common defence, promoting the general welfare, and securing the 
 blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity ; " which ends, she 
 affirms, "have been defeated," and she adds, " the Government itself has 
 been destructive of them, by the action of the non-Slaveholding States. 
 Those States have assumed the right of deciding upon the propriety 
 of our domestic institutions, and have denied the rights of property 
 established in Fifteen of the States, and recognised by the constitution ; 
 they have denounced as sinful the institution of Slavery ; they have 
 permitted the open establishment among them, of societies, whose 
 avowed object is to disturb the peace of and eloin the propei^y of the 
 citizens of other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands 
 of our Slaves to leave their homes, and those who remain have been 
 incited by emissaries, books, and pictures to servile insui'rection." To 
 the last complaint, it might be replied in the words of inspiration — the 
 higher law — " Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant, 
 which has escaped fi-om his master unto thee ; he shall dwell with 
 thee, even among you, in the place which he shall choose, in one of 
 thy gates, where it liketh him best; thou shalt not oppress him." 
 The State of Alabama founded their reasons of Secession, on the 
 " election of a President and Vice-President by a sectional party, 
 avowedly hostile to the domestic institution" (Slavery). Texas 
 pleads that •' recent developments in federal affairs make it evident 
 
that the power of the Federal Government is sought to be made a 
 weapon with which to strike down the interests and property of the 
 people of Texas and her sister Slave-holding States." Virginia urges 
 the same reasons, " The Federal Government having perverted said 
 powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to 
 the oppression of the Southern Slave-holding States." President 
 Buchanan in his message on 3rd Dec, 1860, affirms that the peril 
 mainly arises from " the fact that the incessant and violent agitation 
 of the Slavery question, throughout the north, for the last quarter of 
 a century, has at length produced its malign influence on the Slaves, 
 and inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence a sense of 
 security no longer exists around the family altar."' To crown all their com- 
 plaints, Mr. Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate 
 States, having discriminated the plague-spot of the old constitution 
 of the Union, heralds with exulting cheer the grand discovery made 
 by the Seceding politicians assembled at Montgomery, in Alabama. 
 
 " The new Constitution has put at rest for ever all the agitating questions relating 
 to our peculiar institution, African slavery as it exists among us, — the proper status 
 of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late 
 rujiture and present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated this as 
 the ' rock upon which the old Union woiild split.' He was right. The jirevailiug 
 ideas entertained by him and most of the leatUug statesmen at the time of the 
 formation of the old Constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in 
 violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, 
 and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with ; but the general 
 opinion of the men of the day was, that somehow or other, in the order of Providence, 
 the institution would he evanescent and pass away. The idea, though not incorpor- 
 ated in the Constitution, was the prevailing idea at the time. 
 
 " Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations 
 are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to 
 the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and 
 normal condition. 
 
 "This, our new Government, is the first in the history of the world, based upon 
 this great physical and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its 
 development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. It has been 
 so even -amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well that this trutli 
 was not generally admitted, even within their day. It is the first Government ever 
 instituted upon principles of strict confoi'mity to nature, and the ordination of 
 Pi'ovidence in furnishing the materials of human society. It is upon this, as I have 
 stated, our social fabric is firmly planted; and I cannot permit myself to doubt the 
 ultimate success of a full recognition of this principle throughout the civilized and 
 enlightened world. Tliis stone, which was rejected by the first builders, 'is become 
 tlie cliief stone of the corner' in our new edifice. It is the Lord's doings, and 
 marvellous in our eyes." 
 
 Such and similar avowals and convictions founded on data thus 
 presented, no doubt moved the French protestant clergy to express 
 their fraternal counsels and aspirations to the protestant ministers of 
 all denominations in Britain, in their letter wliich has been made 
 public. Seven hundred and fifty, a large proportion of the entire 
 clerical body of protestants in France, inscribed their names. No such 
 combiiiation of names and object ever previously occurred in the inter- 
 course of Eurojie, and a letter, so universally approved, deserves the 
 most respectful and considerate attention. Men of all classes and 
 religious distinctions throughout all the States of America will duly 
 appreciate it, as the utterance of pure Christian philanthropy, and 
 breathing the spirit of divine benevolence, not alone for the negro, 
 but also for all wlio may be involved in his doom. The letter has 
 been ditl'used among Ministers of the Episcopal and Presbyterian, lude- 
 
pendent and Baptist Churches ; Wesleyans and Methodists of all 
 sections and other denominations have received it. Some may have 
 unthinkingly thrown it aside as an ordinary printed circular ; but 
 thousands have cordially responded in reply — the form of which was 
 designedly prepared in brief to secure a cordial adhesion to both the 
 contents and object of the letter from France. It is a high gratifica- 
 tion to the Ministers, now united in this manifestation of fraternal 
 sympathy and interest, to be found in such association, and enabled 
 to address, in the bonds of a common Christianity the representative 
 leaders of all the citi/ens of the Great American Eepublic in behalf 
 of Millions of Negroes, who are passing through this crisis of their 
 destiny on earth, and whose future descendents may for many genera- 
 tions inherit the fruit of this momentous movement. The Anglo- 
 Saxon, as well as the Negro race are deeply concerned in the issues 
 of this terrible hour. Not alone the American Eepublic, but the 
 whole civilized world must participitate in the ominous or auspicious 
 conclusions to which this war must lead. Territories and kingdoms ; 
 princes and jDeasants ; the sons of toil and the possessors of capital ; 
 ail kindreds and tribes ; governors as well as the govei-ned, whei'ever 
 the region they inhabit lies, in the temperate and the torrid zone — • 
 all ages and times ; Christianity and the world are destined to be 
 influenced, depressed, dishonoured, or exalted as the despotism of 
 the Slave-holder prevails, or as the righteousness of equal government 
 is made to triumph. 
 
 But already the shadows begin to disperse and the cloud is edged 
 with the radiance of a rising luminary. Slavery has been abolished 
 as suggested by the President in the District of Columbia — the re- 
 presentative centre of the Eepublic, where there were 3,181 Slaves 
 when the last census was taken, and to which every Slave-holder of 
 the Union might have brought his fellow-men and sold them as 
 chattels. Nor was this boon exacted for the Slave without a national 
 compensation. Slave-trading piracy at sea is a thing sentenced to 
 capital punishment by the Supreme Magistrate, and a precedent for 
 its execution has been established. Slave-trading vessels are now 
 subjected to the right of search, by reciprocal treaty between England 
 and America, in such latitudes on the high seas as were formerly 
 scoured with impunity under the United States Flag. 
 
 The Territories of the Eepublic are hencefoi-ward guarded by law 
 against the intrusion and pollution of internal Slavery ; sacred as the 
 land of the brave and the free, and destined to become the honies of 
 industry, commerce and Christian fellowship. Emancipation has 
 been enacted for the Slaves in Western Virginia, and embodied as an 
 organic law in the State constitution, when admitted to the Union 
 recently. The proclamation of the Pi'esident has brought liberty to 
 myriads of Slaves, held in bondage in the disloyal South, and the 
 first day of 1863 will be identified with the name of President 
 Lincoln, in the history of many future citizens of the United States. 
 Hayti and Liberia admitted to the brotherhood of American nations, 
 now number their diplomatic representatives with the ambassadors 
 of Imperial Sovereigns, at the Capital of the Eepublic. It is not 
 unworthy of tne gratulatory acknowledgments of the friends of the 
 Government, that while such measures were initiated or promoted by 
 the President and his Cabinet, they have been accepted by the cordial 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 and almost unanimous voice of the peoj |||jj||| 
 
 confidence in the Magistrate and the de^ 012 Ape' e7c""c""^ 
 of a mighty nation ; nor should it be forgotten umi cixo ..^'r. -...^ ■ 
 forth born within the recognized Territory of the Union is a citizen of 
 the Kepublic according to the legal decision of the Attorney-General. 
 What logic can exclude the Negro from this position ? May the day soon 
 dawn when the President's counsel will be accepted, and the measure 
 he recommends pass into law, so that all the loyal States may emanci- 
 pate their bondmen, and the whole Union be willing to share in the 
 responsibility and expense. Even now, hundreds of thousands of 
 negroes, Slaves when Mr. Lincoln first occupied the Presidential Chair, 
 are not only freedmen, but also servants of the State, and actively 
 co-operate for the redemption of their native country. They are 
 Americans, though coloured men, and ready to make every sacrifice for 
 the restoration of peace, the establishment of liberty, and the triumph 
 of equitable Government. 
 
 What darker or more dreary calamity could threaten any nation or 
 people on earth, than the successful establishment of a Eepublic, whose 
 corner-stone shall be "that the negro is not equal to the white man, 
 and that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural 
 and normal condition." The curse, then entailed, will extend its 
 poisonous influence far beyond the utmost verge of the black popula- 
 tion. But the governments ruling them, with all the white population, 
 will be involved in the moral degradation, corruption, and bondage. 
 Nor will the States holding relation to them, and the merchants made 
 rich by their merchandise and favour, ultimately escape the contamin- 
 ating influence. Nothing Avould be more true than the language of the 
 Frenchpastors : " The triumph of such a cause would put back the 
 progress of Christian civilization and of humanity a whole century. It 
 would make angels weep in heaven, and demons rejoice in hell." But 
 such a Confederacy cannot prosper, though hand join in hand. It 
 must be broken in pieces, since the Judge of the whole earth doeth 
 right. Righteousness exaltetli a people, and the path of the just is like 
 the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 
 Let the rulers and statesmen of the North, representing the true and 
 faithful States, pursue the course of freedom, equity, and universal 
 liberty ; and especially endeavour to requite the African people by a 
 God-like benevolence for the ten thousand wrongs which have been 
 inflicted on them ; and they will find it both more pleasant and more 
 safe and easy to do justice, to love mercy, to undo the heavy burdens 
 and let the oppressed go free, than it is to do evil w4th both hands. 
 With what renovat(}(l energy, with what moral power, witli what hal- 
 lowed consistency and honourabli! courage, will tlu^ whole nation then 
 be able to go up to their highest destiny. Then will the work of 
 righteousness be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and 
 assurance for ever; and tlic people shall dwell in a ])eaceable habitation 
 in sure dwellings, antl in quiet resting places. Tlie greatness of the 
 llcpulilic will be idcntilied with goodness, and its name shall be as 
 ointment poured forth. It will have wiped from its banner every dark 
 stain, inconsistent with liberty, to which heretofore the finger of 
 derision has been pointed, by the scorning of every despot and every 
 enemy of the rights of man, and establish a claim to the admiration 
 of all enlightened men. 
 
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