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diff --git a/32058.txt b/32058.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f469ab --- /dev/null +++ b/32058.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2984 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of American Slave Trade, by Jesse Torrey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: American Slave Trade + or, An Account of the Manner in which the Slave Dealers + take Free People from some of the United States of America, + and carry them away, and sell them as Slaves in other of + the States; and of the horrible Cruelties practised in + the carrying on of this most infamous Traffic + +Author: Jesse Torrey + +Release Date: April 19, 2010 [EBook #32058] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Paragraph 46. + +View of the Capitol of the United States, after the Conflagration in +1814.] + + + + + AMERICAN + SLAVE TRADE; + + OR, + + An Account of the Manner in which the Slave Dealers + take Free People from some of the United States of + America, and carry them away, and sell them as Slaves + in other of the States; and of the horrible Cruelties + practised in the carrying on of this most infamous + Traffic: + + WITH + + REFLECTIONS on the Project for forming a Colony of + American Blacks in Africa, and certain Documents + respecting that Project. + + _By JESSE TORREY, Jun. Physician._ + + WITH FIVE PLATES. + + LONDON: + + REPRINTED BY C. CLEMENT, AND PUBLISHED BY + J. M. COBBETT, 1, CLEMENT'S INN. + + 1822. + + + + +PREFACE. + + "And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in + his hand, shall surely be put to death." + + _Exodus xxi. 16._ + + +1. Throughout this work I have numbered the _paragraphs_, a practice +which I find to be attended with numerous advantages. The work was +published in Philadelphia in 1817. + +2. The reader will perceive, that Mr. TORREY, the author of the work +here presented to the public, has mixed his reflections with his +narrative of facts. A different arrangement would have tended to +clearness. But, as applicable to the English reader, there is a defect +of greater importance; namely, the want of a description of the relative +extent and situation of the Countries or States, in which this +abominable slave trade is carried on. The author speaks of the _Middle +States_, and the _Southern States_. He speaks of _Maryland_, of +_Delaware_; and, then again, of _Georgia_, _Carolina_, _Mississippi_; +but the English reader ought to be told, and have pretty clearly +explained to him, how these several Countries lie with regard to each +other; and, that he may judge of the magnitude of the evil, he ought to +be informed over how large a part of the whole of the United States +Slavery does actually extend. He ought further to be informed of the +nature of the Governments, and of the laws, as far as these latter +relate to Slavery. For, he must otherwise naturally be astonished to +find that this dreadful traffic is carried on with impunity. He hears +Mr. TORREY talk of Judges, Senators, Governors, Presidents, speaking +against this traffic; and yet he finds it most vigorously carried on; +and actually making a part of the internal trade of the Country; at +which he is utterly astounded, so often hearing the _virtues_ of +Republicans sounded in his ears, and being informed that Mr. JEREMY +BENTHAM is actually engaged, at this moment, in the Southern Peninsula +of Europe, to teach the art of Constitution-making upon the American +plan. The book stands, therefore, in need of a Preface to explain these +matters a little; and such Preface I am now doing myself the honour to +write. + +3. For want of a map, I must resort to a description by words. The +States lie in the following order, along the side of the Atlantic from +North to South, _Maine_, _New Hampshire_, _Massachusetts_, _Rhode +Island_, _Connecticut_. The four latter are called the New England +States, _Maine_ being a new territory or State lying to the North and +going on to the British territory of _New Brunswick_. After Connecticut, +going on to the Southward, come _New York_, _New Jersey_, +_Pennsylvania_, _Delaware_ and _Maryland_. These five are called the +_Middle States_. Then come, on to the Southward, _Virginia_, _North +Carolina_, _South Carolina_, _Georgia_ and the _Floridas_. These are +called the Southern States. Then, going back to the North again, +_Vermont_ lies in at the back of the four New England States, on the +western side of a long ridge of mountains. At the back of Pennsylvania +are the States of _Ohio_, _Indiana_, and the district of the ill-fated +creatures that have followed Mr. BIRKBECK, called the _Illinois_. At the +back of _Virginia_ is _Kentucky_, at the back of North Carolina is +_Tennessee_, at the back of _South Carolina_ and Georgia and _Florida_ +are _Alabama_, _Mississippi_ and _Louisiana_. Some of these are not yet +recognised as independent States. Now then, all to the South of +_Maryland_, front and back, containing ten States, and, I believe, +_Indiana_ into the bargain. However, all to the South of _Maryland_ is +real unmodified, unmitigated, unrestrained Slavery; and this is that +part of the United States which produces tobacco, cotton, sugar, and +rice. This is the rich part of the United States; twice as extensive as +all the rest; continually growing in population and cultivation; and, as +Mr. TORREY observes, containing a larger portion of personal slavery, +than any other part of the globe. + +4. So much for the _Geography_ of the subject. Now, as to the +_Governments_, this is the state of the case. The _United States_ (with +the exception of a small spot to be mentioned by and by) extend from +Canada and New Brunswick, which lie to the North, to the Gulf of Mexico +on the South, seeing that the Floridas are now to make part of this +territory. They extend to the west, from the Atlantic Ocean to the +Pacific Ocean. Great part of this western territory is, as yet, wholly +uninhabited by white people. But, the Country is inhabited more or less +thickly from the North to the South on the side of the Atlantic, and the +space between the utmost points is about seventeen hundred miles. This +territory is divided into _States_, each of which is independent of all +the rest. Each has its Chief Magistrate, its Legislature, its Judiciary, +and its own Code of Laws. It raises its own internal taxes; has its own +Militia; and is, in fact, an independent State, with the following +exceptions; namely, that it has nothing to do, and can have no +particular connexion, with any Foreign Nation; can make no laws with +regard to external commerce; can make neither peace nor war; and is +bound to join the other States in case of war or peace. These matters +are all left to the _Congress_, which is composed of a President, a +Senate, and a House of Representatives. This body manages the affairs of +the whole Country as far as relates to peace and war, and as far as +relates to external Commerce, and to all connexions with Foreign +Nations. + +5. So that the Congress can make no Law touching the internal economy +and jurisdiction of any of the States, each of which, may pass what laws +it pleases, so that those laws do not contravene the common compact, +contained in the document, or, act of Congress, usually denominated the +_Constitution of the United States_. Now, that compact does by no means +prohibit the existence of Slavery; but, on the contrary, _expressly +recognises its legality_; and this was one of the _conditions_, upon +which the Union was founded. + +6. As to the several States, Slavery did exist in all, except, perhaps, +_Indiana_ and _Ohio_; and, I believe, there also. I mean that it existed +without any _modification by law_. That is to say, Slaves and the +children of Slaves were as much a white man's property as horses and the +young ones of horses. In _Maryland_ (we are now going towards the North) +there is now a mitigation of some sort; also in _Delaware_, +_Pennsylvania_, _New Jersey_, _New York_, _Vermont_, and the _New +England_, States. I do not know whether an _absolute abolition_ has +taken place in any State; though I believe it has. In the State of _New +York_ the law made all free that were born after a certain period; and +after another certain period, those born slaves were to become free. I +cannot take upon me to say exactly how the thing stands with regard to +these States; but I believe, that if you bring your slave into a State +with you, he does not become free by that act of yours; and that, if he +escape from you and go into one of these States, he may be lawfully +seized as a slave and taken away. _Delaware_ State and _Maryland_, which +lie to the South of _Pennsylvania_ and join on to _Virginia_, appear, as +the reader will find, to be the principal theatre of the Slave Trade, +though, as will be seen, the villains who carry on the traffic have the +audacity to carry it on even in the City of _Philadelphia_. + +7. So much for the States. Now, which is very material to observe, the +_Congress_, that is to say, the _Government of the Union_, has had +allotted to it a _territorial jurisdiction_, exclusive of all the +States. This spot is on the _Potomac River_, which divides _Maryland_ +from _Virginia_. The territory thus allotted is a piece of land ten +miles square, in the centre of which is the City of Washington. Now, we +shall find this spot to be the very focus of the Slave Trade. The reader +will see, in paragraph 46. an account of a drove of chained Negroes +marching under the _Capitol_ of this very City; and Mr. TORREY gives an +account of Members of Congress standing at the threshold of the +building, viewing, on their march by, a troop of manacled slaves, one of +whom raised up his manacled hands towards the building, while he sang, +what Mr. TORREY calls the favourite National Song, "_Hail Columbia, +happy Land! Hail the freest of the free!_" This spot is called the +_district of Columbia_; and on this spot, Mr. TORREY tells us Slaves +were employed when he was there, to re-erect the building burned down by +the British. Yea, Slaves employed to raise up the magnificent Temple of +Freedom! + +8. With this sketch before him, the reader will enter on this public +spirited, humane, and highly meritorious gentleman's book with a +tolerable chance of pretty clearly understanding the state of the matter +as a whole. The book will Speak for itself; and it will have this +effect, amongst others, as far as it go, namely, to convince us, that we +ought not to be incessantly railing against West India Slave Holders, +while we see Slavery existing to such an extent, and the Slave Trade +carried on with such shocking cruelty, in a Country which, throughout +the world is famed for its _freedom_. There are acts recorded in this +book; acts committed with perfect impunity; that West India Slave +Holders would be put to death for attempting; a fact which, amongst +thousands of others that might be cited, proves, that there is no +tyranny equal to that, which is practised under the names and forms of +liberty. + +9. The Congress of America have passed a resolution to authorize their +Ambassador to negociate with our Government for the sending out of a +joint squadron of Observation to the coast of Africa, to prevent a +violation of the treaties relative to the Slave Trade. I trust that our +government will not tax the blood and bones of Englishmen for any such +purpose, while Negroes, free as well as enslaved, can be killed with +impunity in the United States, and while a trade in the bodies of slaves +actually forms a part of the internal commerce of that Country, the +magazines of which commerce are in the very spot where the Congress +holds its sittings. + +10. I do not bring any accusation against the people of the United +States generally, and particularly to the North of Maryland. It has +required great virtue and self denial to do what has been done in the +middle and Northern States, in order to get rid of this stain upon the +Country. In the parts where I have lived, and where there is any thing +of Slavery remaining, I have always observed great gentleness and +goodness in the owners towards their slaves, whom they treat with great +kindness and care, and whom they feed and clothe exceedingly well. But, +while I have always heard them lamenting the existence of Slavery in +their Country, I cannot be so unjust, I cannot act so unnatural a part, +as to conclude that _our own West India Planters_ must be cruel and +brutal; seeing that Slavery exists to so great an extent in America, +notwithstanding the very prevalent and strong disposition to do it away. +How great must be the difficulty to accomplish this, let the reader +judge; and how foolish, then, must the Government of this Country be, if +it think to accomplish any thing similar to it, merely, because the +thing is called for by a set of visionaries, or, what is worse, by a set +of hypocrites, who, by an appeal to the best feelings of the popular +heart, knowing all the while that they are misleading the understanding, +endeavour to gratify their own selfish ambition! + + WM. COBBETT. + + _Kensington, 18 Sept. 1821._ + + + + +AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE. + + +11. Many schemes have been proposed for alleviating the miseries and +evils produced by the enslavement of the African race in the United +States. Possessors of slaves, as well as others, have investigated the +subject with great industry and anxiety; and all agree that something +ought to be done. The suggestion of an infallible remedy is useless, if +it be impossible to attain or apply it. Exportation to Africa, (the +country to which the wisdom of their Creator has adapted their colour +and faculties;) separate colonization on the public lands; employment on +national canals, roads, &c. have been recommended. These projects are +most certainly impracticable, except partially:--because their +completion would require the _voluntary_ estrangement by its legal +holders, of an immense quantity and value of what is generally though +erroneously termed _property_--human liberty.[1] And in the present +moral and intellectual condition of the slaves, the result would be +perhaps of doubtful benefit. + +12. In examining this subject, I shall endeavour to be temperate, and to +avoid indulging in the use of reprehensive acrimonious modes of +expression. + +13. Without the most distant inclination to aggravate the feelings of +any individual, but because "we ought not to shrink from the +investigation of truth, however unpopular, nor conceal it whatever the +profession of it may cost,"[2] a concise sketch will be presented, of +the facts and incidents which have prompted this address. The peculiar +connexion with which some of these occurrences succeeded each other, was +certainly extraordinary, and to those who are not incredulous, may seem +astonishing. + +14. The first opportunity that ever occurred to me, of viewing a slave +plantation, was furnished by a journey during the summer of 1815, from +Pittsburg to the city of Washington. In the course of my route I +travelled through part of Virginia, west of the Blue Ridge, by way of +Winchester, and through part of Maryland by way of Fredericktown, on the +east side. + +15. My first contemplation of the magnificent edifice,[3] towering over +the surrounding clusters of huts, and the extensive fields, impressed an +idea of their similarity to the castles of European princes, dukes, +lords, barons, &c. with the cottages of their tenants. But a closer +consideration led me to this unavoidable conclusion: that these splendid +fabrics are virtually the palaces of hereditary absolute monarchs;--that +the labourers and people over whom they reign, are their lawful subjects +or vassals--constituting _kingdoms in miniature_;--with this difference +from eastern monarchies, that the king here, instead of receiving merely +a revenue from his subjects, has _legitimate_ power (if he is disposed +to avail himself of it) to exercise the most unlimited and tyrannical +despotism[4] over their persons, and to extort the _whole_ of the +products of their industry, except what may be indispensable to prevent +starvation. + +16. It is not my intention by any means, to intimate that every +possessor of slaves must necessarily be a Nero, but that, if he chooses +to be one, there exists no earthly political power to prevent him. +Excess of power, like other unnatural stimulants, exerts a deleterious +and an intoxicating influence upon the human mind, which but few possess +the capacity and firmness to withstand. In tracing the endless +catalogues of kings, presented in history, how seldom is the eye dazzled +with transport at the name of an Alfred! There are, undoubtedly, +Alfreds, among these numerous _states_; but as long as the diffusion of +the humanizing principles of pure religion, and the auxiliary lights of +natural, moral, and political philosophy, continues to be limited to its +present boundaries, it is feared the number of Alfreds will remain +comparatively small. + +17. The rod of a tyrant wielded over a few, is infinitely more terrible, +than when the number of its victims is great, and detached over a wide +extent of country.[5] + +18. Mr. Jefferson, in his Note on this subject, exclaims, "I tremble for +my country, when I reflect that God is just, and that his justice cannot +sleep for ever." The late Professor Barton, in his work on Botany, while +treating on the article of _rice_, and its cultivation by uncompensated +slaves, expresses a similar sentiment: "Shall we never learn (says he) +to be just to our fellow creatures? Shall we blindly pursue the +imaginary advantages of the moment, and neglect the still but solemn +voice of God, until + + "--------Vengeance in the lurid air + Lifts her red arm expos'd and bare?" + +19. Without offering an opinion on the propriety of the expression of +Mr. Jefferson, I must add, that _I tremble for my country when I reflect +that God is just_, and that his justice is ever active and continually +executing its commission! The truth of this may be easily recognised by +any observer, who has not been familiarized to the constant presence of +slavery, from infancy. Indeed, the possessors of slaves, with whom I +have conversed, while travelling through several slave districts, +frequently acknowledged that they "_have inherited a curse from their +ancestors, and that it would be better for the country if the slaves +were all out of it_." And with respect to the _red arm of vengeance, +exposed and bare_, it must often menace those neighbourhoods, whence the +citizens frequently write to their friends in the _north_, that, "it is +high time to leave a country where one cannot go to bed in the evening, +without the apprehension of being massacred before morning!" I have been +assured by citizens having personal knowledge of the fact, that the rage +of the slaves is such, in some districts, and especially near Savannah, +that their masters and overseers are obliged to retreat to some secure +place during the night, or employ armed sentinels. Four slaves were +executed but a few months since, in Maryland, for destroying the life of +their master's brother, while he was in the act of inflicting corporeal +punishment upon them. A citizen of Philadelphia very lately related to +me the most shocking heart-rending instance of ferocious vengeance that +can be possibly conceived: It very forcibly exemplifies the infatuation +and temerity of subjecting those, to whom our persons must necessarily +be frequently accessible, to a state of the most savage moral +debasement, and then of tampering with their furious untamed passions. +A female slave having been flogged by her mistress, watched for an +opportunity to indulge her resentment, which she executed in a manner +too horrible to describe, and which it is not deemed prudent to specify. + +20. Many instances have existed, where slaves, in a state of enraged +desperation, have involved their masters and themselves, of course, in +mutual destruction. A gentleman of high respectability lately informed +me, that he personally knew a master of slaves who retreated every night +into an upper room, the entrance into which was by a trap door, and kept +an axe by his side for defence! + +21. Does not self-preservation, as well as the obligations of religious +duty and brotherly love, enjoin the education and civilization of our +sable heathen neighbours in our own dwellings, equally as imperatively +as of our tawny ones in the wilderness, and of both, on this side of the +Atlantic, as well as on the other?[6] + +22. While at a public house, in Fredericktown, there came into the +bar-room (on Sunday) a decently dressed white man, of quite a light +complexion, in company with one who was totally black. After they went +away, the landlord observed that the white man was a slave. I asked him, +with some surprise, how that could be possible? To which he replied, +that he was a descendant, by female ancestry, of an African slave. He +also stated, that not far from Fredericktown, there was a slave estate, +on which there were several white females of as fair and elegant +appearance as white ladies in general, held in legal bondage as slaves. +These facts demonstrate that the peculiar hue, with which it has pleased +God to paint the surface of the body of an African, is not the only +circumstance which reconciles to the conscience of the European, (white +man) the act of depriving him of his liberty and the fruits of his +labour. Hence it appears to be a melancholy truth, that man, in a morbid +state of intellect, (which I consider to be the case with every +individual, whose rule of action is not founded upon wisdom and +virtue,) voluntarily and almost invariably, confounds right with might, +and when stimulated by avarice, frequently hesitates not to _bind and +sell_ his wife, his children, or his brother! I have received direct +information from a gentleman who witnessed the fact, that in one of the +slave states, a white man, having married one of his female slaves, +after she had borne him several children, sold the whole of them +together as he would a drove of cattle; and it is said such instances +are frequent. A _gentleman_ brought with him from the southward to +_Philadelphia_, (the city of brotherly love,) his half brother, the son +of his father by a slave, and attempted to sell him! He was happily +prevented from executing his sacrilegious design by the interposition of +a respectable citizen, who also procured the legal restoration of +freedom to the darker _faced_ brother. + +23. In the course of a journey through Virginia, from the city of +Washington towards James' river, of about 150 miles, going and returning +by different routes, I had frequent opportunities of conversing with the +possessors and overseers of slaves, and others, and of observing the +general effects of the present system of slavery, upon the morals and +prospects of the white population. On combining the facts which +presented themselves, I was involuntarily led to this deduction: that +the present mode, with occasional exceptions, of managing slaves, and of +educating the successors to those who now hold dominion over them, must, +eventually and _inevitably_, result, by a progressive ratio, unless +reformed, in the poverty, bankruptcy and chagrin of a large portion of +the posterity of the existing proprietors of even the most extensive +slave estates in the country! This state of things has, to a certain +extent, already commenced. I was informed of some ancient and immensely +rich slave possessions, and shewn some of the subdivided portions of +them, the present numerous heirs of which, are obliged to contract +increasing debts annually, in order to maintain the magnificent style of +living, and the habits of _amusement_ and _sport_, which had been +imposed on them by their ancestors. In conversation with a gentleman at +Charlotteville, I advanced this problem:--Suppose an individual, (who +prefers sport and extravagance to prudence and happiness) becomes +possessor of 1000 slaves, and 10,000 acres of ground; if he bequeaths +his estate to ten heirs, they will receive each 1000 acres of ground and +perhaps 125 slaves. Pursuing this ratio, each descendant of the third +generation will inherit 100 acres of land and about 25 slaves, and the +fourth 10 acres, with 2 slaves. If the slaves should multiply +proportionally with their masters, the plantations would not; for it is +judged from corresponding information and facts, that many of the +proprietors, annually expend the whole amount of their revenue, more or +less. The inevitable poverty and physical debility, thus entailed upon +the inheritors of slaves, are not half so much to be deplored, as the +habits of indolence, dissipation and vice, which, if not the uniform +fruits of slavery, are much promoted and encouraged by it. + +24. About eighteen months ago, I saw, in the western part of the state +of New-York, a venerable old farmer, whose name is Vaughan. He was in +good health (being nearly ninety years of age) and in possession of a +delightful farm, which had been rescued from the wilderness and +cultivated by himself and his sons. Two years ago, the number of his +descendants was about 378! the most of whom have been, or will be, bred +to some useful employment, adequate to their subsistence. If he were in +possession of 1000 slaves, and 10,000 acres of soil, he could bequeath +them only 26-1/3 acres of land each, and not 3 slaves. + +25. On my return to the city of Washington, I met with a most +distressing exemplification of the dangerous policy of educating youth, +(let their fortunes be ever so abundant,) in luxury and indolence. I saw +a stranger, from one of the slave states, of tolerably genteel +appearance, in the prime of life, destitute of property, and unqualified +for any occupation whatever. He had inherited and dissipated a +considerable estate of land and slaves. His former acquaintance and +connexions were of the most reputable class. He appeared to be literally +a prey to despair. He said he should think himself happy if he were +capable of labouring in any mechanical employment whatever. He related +an anecdote of himself, which exhibits very distinctly, the delirium +which affluence and luxurious habits stamp upon the human intellect when +not fortified by virtue. He stated, that at a period when he was totally +at a loss for resources, he met with an opportunity of engaging in a +pursuit, on the commencement of which he received two hundred dollars. +Liberality and hospitality to strangers (if their faces are white) are +prominent and proverbial characteristics of well bred possessors of +slaves, generally.[7] So perfectly had his thoughts been attuned and +associated to opulence and profusion, that he forgot his inverse +position upon the wheel of fortune, and immediately commenced free table +and free bottle; and his two hundred dollars disappeared entirely in one +month;--soon after which he suffered severe privations for want of cash! + +26. Having sketched an outline of some of the evils, which the present +state of slavery necessarily produces to the possessors of slaves, we +will next examine its effects upon the slaves themselves, and endeavour +to prove that the pecuniary as well as the moral interests and rights of +both parties, enjoin the expediency of adopting a different system of +management. + +27. It has been urged, in justification of domestic slavery, that the +slave receives an equivalent for his incessant toil, in the certainty of +being provided with food, clothing, and shelter:--and that a rigorous +discipline is indispensable to the preservation of industry, and for +security against rebellion and assassination. It is well known, in +almost every description of human labour, that constant diligence +produces more than a sufficiency of the necessaries of life, for the +daily consumption of the labourer. Industry, duly rewarded, and +accompanied by temperance and economy, is, with but casual exceptions, +to every individual blessed with health, an infallible source of +competence and wealth. As our all-wise Creator has fitted our +organization, individually, to the acquirement of the means of +subsistence, without depending on the labour and generosity of each +other, there can be no doubt but he designed that each should retain and +enjoy the products of his own hands, without molestation. It is certain +that the labour of a slave is of more value than the expense of his +daily personal necessities, or he could not be sold, (notwithstanding +the risk of premature death,) for 400 or 900 dollars. + +28. The excellence of the great fundamental precept of christianity, +'_Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto +them_,' is acknowledged and admired, it is believed, by every member of +the human family, of whatever name or nation, that makes any pretension +to religion or moral rectitude. And it most assuredly involves this +precept also, which is still easier to obey, and cannot be dispensed +with in the positive axioms of natural justice;--Whatsoever ye would +that men should _not_ do unto you, do ye _not_ even so unto them. Will +any possessor of slaves or other individual, voluntarily consign himself +to hard labour during life? will he submit to the will and temper of +another man, and surrender at his feet the _whole_ of the products of +his toil? Unconditional slavery is contrary to the precepts of religion, +moral justice, and the abstract, natural and political rights of man. It +is a _black_, accumulating, _threatening thunder cloud_ in our moral +horizon, the sudden explosion of which might produce dangerous and fatal +consequences. I am hence constrained to perform the melancholy task of +recording my dissent from the sentiments of those who, from the purest +motives and most laudable philanthropy, request the universal, +simultaneous and _unconditional_ emancipation of a numerous body of meek +people, now groaning under the grievous yoke and goading lash of brutal +unrewarded servitude in these United States, "the world's best hope." +Yet I do not mean to intimate that equal justice should not, or cannot +be rendered to them. If guided by discretion, it may be administered to +them with the highest advantage and most perfect safety to both parties. +African servitude might, at the outset, be rendered so tolerable and +reasonable that the present appellation of _slavery_, which sounds so +discordant, in connexion with the cheering music of _liberty_, might be +exchanged for some title, attended with a less chilling and _base_ note. +Let _Masters_, without hesitation, become _Patrons_, _Guardians_, +_Friends_, _Civil Governors_. Let _Slaves_ be converted into _tenants_ +and indented _servants_, (or _labourers_,) bound, _for the present_, by +the lamentable crisis of existing circumstances.--In compliance with the +loud and imperative demands of justice and humanity, and the injunctions +of policy and self interest, let their toil be carefully and justly +proportioned to their bodily strength, and rewarded by a sufficiency of +comfortable nourishment, clothing and shelter. And, particularly in +cases of correct behaviour and diligence, let a reasonable sum be paid, +monthly or annually, to those who have discretion to make a proper use +of it, or allotted and reserved for the education and eventual benefit +of their children. Let them be effectually protected from the +destructive ravages of distilled spirits. Let them not be bought and +sold as beasts of the harness, without their consent; unless guilty of +criminal conduct;--and let this be decided by the laws of the country. +Nor for all the _silver_ in the mines of Potosi, let an ounce of _iron_ +be rivetted upon their _necks_, _wrists_, or _ancles_; for he who +fashioned these sections of their bodies, never designed them for such +barbarous purposes! Let the "resounding lash," and the savage arts of +torture and cruelty; be laid aside. The adoption of a discipline, +founded on justice and reciprocal equity, will render these unnecessary. +It is a very important fact, in human nature, that men, in all +conditions, perform their duty with far greater alacrity and pleasure, +when prompted by the exhilarating anticipation of reward and advantage, +than by coercion, and the paralyzing menace of penalties and pain.[8] + +29. Philosophy cries, "Brethren, be just--be beneficent, and you will +prosper.--Eternal slavery must be an eternal source of crimes;--divest +it at least of the epithet eternal, for anguish that knows no bounds +can only produce despair." "With a pure heart, one is never unhappy." +Let the possessor of slaves consult the oracles of his own +conscience--the spontaneous counsels of his own heart, and the sublime +parable of the beneficent founder of the Christian religion, and act +accordingly. Did not the slave, (or his ancestors in Africa,) "fall +among thieves, which stripped him" of liberty and happiness;--and are +purchasers or retainers of known stolen property, (or liberty) entirely +absolved, either by the laws of God or man, from a degree of +participation in the original transgression? Let every individual, then, +who finds a slave in his hands, whether by traffic or inheritance, 'take +compassion on him,' like the good Samaritan, _and bind up the old and +painful wounds_, which have been inflicted on his "unalienable rights," +given him by his Creator and _sole_ Proprietor; + + Which no man, for gold, can buy or sell! + +30. Intellectual and moral improvement is the safe and permanent basis, +on which the arch of eventual freedom to the enslaved Africans may be +gradually erected. Let the glorious work be commenced by instructing +such of the holders and overseers of slaves and their sons and +daughters, as have hitherto been deprived of the blessings of +education. Let every slave, less than thirty years of age, of either +sex, be taught the art of reading, sufficiently for receiving moral and +religious instruction, from books in the English language. For this +purpose, the Lancasterian mode of instruction would be admirably well +adapted. A well selected economical library of such books as are +calculated to inculcate the love of knowledge and virtue, ought to form +an essential appurtenance to every plantation. + +31. Governor Miller, in his message of 1815, to the legislature of North +Carolina, affirms, that "With knowledge and virtue, the united efforts +of ignorance and tyranny may be defied." Governor Nicholas, in his +message of the same year, to the legislature of Virginia, says, "Without +intelligence, self-government, our dearest privilege, cannot be +exercised." President Madison, in his message to the Congress, also of +the same year, says, "Without knowledge, the blessings of liberty cannot +be fully enjoyed or long preserved." And in his recent valedictory +message, that he shall read in the character of the American people, in +their true devotion to liberty, and to the constitution, which is its +palladium, sure presages that the destined career of his country will +exhibit a government pursuing the public good as its sole object, &c. +"which maintains inviolably the maxims of public faith, security of +persons and property, and encourages in every authorized mode, that +general diffusion of knowledge, which guarantees to public liberty its +permanency, and to those who possess the blessing, the true enjoyment of +it," &c. Thomas Jefferson, in his inaugural speech, says, "If man is not +fit to govern himself, how can it be expected that he should be fit to +be entrusted with the government of others? Can we expect to find angels +in the form of kings?" Whether it be safe to risk the untutored slave +with his liberty or not, his situation must be inconceivably horrible, +under the cruel lash and uncontrolled power of a master, who is +destitute of education or virtue; whose prompter is avarice, and whose +religion is intemperance, and the gratification of the most ferocious +passions.--It is apprehended that many thousands, _if not hundreds of +thousands_, are thus situated! And it is of but little avail, if the +master himself be enlightened and humane, as long as he consigns his +people to the hands of a cruel stony-hearted overseer. Let legislators +then, both national and sectional, perform their duty to their country +and its posterity;--and to mankind, by listening to the wise counsels +of many conspicuous living sages, and pursue without hesitation the +inestimable "parting advice" of George Washington, Benjamin Rush, Samuel +Adams, and other departed friends and patrons of man, "to promote, as +objects of PRIMARY importance, institutions for the GENERAL diffusion of +knowledge:"--and _establish_ PUBLIC SCHOOLS _in every part_ of the +republic. And, as all men are vitally interested in the universal +dissemination of knowledge and virtue, let all classes combine their +influence and means, in aiding the cause of human happiness. + +32. I can well predict the alarm that many will sound, at the project of +introducing letters among slaves. Some will _imagine_ that knowledge +would be a dangerous instrument in their hands. It is true knowledge +disarms oppression. But those who have experienced and appreciated its +almost uniform tendency, will perceive that it is a pacific weapon,--an +olive branch,--accompanied by moderation, justice, and moral duty. +Education has been calumniated with the charge of instigating the +rebellion and shocking outrages of the slaves in St. Domingo. But the +fact is precisely the reverse. The catastrophe was produced chiefly by +the haughtiness and imprudence of the white planters, in opposing +decrees of the French government, which concerned only the rights of +freemen. In this civil war, in which the _white planters_ were arrayed +against the laws of the national assembly, and the _planters of colour_ +in defence of them, it is not surprising that the _slaves_ should take +sides with their _nearest_ relations. The consequent atrocities, most +unquestionably resulted from the remembrance of the former barbarity[9] +of masters. + +33. As mental improvement advances, vengeance and crimes recede. That +desirable happy era, when the spirit of peace and benevolence shall +pervade all the nations which inhabit the earth,--when both national and +personal _slavery_ shall be annihilated;--when nations and individuals +shall cease to hunt and destroy each other's lives and property;--when +the science and implements of human preservation and felicity, shall be +substituted for those of slaughter and woe; will commence, precisely at +the moment when the rays of _useful knowledge and wisdom_ shall have +been extended to the _whole_ human family. By useful knowledge, I mean, +not only an acquaintance with valuable arts and sciences, but also an +understanding of our various moral and religious duties, in relation to +our Creator, to our neighbour, and to ourselves. By wisdom, I mean that +kind of sagacity which influences us to regulate our passions and +conduct, in conformity to the precepts of knowledge, reason and +religion. Until an approach towards such a state of things is effected, +the names of _liberty_ and _security_ on this earth, will differ but +little from _a will with a wisp_, either to monarchs or their vassals. +At present, violence bears universal and imperial sway;--and ignorance +is the magic spell which sustains its sceptre. This dark veil, which +enshrouds nearly the whole human race, can be penetrated and removed +with much greater certainty and facility, by the mild but invincible +rays of intellectual light, than by opposing violence with violence, and +evil to evil. The countryman in AEsop's Fables, was induced to throw off +his cloak, by the gentle but melting rays of the _physical_ sun, after +the wind had exerted its fury in vain. What a boundless empire of glory +and _unalloyed_ bliss might the monarchs and rulers of the age, and all +possessors of power or wealth, attain, by causing their numerous +subjects or brethren, perpetually encompassed by the snares of +ignorance, vice and oppression, to be instructed; and elevating poor +degraded, afflicted human nature, to that scale of dignity in the +creation, which was evidently assigned to it, by the Supreme Parent of +the universe! + +34. Slaves, enveloped in the fogs of brutal ignorance and debasement, +and exasperated by constant severity and frequent cruelty, cannot fail +of being much more dangerous neighbours, and much less useful servants, +than they would be, if tamed by moral instruction and kind treatment. +Docility is well known to be one of the peculiar characteristics of the +African race; and whenever opportunities have occurred, they have +indicated a capacity of receiving instruction, and of becoming qualified +for a humane and moral government. + +35. Should these remarks ever reach the understanding of the slave whose +yoke is rivetted upon him, by the laws of the government under which he +lives, if he will believe the writer to be his unfeigned compassionate +friend, let him accept his sincere advice, to submit with fortitude to +his fate, and wait with patience the arrival of the day of joy, which +has already commenced its journey, and will assuredly overtake him or +his posterity, not long hence. Let him remember, that it is only the +gradual progress of reason, and the principles of humanity, that can +relieve him; and that the more he resists the noose of slavery, the +closer it girds itself about his neck, _even to suffocation or +strangling_. Let him conciliate the good will and friendship of his +master, by reasonable diligence and inflexible fidelity. + +36. Governor Miller, in his message, which has been already mentioned, +says, "But now, thank God, the human mind having progressed with gradual +march in the path of science and political philosophy, &c. the +principles, 'that all men are by nature equally free and independent,' +&c. have gained and are daily gaining more extensive currency." This +declaration, which probably alludes to Europe, is conspicuously true, +with respect to our own country. In several or all of the slave states, +there are many benevolent respectable individuals, who are dissatisfied +with the practice of retaining their _innocent African brethren_ in +bondage, and have signified their desire to release them.[10] And +although these votaries to humanity are prevented by the existing laws +of their respective districts, from accomplishing the full extent of +their wishes, it is hoped they will not fail to recognize the high +privilege, which still remains in their hands, of exercising reciprocal +justice to their sable _prisoners_, (no longer slaves,) and of educating +and qualifying them for their eventual freedom and reception into an +asylum, which, it may be confidently anticipated, will, ere long, be +prepared for them. In fact, I do not hesitate to predict, that whenever +slaves shall become qualified by intelligence and moral cultivation, for +the rational enjoyment of liberty, and the performance of the various +relative social virtues and duties of life, the enlightened American +legislators and depositories of the rights of man, will listen to the +voice of reason and justice, and the spirit of our social organization, +and _permit_ the release of + + "------the poor fetter'd slave on bended knee, + From [Columbia's] sons imploring to be free;" + +without banishing him, as a traitor, from his native land, where his +services as an industrious, though free laborer, may be indispensable to +its cultivation. But under present circumstances, I am not disposed to +question the policy or propriety of suitable laws, for regulating the +manumission of slaves, with a view to their own welfare and subsistence +as well as the preservation of the public peace. Many benevolent +gentlemen have exercised a sort of morbid or mistaken humanity, in +manumitting, or _turning out of doors_, slaves who had devoted the +greater part of the common period of man's life to their service, and +who, being morally and physically disqualified for securing an _honest_ +maintenance, have finished their days in misery and woe. A very +benevolent possessor of slaves, in the district of Columbia, informed +the writer, that he was _principled_ against retaining them any longer +than while the value of their service amounts to the cost of purchase; +and that he had dismissed several, who immediately commenced a career of +wretchedness and final destruction. The sentiments, on this subject, of +"The American convention, for promoting the Abolition of slavery, and +improving the condition of the African race," are highly deserving of +consideration. In their circular, addressed to the general Abolition +Societies in the United States, they make this declaration: "We are +persuaded that the only means of accomplishing the final and complete +emancipation of this unfortunate people throughout our country, is, the +extension to them of the benefits of moral and intellectual cultivation. +That their redemption from the thraldom in which they now are, should be +preceded or accompanied by such aids, as will qualify them to discharge +their relative, social, and religious duties." + +37. It would, perhaps, be a problem worthy of the consideration of the +legislators of those states in which slavery is tolerated, whether their +laws for regulating manumissions, might not, with propriety, be so +modified, as to authorise judges, justices, or other magistrates, to +grant _permits_ for the emancipation of such slaves, as shall be +satisfactorily proved to be morally and physically qualified for +liberty. Such a regulation would be peculiarly important to those humane +masters, who are merciful and just to their slaves, until their own +guardianship is annulled by death; and are unwilling to risk them in the +hands of their legitimate heirs, or to strangers who may purchase them +at public auction. + +38. I have said, in the beginning of this essay, that separate +colonization, &c. is impracticable, except partially. I then gave one +reason for this opinion, and will now offer another. Were the whole of +_our numerous slave population_, already manumitted, and transferred +totally to a distinct colonial establishment, in this country or in +Africa: _our numerous white population_, in several of the more +southerly states, would need to be provided with another colonial +establishment, in some latitude more favourable to their _physical_ +powers, or else perish amidst the desolate cotton and rice fields. + +39. My conviction, that the existence of Europeans, (or white men) under +the blaze of a torrid sun, is dependent on African industry, (or on the +labour of such inhabitants of the earth, as are adapted by nature to the +equatorial regions,) must not be mistaken for an assent to the perpetual +duration of involuntary servitude and unconditional vassalage. This is a +circumstance, resulting from the wisdom of Providence, which ought to +fill the hearts of the proprietors of rice and cotton plantations, with +gratitude and kindness towards their _black benefactors_. Let the +magnificent work of progressive and ultimate emancipation, concomitant +with mental improvement, be kept steadily in view;--but let not the +total depopulation of an immense tract of valuable _improved_ country, +be held forth as essential to its accomplishment. + +40. But as there is, probably at this moment, in many parts of the +United States, and will continue to be, an increasing excess of free +black and mulatto population, and also of slaves, who might be released +if they could be disposed of; humanity as well as policy, strongly +recommends the institution of some asylum, to which this description of +_strangers in a foreign land_, may resort if they please, and enjoy the +blessings of knowledge, _social happiness_, and the products of their +own industry; and perhaps be protected, at the same time, from the +sacrilegious talons of the numerous hordes of men-stealers, with which +our reputed free soil has long been infested and polluted. And as the +Congress of the United States have hitherto declined patronising this +object, (to which their attention has been frequently invited,) its +accomplishment will devolve, probably, on beneficent societies, and +individuals. The most eligible and practicable plan, perhaps, that could +be devised for this purpose, would be to open subscriptions throughout +the United States, for raising a fund, to be applied to the purchase of +an extensive tract or territory of United States' land, in some proper +district, (which probably might be obtained on a liberal credit,) where +such coloured people, as now are, or may become free, might be invited +to settle as tenants, or eventual purchasers. The settlement might be +committed to the care of proper agents, and if the profits should +ultimately exceed a sufficient amount to remunerate the original +advances with the interest, the surplus might be appropriated to the +education and general benefit of the African race in this country.[11] + +41. Having now (as I hope,) shewn the practicability and mutual +advantages, of the melioration and ultimate freedom of the American +slave population, I shall proceed to communicate some facts and remarks +on the interior traffic in slaves, and on the practice of kidnapping +coloured persons, legally free. + +42. To those who may object to the propriety of exposing to public view +such deeds as are likely to shock the feelings and sympathy of the +friends of humanity, I reply, that the object is not to excite popular +execration against their authors, but commiseration towards the +sufferers, and to discourage the repetition of cruelty. In supplications +for redress of grievances, it is customary and necessary too, for the +aggrieved party, to represent the wrongs complained of. The facts +adduced, can be well substantiated:--but as it is believed that no +valuable purpose will be gained, by the mention of names and specific +places where they occurred, they will be omitted as far as it may be +convenient. + +43. In the structure of our political institutions, we have, in some +respects, undoubtedly excelled the ancient republics:--and in others, we +have evidently degenerated. Solon perceived that slavery was a fruitful +source of moral depravity to the Athenians, and abolished it; +notwithstanding it had its origin in the previous voluntary contraction +of debts, by the slaves. We neglect this valuable lesson of Solon, and +also a political maxim of his, which ought to form the corner-stone of +every republic. Being asked what kind of government is best, he +answered, "that in which an injury to the meanest member of the +community is esteemed an aggression upon the whole." Our laws for the +protection of the rights and liberty of free yellow and black people, +must be exceedingly defective, or there could not at this moment be +thousands of them illegally held in slavery. + +44. Slavery, says Sterne, however disguised, _is still a bitter +draught_; but it is rendered tenfold more bitter and intolerable, when +the members of families are dragged asunder, never to behold each +other, or their native _wonted_ country again.--And it is the +_uncontrolled slave trade_, between the middle and southerly states, +which gives facility to the extensive and increasing practice of +kidnapping (slaves as well as freemen,) and secures it from the +possibility of detection, except casually. Under the existing laws, if a +free coloured man travels without passports certifying his right to his +liberty, he is generally apprehended; and frequently plunged into +slavery, by the operation of the laws. But after being seized and +manacled by the kidnapper, the slave merchant drives him through several +states, without interruption, and sells him where he seldom regains his +liberty. If the wisdom of the state or general governments should not +recommend the complete abolition of the internal as well as external +slave trade, it believed, at least, that an acquaintance with its abuses +will convince them of the necessity of so regulating it, as to confine +the traffic _totally_ to legal _slaves_. This could, perhaps, be +effectually accomplished by compelling every travelling slave-trader to +report his slaves to a proper magistrate, in every township or county +through which he passes; and to produce certificates, from some +magistrate residing near the place in which they were purchased, of +their being legal slaves and legally sold;--and also by compelling every +purchaser of imported slaves, (by _land_ or _sea_,) to register them, +and file similar certificates, in the offices of the respective county +clerks. + +45. The act of depriving a free man of his liberty, being a violation of +the constitution of the United States, and an _overt attack_ upon the +public liberty, ought to be declared treason of some sort or other, and +punished by a reciprocity, in some degree, of the fate, to which the +conspirator attempts to involve his victim;--imprisonment in a +penitentiary, or some other secure place of industry, and moral +education;--for, I do not believe there ever lived a kidnapper, who had +read the whole of the New Testament, or any part of Seneca's Morals, or +Paley's Principles of Moral Philosophy, or any similar books. + +46. On the 4th day of December 1815, (the day on which the session of +congress commenced,) being at the seat of government of the United +States, I was preparing to enjoy the first opportunity that had occurred +to me, of beholding the assembled representatives of the American +republic. As I was about to proceed to the building where the session +was opened, my agreeable reverie was suddenly interrupted by the voice +of a stammering boy, who, as he was coming into the house, from the +street, exclaimed, "There goes the Ge-Ge-orgy men[12] with a drove o' +niggers chain'd together two and two." What's that, said I,--I must +see,--and, going to the door, I just had a distant glimpse of a light +covered waggon, followed by a procession of men, women and children, +resembling that of a funeral. I followed them hastily; and as I +approached so near as to discover that they were bound together in +pairs, some with ropes, and some with iron chains (which I had hitherto +seen used only for restraining beasts,) the involuntary successive +heavings of my bosom became irrepressible. This was, with me, an +affection perfectly peculiar to itself, which never having before +experienced, gave me some surprise. I have since heard an intelligent +gentleman, from Scotland, describe a similar symptom. He affirmed, that +on his arrival upon the coast of the United States, (in Chesapeake Bay,) +his first view of the slaves _brought his heart into his throat_. I have +also been told by a gentleman, who holds a seat in the senate of the +United States, that "a drove of manacled slaves was to him an +insupportable spectacle, which he generally endeavoured to avoid;"--and +by a representative, (since deceased,) from one of the slave states, who +was himself a possessor of slaves, "that he never could bear to see +slaves manacled and fettered with bolts and chains, nor families torn +asunder and sold to the slave-traders, and wondered how any one could be +so inhuman as to do such acts." Overtaking the caravan, just opposite to +the old Capitol (then in a state of ruins from the conflagration by the +British army,)[13] I inquired of one of the _drivers_ (of whom there +were two) what part of the country they were taking all these people to? +"To Georgia," he replied. "Have you not, said I, enough such people in +that country yet?" "Not quite enough," he said. I found myself +incapable of saying more, and was compelled to avert my eyes immediately +from the heart-rending scene! Had Sterne been present, and surveyed +(with _real_ instead of imaginary vision) this groupe of bond-men and +bond-women, and _bond-children_, with their mute sad faces veiled with +_black_ despair--"and heard the chains rattle, which encumbered their +bodies,"--and "had seen the _iron_ enter their souls"--he would again +have "_burst into tears_." I walked along some distance before them, +down Pennsylvania Avenue, and, on turning round, observed that they had +left that street, (as if the spirit of PENN had repelled the contact of +such a tragedy with his name,) and directed their course towards the +Potomac bridge. At the same moment an African passed by, driving a hack; +and beholding his brethren, + + "----Trembling, weeping, captive led," + +extended his arm towards them, and exclaimed, "See there! an't that +right down _murder_? Don't you call that _right down murder_?" On +uttering to him indistinctly, that I did not know, he renewed his +request to be answered, and I replied, "I do not know but it is +_murder_."----These expressions instantly reminded me of the frequency +of murders and deaths, not only of slaves, but of white and free black +men, resulting from despotic slavery, and particularly from the slave +traffic. Several instances of this kind had very recently come to my +knowledge, from unquestionable sources, and at that moment pressed +themselves with peculiar force upon my excited imagination; among which +I will recite the following: + +47. A slave having escaped from his master, in the state of North +Carolina, within two or three years past, was seized and brought back, +by a being, who, when requested by the master to name the reward he +should render him for returning the slave, replied, that all the +compensation he desired, was the satisfaction of _flogging_ him. This +being granted, the slave was bound to a log, and the "_resounding lash_" +applied, until the resentment of his executioner was satiated. The +infatuated master then took the ensanguined lash himself, and was about +to repeat the process of flagellation, when Death, not then a _king of +terrors_, but a generous benefactor, a "_friend in need_" rescued him +from the intended protraction of his excruciating torment. After all, +let the balm of compassion, rather than imprecations of divine wrath, be +administered to these erring mortals. Their egregious mistake may be +traced to the mighty force of example, and the deficiency of early, +religious, and moral education. This fact having been before published, +must be, to many persons, already known. + +48. In the state of Pennsylvania, a considerable number of years ago, +the proprietor of a furnace took up a black boy, a few years old, and in +the presence of his distracted father, wantonly thrust him into the +flames and melted metal, where he was instantly consumed! The +information of this horrible deed was originally communicated by a +respectable citizen of the city of Washington, who formerly resided in +the state of Pennsylvania, and it has been further corroborated by +another, of the city of Philadelphia. + +49. In the state of New Jersey, a female slave, several years ago, was +bound to a log, and scored with a knife, in a shocking manner across her +back, and the gashes stuffed with salt! after which she was tied to a +post in a cellar, where, after suffering three days, death kindly +terminated her misery. This fact was communicated at Washington, by the +same gentleman above mentioned.[14] + +[Illustration: Paragraph 50. + +Barbarity committed on a free African, who was found on the ensuing +morning, by the side of the road, dead!] + +50. As two persons were returning from the _horse races_, a few miles +north of the city of Washington, eight or ten years ago, they met on the +road a free man of colour, who resided in the vicinity. They seized him, +and bound him with ropes. His protestations that he was free, and his +entreaties that they would accompany him to the house, (but about half a +mile distant,) where his wife resided, and where he could satisfy them +of his freedom, were in vain. Having fastened him by a rope, to the tail +of one of their horses, they were seen, by a citizen, who met them on +the road dragging him in this manner, and beating him to make him keep +pace with the horses. He cautioned them, and begged of them not to kill +the black man;--but one of the ruffians plucking a stake from the fence, +and threatening with horrid oaths to knock him down, he found it +necessary to retire for his own safety:--a few miles farther along, on +the following morning, this poor African was found by the side of the +road, dreadfully bruised, and his eyes bloodshotten,--dead![15] This +distressing catastrophe strongly exemplifies the defect of the laws of +the state in which it occurred, concerning free Africans, which +authorise their seizure, without any specific judicial authority, if +found without certificates of freedom, by the most vicious and abandoned +members of the community. These two ill-starred wretches, just sallying +forth from a notorious school of intemperance, were undoubtedly +intoxicated, and of course, in a state of insanity at the time they +committed this outrage;--and had probably been reared in the +_wilderness_ of ignorance and vice. I was assured, that one of them had +long been accustomed, in company with his _own father_, to the business +of apprehending runaway slaves, and such free Africans as they could +catch without certificates. + +51. In the vicinity of the place where the above transaction occurred, a +young black boy, living at a house in which there are just grounds for +believing that the lives of several slaves had been destroyed, by +whipping, and other severities, yet entertained such horror at the +thoughts of transportation to Georgia, (with which he had often been +threatened, by way of reprimand,[16]) that on seeing a stranger coming +towards the house, (on a cold day,) whom he suspected to be a +_Georgia-man_, he fled into the fields with the greatest precipitation, +and secreted himself so effectually, that he was not discovered until +the expiration of a fortnight,--when he was dead!--frozen!--and the +pupils of his eyes picked out! + +52. With these mournful spectra, flitting in succession before me, and +the black procession still in view, the pleasant anticipations which I +had been indulging but fifteen minutes previous, became totally +reversed. Returning pensive towards my lodgings, and passing by the +Capitol, I thought--Alas! poor Africa,--_thy cup_ is the _essence_ of +bitterness!--This _solitary_, magnificent temple, _dedicated to +liberty_,--opens its portals to _all_ other nations but _thee_, and bids +their sons drink _freely_ of the cup of _freedom_ and happiness:----but +when _thy_ unoffending, enslaved sons, clank their blood-smeared +_chains_ under its towers, it sneers at their calamity, and mocks their +lamentations with the echo of contempt!-- + +53. Blessed, infatuated Columbia! the eyes and the hopes of weeping +admiring nations are upon thee! Suffer not the lamp of public liberty to +be smothered and extinguished by the gloomy shroud of private slavery! +Dost not thou assume a pre-eminent distinction among the nations for +magnanimity and honour? Does any high-minded christian nation chain her +prisoners of war, and subject them and their posterity to perpetual +ignorance, and the oppressive toil of involuntary servitude without +reward? In thy late contest with a powerful sister state, many of her +_political slaves_, who sought the lives of thy sons, and the +conflagration of their dwellings, fell into thy custody by the chances +of war--I have seen fourteen hundred of these at a single +depot--Fourteen hundred large loaves of good bread, and fourteen hundred +pounds of excellent beef, were daily spread before them. As many as +could meet with opportunities, were permitted to labor for the +neighbouring farmers and manufacturers, for which they received a +pecuniary equivalent in monthly stipends.--Fourteen hundred _thousands_ +of the sons and daughters of thy neighbour Africa, _breathe and mourn_ +on thy expanded bosom. The privileges of a vast proportion of these +forlorn victims of sorrow and woe, are reduced below the privileges of +the ox, the horse, the hound, and various other domestic animals;--in +respect to sustenance, toil, and severity of chastisement, if not +quarters and raiment!--As an aggregate people, they, nor their +ancestors, never disturbed thy repose, with fire or sword, or the +cannon's deathly roar. _They are, nevertheless, virtually prisoners of +war_:--not by a war in defence of human life, but generally, by _a +hideous sacrilegious war_, waged (among the African kings) for the +plunder of human souls, human flesh, _blood and bones_, to be exchanged +as articles of merchandize, for contemptible gewgaws, implements of war, +distilled spirits, tobacco, &c. The booty thus gained by the savage +despots and man-hunters of Africa, had its assumed sale and exportation +been impracticable, might possibly have been consigned to the same +purposes there as it is now here (_slavery_) or annihilated by massacre; +but most probably would have been sought with much less avidity. If +these commodities were _obtained_ at the sacrifice of justice, and the +natural rights of man, upon no other terms can our laws permit them to +be indefinitely _retained_, by their present _possessors_, who are the +substantial _successors_ and assigns of the original captors.[17] + +54. To return from this lengthy excursion, I must acknowledge, (however +ludicrous it may seem to those who are _hardened_ to such things by +repetition,) that the tragedy of a company of men, women and children, +pinioned and bound together with chains and ropes, without accusation of +crime, and driven as beasts of the harness, through the metropolis of +that country, of which I had hitherto indulged both pleasure and pride, +in the consciousness of being a _native citizen_, and, of having +commenced my life coevally with its constitutional organization; +occurring at the precise hour of the convocation of the guardians of its +liberties; produced a new era in my sensations. Disinclination, as well +as the delay incurred, prevented my visit to the congressional hall on +that day.--And I devoted several succeeding days to the purpose of +delineating on paper, a faithful copy of the impressions and sentiments +which involuntarily pervaded my _full_ heart and agitated mind. Those +memoirs have furnished some materials for this essay. + +55. One evening while writing notes concerning the occurrence just +mentioned, a lad, sitting in the same room with me, was studying his +lessons in Goldsmith's Abridgment of Geography; in which I noticed he +read these words:--"The United States are celebrated for the excellence +of their constitution, which provides for political liberty and +individual security. _The inhabitants are justly famed for their ardent +love of freedom._" Immediately after reading those paragraphs, he +addressed me, without knowing on what subject I was occupied, thus: +"Why, how can it be said that the inhabitants of the United States love +LIBERTY, _while they hold almost a whole nation of people in a state of +bondage and ignorance_?" I endeavoured to explain to him this puzzling +problem, by replying, that "by _the inhabitants_ was meant the _white_ +population of the United States, and the liberty which they ardently +love is probably their _own_ liberty, which they appear to care more +about than they do about the liberty of _black_ men." + +56. I mention this minute circumstance more particularly, because it +forms one of the links to a chain of incidents which conducted to the +development of some very important facts; such as I then had no +conception or suspicion of the existence of, on this side the Atlantic +ocean. I then supposed the instances of the streets of the city +consecrated to freedom, being paraded with people led in captivity, were +rare. But I soon ascertained that they were quite frequent, that several +hundred people, including not legal slaves only, but many kidnapped +freemen and youth bound to service for a term of years, and unlawfully +sold as slaves for life, are annually collected at Washington (as if it +were an emporium of slavery,) for transportation to the slave regions. +The United States' jail is frequently occupied as a storehouse for the +slave merchants, and some of the rooms in a tavern devoted chiefly to +that use, are occasionally so crowded that the occupants hardly have +sufficient space to extend themselves upon the floor to sleep.[18] + +[Illustration: Paragraphs 57. + +"... But I did not want to go, and I jump'd out of the window."] + +57. A short time after having completed the memorandums above alluded +to, the youth just mentioned, having learned the subject on which I had +been occupied, and being prompt to communicate whatever he might meet +with relative to it, informed me on returning from school, in the +evening of the 19th December 1815, that a black woman, destined for +transportation to Georgia with a coffle, which was about to start, +attempted to escape, by jumping out of the window of the garret of a +three story brick tavern in F. street, about day-break in the morning; +and that in the fall she had her back and both arms broken! I remarked, +that I did not wonder that she did so; and inquired, whether it had not +killed her? To which he replied, that he understood that she was dead, +and that the _Georgia-men_ had gone off with the others. The relation of +this shocking disaster excited considerable agitation in my mind, and +fully confirmed the sentiments which I had already adopted and recorded, +of the multiplied horrors added to slavery, when its victims are bought +and sold, frequently for distant destinations, with as much indifference +as fourfooted beasts. Supposing this to have been a recent occurrence, +and being desirous of seeing the mangled slave before she should be +buried, I proceeded with some haste early on the following morning, in +search of the house already mentioned. Calling at a house near the one +at which the catastrophe occurred, I was informed, that it had been +three weeks since it took place, and that the woman was still living. +Having found the house, I desired permission of the landlord to see the +wounded woman; to which he assented, and directed a lad to conduct me to +her room, which was in the garret over the third story of the house. On +entering the room I observed her lying upon a bed on the floor, and +covered with a white woollen blanket, on which were several spots of +blood (from her wounds,) which I perceived was _red_, notwithstanding +the _opacity_ of her skin. Her countenance, though very pale from the +shock she had received, and dejected with grief, appeared complacent and +sympathetic. Both her arms were broken between the elbows and wrists, +and had undoubtedly been well set and dressed; but from her restlessness +she had displaced the bones again, so that they were perceptibly +crooked. I have since been informed by the Mayor of the city, who is a +physician, and resides not far distant from the place, that he was +called to visit her immediately after her fall, and found, besides her +arms being broken, that the lower part of the spine was badly shattered, +so that it was doubtful whether she would ever be capable of walking +again, if she should survive. The lady of the Mayor said she was +awakened from sleep by the fall of the woman, and heard her heavy +struggling groans. + +58. I inquired of her, whether she was asleep when she sprang from the +window. She replied, "No, no more than I am now." Asking her what was +the cause of her doing such a frantic act as that, she replied, "They +brought me away with two of my children, and wouldn't let me see my +husband--they didn't sell my husband, and I didn't want to go';--I was +so confused and 'istracted, that I didn't know hardly what I was +about--but I didn't want to go, and I jumped out of the window;--but I +am sorry now that I did it;--they have carried my children off with 'em +to Carolina." I was informed that the Slave Trader, who had purchased +her near Bladensburgh, (she being a _legal_ slave,) gave her to the +landlord, as a compensation for taking care of her. Thus her family was +dispersed from north to south, and herself _nearly_ torn in pieces, +without the shadow of a hope of ever seeing or hearing from her +_children_ again! He that can behold this "poor woman," (as a +respectable citizen of Washington afterwards expressed himself, on +requesting of her landlord the privilege of seeing her,) and listen to +her _unvarnished story_; and then delineate it with the mental pencil, +(_quill_) and then view the picture from his _own hand_, without a +_humid eye_, I will confess possesses a _stouter heart_ than I do. + +59. The sympathy of the whole American white population, (and it is +presumed of the black also, for they know how to estimate such matters +by dear experience,) has recently been very justly excited towards young +King Prather and his "confus'd and 'istracted" mother roaming in search +of him, along half the extent of the coast of the United States. As he +was kidnapped by a son of Africa, (though not for the detestable purpose +of cupidity or enslavement, but for a ladder to his own liberty,) it is +presumed if Africa's Genius were permitted to offer her sentiments on +the subject, she would pronounce it a _retort courteous apropos_, from +Africa to her sister Columbia. + +60. I have since learned many recent instances of the tragical +consequences of the usurped trade in the souls and bodies of men.[19] I +have been informed by several different persons in the district of +Columbia, that a woman who had been sold in Georgetown, for the southern +slave market, cut her own throat, ineffectually, while on the way, in a +hack, to the same depository above mentioned; and that on the road to +Alexandria she completed her design of destroying her life, by cutting +it again mortally. A statement was published in the Baltimore Telegraph, +a few months ago, that a female slave, who had been sold in Maryland, +with her child, on the way from Bladensburgh to Washington, heroically +cut the throats of both her child and herself, with mortal effect. This +narrative has been since confirmed by a relative of the person who sold +them. An African youth, in the city of Philadelphia, lately cut his +throat almost mortally, merely from the apprehension, as he said, of +being sold. This information was obtained from several respectable +citizens of Philadelphia, who had personal knowledge of the fact. + +[Illustration: Paragraphs 61. 63. 65. 66 + +The Author noting down the Narratives of several free-born People of +Colour who had been kidnapped.] + +61. Believing the facts already recited are sufficient to satisfy every +candid reader, of the unreasonableness, injustice, and inhumanity of the +prevailing interior slave trade, and of the necessity of legislative +control; I will now commence a delineation of the still more outrageous +and abominable practice of seizing, and selling into exile, _men_, +_women_, _and children_, whose freedom and _moral_ rights are guaranteed +by our national and state constitutions. In the same recess with that +mangled woman, while interrogating her, I discovered (without having the +least previous intimation, or even suspicion, of any thing of the kind) +three persons of colour, who were born free, and had been forcibly +seized in the time of night, bound and transported in the night, out of +their native state, (Delaware) and sold as slaves for life to itinerant +_Man-Dealers_[20] in Maryland, who generally range themselves along near +the line of division between the two states. One of these was a mulatto +man, about 21 years of age. I found him thoroughly secured in irons. His +arms were manacled with strong loops round his wrists, resembling a +_clevis_, connected by a strong iron bolt. On the shelf over the +fireplace, lay a pair of heavy rough hopples (or hobbles,) with which he +said his legs had been fettered until a short time previous, but were +then secured by a pair of polished gripes, (perhaps manufactured for the +purpose, resembling the patent horse fetters with locks,) connected by a +strong new tug chain, with a loose end of two or three feet in length, +lying upon the floor.[21] He stated, that a journeyman to the man with +whom he resided, and to whom he had been bound to service for a term of +years, having decoyed him into the fields, some distance from the house, +late in the evening, on pretence of hunting oppossums, two strangers +rushed upon him with ropes in their hands, and with the assistance of +the person[22] just mentioned, bound his hands, and led him with a +pistol held each side of him (with which he said they threatened to +shoot him if he made any alarm,) 15 or 20 miles, where he was secreted +till the next evening; when another person came with a chaise and +conveyed him to a tavern in Maryland, a little over the line;[23] from +whence one of the Man-Dealers, (who has since been advertised as a +man-stealer, in a different case,) brought him to Washington in +manacles, and sold him to another, as a slave for life. He said his +_Driver_ overhearing him tell a coloured woman near Annapolis, that his +parents (both of whom are light coloured mulattos) were free-born, +threatened to shoot him, if he should catch him talking to any body +again about his being free. He said the trader did strike him on the +head with his fist, after his arrival at Washington, for telling a +person to whom he was offered for sale, that he was lawfully free, +and threatened to flog him if he should fail of selling him in the city +on that account. He also stated, that another boy, about sixteen, was +brought off with him at the same time, and sold for a slave in +Washington, who was lawfully free, and had been sold to the traders, by +a person to whom the boy's father had let him to service. + +62. This statement has been since confirmed by corroborative +information; and I am in possession of memorandums, by which the boy +might probably be traced and found. + +[Illustration: Paragraph 63. + +KIDNAPPING.] + +63. The others, whom I found in the same garret, and at the same time, +were a young black widow woman, with an infant at the breast, both of +whom were born free. Her husband had died but a few days previous to her +seizure, and she was in a state of pregnancy at the time. She stated, +that the man in whose house she resided, together with his brother, and +three other persons, came into the room (a kitchen,) where she was in +bed, seized and dragged her out;--fastened a noose round her neck, to +prevent her from screaming, and attempted to blindfold her, which she +resisted with such violence, that she prevented them from succeeding. +She said, while one of them was endeavouring to fix the bandage over her +eyes, that she seized his cheek with her teeth, and tore a piece of it +entirely off. She said one of them struck her head several times with a +stick of wood, from the wounds of which she was almost covered with +blood. She shewed me a large scar upon her forehead, occasioned by one +of the blows, which a gentleman, who saw her the day previous to her +seizure, has since informed me was not there before. She said, while she +was struggling against them, and screaming, the man in whose house she +lived _bawled out_, "Choke the d----d b----h! don't let her +halloo--she'll scare my wife!" Having conquered her by superior force, +she said they placed her with the child in a chaise, (her description of +which, with the horse and the driver, who was one of the victors, +corresponds precisely with that given by the mulatto man of the +carriage, &c. by which he also was conveyed,) and refusing to dress +herself, three of them, leaving the two who belonged to the house, +carried her off in the condition that she was dragged from bed, to a +certain tavern in Maryland, and sold them both to the Man-Dealer, who +brought them to the city of Washington. She stated, that one of her +captors drove the carriage, and held the rope which was fixed to her +neck, and that one rode each side, on horseback.--That, while one of +them was negociating a bargain with her purchaser, he asked her who her +master was; and, replying that she had none, her seller beckoned to him +to go into another room, where the business was adjusted without +troubling her with any farther inquiries. She stated, that her purchaser +confessed, while on the way to Annapolis, that he believed she might +have had some claim to freedom, and intimated that he would have taken +her back, if the man[24] of whom he bought her had not ran away; but +requested her, notwithstanding, to say nothing to any body about her +being free, which she refused to comply with. She affirmed, that he +offered her for sale to several persons, _who refused to purchase, on +account of her asserting that she was free_. She stated, that her +purchaser had left her in Washington for a few weeks, and gone to the +_Eastern Shore_, in search of more black people, in order to make up a +drove for Georgia. + +64. These facts clearly exemplify the safety with which the free born +inhabitants of the United States may be offered for sale and sold, even +in the metropolis of Liberty,[25] as oxen; even to those who are +notified of the fact, and are perhaps convinced of it, that they are +free![26] + +65. The discovery of these captives, on their road to the dismal +_gulf_[27] of (perhaps) interminable slavery to themselves, and their +multiplying progeny; in this very accidental, unless providential +manner, filled me with a mixture of astonishment, compassion and joy. +With a view to commence immediate legal measures, for restoring them to +their liberty, I took my pencil and noted down their narratives +circumstantially. + +66. I had not quite finished, before the purchaser of the mulatto man +came into the room. He seemed a little surprised to find me writing, but +made no inquiries about it, and having obtained all the information that +I wished, I continued noting it down, notwithstanding his being present, +until my memorandums were completed; when I left him in the room, +without having had any conversation with him, except answering some +questions, which he asked me relative to the wounded slave. Without +hesitation, I commenced a suit in the circuit court of the United +States, for the District of Columbia, for the restitution of their +liberty. The first attempt to secure the persons of the captives, by a +writ of habeas corpus, was ineffectual. I accompanied the deputy marshal +myself, to the house in which I found them. The landlord declared, that +"if he had known I was writing so long in the room where the Negroes +were, he should have been very angry with me; and that if I had no other +evidence of their freedom, but their stories, we should not see them." +He said he believed "Negroes were made to serve the Whites, and that +they had no more sense than horses." He stated, that the person who saw +me writing, suspected some difficulty, and had directed him to conceal +the Negroes, and that he had done it. He told me, in a sneering manner, +that if I wished to take the part of the negroes, he could find me +plenty of such business. He informed me that he had been in the way of +keeping Negroes for the Traders many years, and took better care of them +than they received in the jail.[28] + +67. Notwithstanding the writ of habeas corpus was returned to the +magistrate unexecuted, I still persevered, and obtained a process of +injunction, in order to prevent the removal of the captives from the +District, until the commencement of the session of the court; by which +it was ascertained that they still remained in the same house. A second +writ of habeas corpus having been issued from the court while sitting, +they were at length produced, which, fortunately, was accomplished on +the very day that the purchaser of the woman and child left Washington, +with a coffle of ten or twelve coloured persons, with whom he had just +returned from Maryland.[29] The court having examined them, placed them +in safe custody for further examination at the ensuing summer session, +so that time could be had for procuring the requisite testimony from +Delaware. For defraying the expense of accomplishing this purpose, and +of prosecuting the suits, a subscription was drawn up by Francis T. Key, +esq. who volunteered his own services as attorney, gratis, as did also +J. B. Caldwell, and J. B. Lear, Esqs. The subscription was commenced by +general Van Ness; the heads of the executive departments of the +government, with but rare exception; several gentlemen of the senate and +house of representatives, and the mayor and citizens of Washington +generally, (possessors of slaves as well as others,) to whom application +was made, joined in the contribution. I was highly gratified to meet +with this practical evidence, that the disposition to extend the hand of +relief to abused _African_ strangers, is not at the present period, by +any means confined exclusively to the limits of a solitary religious +society. Between one and two hundred dollars having been collected,[30] +I proceeded myself to the state of Delaware; and having travelled from +Wilmington to Lewestown and Georgetown, returned with unequivocal proof +of the legal right of the captives to their liberty, which was +accordingly restored to them by the court at the ensuing June session. + +68. One of the attornies having addressed letters to several respectable +citizens of Delaware, for the purpose of obtaining information +respecting the correctness of the statements of the captives, an answer +was received relative to the female, of which the following is an +extract:-- + +69. "Your letter of the 30th ult. I received by yesterday's mail, and am +happy to find the unfortunate negro woman is once more rescued from the +fangs of the ----s and others, as vile a banditti as ever were permitted +to disturb the peace of society. The statement by ---- [the woman] is no +doubt true. This poor creature was rescued from the ----s some time last +winter, and seems in the case which occurred then, as well as that which +you relate, to have been saved by an almost miraculous intervention. The +----s stand now indicted for taking her off last winter.--Their gang is +numerous, daring--full of money, &c." + +70. Understanding that several of the persons concerned in the cases had +been arrested, and having been informed by one of the representatives to +congress, from Delaware, that the laws of that state inflict corporeal +punishment for offences of this kind, such as whipping, cropping the +ears, and exposure in the pillory, I wrote a reply to the above letter, +of which the following is an extract: + +71. "Not for vengeance, but for the sake of humanity, I hope this fell +banditti, with which the free (or ought to be free) soil of America is +polluted, may be routed. But, for Heaven's sake, and for the sake of +their wives and children, and _for my sake_, let the wrath of justice +and law be so managed, that their _animal_ bodies shall not be +tormented, in consequence of my exertions to arrest the progress of +their outrageous and unpardonable conduct, equal to the scratch of a +pin. Yet I cannot help charging that state jurisprudence, which permits +the easy repetition of the crimes of which they have been guilty, with +being exceedingly defective. It seems to me, that where there is no +work-house in a state, such persons should be limited under sufficient +securities and penalties, to their own farms, or some prescribed +boundaries;--and, in case they transgress these, to be declared to be +outlawed, and liable to be estimated and treated no other than as wolves +and tygers, to which they have already assimilated themselves of their +own accord." + +72. Governor Miller of North-Carolina, says in his speech already +alluded to, "The principle will be conceded, that the end of punishment +is the prevention of crimes." Lacerations and mutilations of the human +frame, exasperate its occupant in the highest degree, and are very +likely to excite an obstinate perseverance in crimes, by way of +retaliation and spite. Imprisonment, with labour, if it does not reform +the disturber of the public peace, by the opportunity of reflection and +salutary instruction, it certainly restrains his career for a specific +time, effectually. + +73. The satisfaction of beholding the yellow man, and the black woman, +with her two female infants, (one of them having been born but a short +time previous to their release,) seated in the stage, under the care of +one of the senators of the legislature of Delaware, who had attended the +court as a witness in behalf of the woman; afforded me a rich reward for +thus having performed an indispensable _duty_, which I owed to their +Creator, to them as their _neighbour_, to the principles of our social +and political system, and to myself. + +74. The specimen here given of _man-stealing_, forms but a mere speck in +an extensive system of this nefarious profession, which for many years +has been, and continues to be pursued, with increasing vigor and +_pecuniary_ profit, in all the middle states. Even the city of +Philadelphia is not exempt from this moral pestilence. + +75. To enumerate all the horrid and aggravating instances of +men-stealing, which are known to have occurred in the state of Delaware, +within the recollection of many of the citizens of that state, would +require a heavy volume. In many cases, whole families of free coloured +people have been attacked in the night, beaten _nearly_ to death with +clubs, gagged and bound, and dragged into distant and hopeless captivity +and slavery, leaving no traces behind, except the blood from their +wounds. + +76. During the last winter, since the seizure of the woman and infant, +as related above, the house of a free black family was broken open, and +its defenceless inhabitants treated in the manner just mentioned, +except, that the mother escaped from their merciless grasp, while on +their way to the state of Maryland. The plunderers, of whom there were +nearly half a dozen, conveyed their prey upon horses; and the woman +being placed on one of the horses, behind, improved an opportunity, as +they were passing a house, and sprang off; and not daring to pursue her, +they proceeded on, leaving her youngest child a little farther along by +the side of the road, in expectation, it is supposed, that its cries +would attract the mother, but she prudently waited until morning, and +recovered it again in safety. + +77. I consider myself more fully warranted in particularising this fact, +from the circumstances of having been at New-Castle at the time that +the woman was brought with her child, before the grand jury, for +examination; and of having seen several of the persons against whom +bills of indictment were found, on the charge of being engaged in the +perpetration of the outrage; and also that one or two of them were the +same who were accused of assisting in seizing and carrying off the woman +and child whom I discovered at Washington. The ingenuity and stratagems +employed by kidnappers, in effecting their designs, are such as to +prove, that the most consummate cunning is no evidence of wisdom or +moral purity, nor incompatible with the most consummate villainy. A +monster, in human shape, was detected in the city of Philadelphia, +pursuing the occupation of courting and marrying mulatto women, and +selling them as slaves. In his last attempt of this kind, the fact +having come to the knowledge of the African population of this city, a +mob was immediately collected, and he was only saved from being torn in +atoms, by being deposited in the city prison. They have lately invented +a method of attaining their objects, through the instrumentality of the +laws:--Having selected a suitable free coloured person, to make a +_pitch_ upon, the _conjuring_ kidnapper employs a confederate, to +ascertain the distinguishing marks of his body and then claims and +obtains him as a slave, before a magistrate, by describing those marks, +and proving the truth of his assertions, by his well-instructed +accomplice. + +78. From the best information that I have had opportunities to collect, +in travelling by various routes through the states of Delaware and +Maryland, and from statements of an ingenuous trader exclusively, (as I +believe,) in lawful slaves, I am fully convinced that there are, at this +time, within the jurisdiction of the United States, several thousands of +legally free people of colour, toiling under the yoke of involuntary +servitude, and transmitting the same fate to their posterity! If the +probability of this fact could be authenticated to the recognition of +the congress of the United States, it is presumed that its members, as +agents of the constitution, and guardians of the public liberty, would, +without hesitation, devise means for the restoration of those unhappy +victims of violence and avarice, to their freedom and constitutional +personal rights. This is a work, both from its nature and magnitude, +impracticable to individuals or benevolent societies to accomplish; +besides, it is perfectly a national business, and claims national +interference, equally with the captivity of our sailors in Algiers. The +most successful, economical, politic, and just method of effecting this +object would, perhaps, be to institute a board of commissioners, with +authority to redeem every individual satisfactorily ascertained to be +legally free, at a fair appraisal of the common value of a similar +slave. Inquiries might be made in those districts where many coloured +persons are known to have been kidnapped, and all possessors of slaves +might be required to report the names, ages, and origin of their +possession, of all the coloured persons in their custody, under legal +affirmation, to the clerk of such county, to be transmitted by them to +some department designated for the purpose in each state. The most of +the present holders of these _stolen men_, probably acquired possession +of them as innocently as they do of legal slaves, and an attempt by +coercion, although justifiable with respect to the captive, would render +the enterprise abortive, through evasion, and probably would be more +expensive if successful. + +79. It is my impression, that the introduction of slaves for sale into +almost every state in the union, is prohibited by specific statutes, and +if an annual inspection and registering of all slaves were enforced, it +would guarantee a compliance with such laws in a most effectual manner, +and dissolve the man-hunting fraternity at once. + +80. I shall close this subject, which indeed "_is almost too deep and +awful to look into_," by declaring my solemn and decided conviction, +that the abstract relative principles of moral and political justice; +the sacred axioms of our Declaration of Independence, and of our +Constitution, as well as sound policy and prudence, obligate this +nation, most unequivocally, to ransom every human creature held in +_lawful_ bondage for life, against his will, without accusation of +crime; at an equitable valuation of his worth to the possessor under +existing laws, within the jurisdiction of the republic; and to place him +so nearly in a state of _personal_ liberty, and the enjoyment of his +natural and moral rights, as to secure to him the fruits or reward of +his own labour, the benefits of mental improvement, and exemption from +corporeal laceration. I do not consider it to be our duty to grant them +a participation in the _civil_ privileges of citizenship;[31]--but, they +have an incontestable claim to the protection of the laws, and to the +common privileges of aliens and strangers, or at least of prisoners of +war, so far as is compatible with the public peace and welfare. They are +created a distinct race of people, and the designs of the Author of +Nature ought not to be thwarted, by permitting their conjugal commixture +with a race physically different. Without examining the problematical +question of the inherent physical or moral superiority of either in the +scale of being, (which is not relevant to the present subject,)[32] I +must affirm, that in my humble view there is both a moral and political +propriety in prohibiting by energetic laws, the sexual commerce between +the descendants of Europe and Africa, either by marriage, _slavery_, or +otherwise. The extinction of slavery would promote this purpose far more +than its toleration. Uncontrolled slavery, as facts have manifested, in +the United States as well as the West Indies, facilitates and protects +licentiousness, and a species of brutal debauchery, the consequences of +which are deplorable and afflicting beyond description.[33] + +81. It was a wise sentiment of the late Dr. Benjamin Rush, that "Nothing +can be politically right that is morally wrong; and that no necessity +can sanctify a law that is contrary to equity." It is morally and +politically wrong both, (and without necessity too,) that an innocent, +"feeble and untutored people"[34] should be detained by a powerful and +enlightened people, professing superior honour and justice, in a state +of beastly, unwilling, unrequited servitude, and indescribable moral and +physical degradation! But let not the fell stigma be attached entirely +to the present retainers of the slaves. Every citizen of the republic, +entitled to the right of suffrage, is responsible for his proportionable +quota of the miseries inflicted on the defenceless Africans, in our +privileged country. Human nature is such, that a large proportion of +men, will improve every means within their reach, for advancing their +fortunes, indulged by political laws. In this country the laws emanate +primitively from the people. The outrage upon the rights of our present +slave population originated in Africa. Our laws have, from their +infancy, until recently, sanctioned the perpetration of that outrage, in +Africa, by permitting its principles and products to be transferred to, +and adopted in, our own country; and they still sanction their +continuance. Laws ought to be responsible for their own operations and +results. If a law were enacted authorizing the sale of all the debtors +now in prison in the United States, for unconditional and perpetual +servitude, with their posterity, and they should be accordingly sold, it +would be morally unjust, with respect to the purchasers, but not the +slaves, to proclaim an immediate emancipation, without restoring the +purchase money: that is, it would be unjust not to restore it. Hence the +people of the United States, considered collectively as a nation, having +confirmed and _legalized_ the transfer, (or abdication) of the assumed +power of African despots and banditti, to their assigns in America, and +now holding the sovereignty over the laws in their own hands, are the +_master aggressors_ upon the victims of those savage tyrants, and are +bound to make them appropriate reparation. While justice is rendered to +the slave, remuneration is due to the holder, for the loss he sustains +in consequence of his prior confidence of the continuation of his legal +power over him. It would be necessary and right, probably, until several +successive rising generations shall have been moralized by education, +that the government should retain, or leave with their present +possessors a rational and definite civil guardianship over the persons +of these national prisoners. The redemption of the existing population +of slaves would preclude the necessity of purchasing any of their +descendants; and thus the blessings of freedom and moral improvement +might be guaranteed to unknown millions of unborn members of the human +family. As the interests of the southern white population would be +vitally benefited by the accomplishment of this object, even if they +were to consummate it without the co-operation of the northern states, +the additional impulse of humanity cannot fail to influence their +unanimous assent and a generous compromise. Such an act of national +magnanimity, beneficence and justice, would diffuse joy and admiration +amongst all colours and all nations. There would be no murmuring. It +might be effected without making any man feel the poorer for it; and if +it did, that is no excuse for injustice and oppression. A great +proportion of the necessary sum might be raised from duties on the +imported products of the labour of slaves, which are generally luxuries, +as rum, sugar, coffee, &c.; and the amount of all the funds heretofore +raised, or to be raised, from the taxation of slaves, is justly due to +them, for this purpose; for they have resulted exclusively from the +products of their toil and sweat. It is both the right and the duty of +the citizens of the north to unite with their brethren in the south, in +washing away this obnoxious stain upon the national character. Let the +public will and honour be consulted; let the national voice be elicited +by universal public meetings, and concentrated, so as to vibrate with +irresistible effect, in the sanctuaries of freedom and justice. Mr. +Randolph, in the house of representatives, on the subject of +constitutional compromise, said, (alluding to the words "_three fourths +of all other persons_," made use of in the constitution, in order that +the statute book should not be stained with the name slave,) "he wished +to God our consciences were not stained." + + + + REFLECTIONS + ON THE + _BLACK COLONY PROJECT_. + + +Since the foregoing part was composed, a highly respectable meeting, +consisting of a considerable number of the Members of our National +Legislature, with many benevolent and intelligent citizens of the +District of Columbia, has been held in the City of Washington (on the +21st Dec. ult.) for the purpose, as expressed by the gentleman who +presided as chairman, (Mr. Clay,) "_of considering the propriety and +practicability of colonizing the free" people "of colour in the United +States, and of forming an asylum in relation to that object_." + +As the proceedings of this Meeting indicate a flattering prospect of the +consummation of a measure, on which I had recorded my sentiments, and +hope[35] of its adoption, several weeks previous to the time that the +meeting was announced, it is deemed useful and appropriate to annex a +sketch of their deliberations, as published in the National +Intelligencer. + + * * * * * + +Extracts from the speech of Mr. CLAY, (on taking the chair.) + +"That class of the mixt population of our country was peculiarly +situated. They neither enjoyed the immunities of freemen, nor were they +subject to the incapacities of slaves, but partook in some degree of the +qualities of both. From their condition, and the unconquerable +prejudices resulting from their colour, they never could amalgamate with +the free whites of this country. It was desirable, therefore, as it +respected them, and the residue of the population of the country, to +drain them off. Various schemes of colonization had been thought of, +and a part of our own continent, it was supposed by some, might furnish +a suitable establishment for them. But for his part, Mr. C. said, he had +a decided preference for some part of the coast of Africa. There ample +provision might be made for the colony itself, and it might be rendered +instrumental to the introduction, into that extensive quarter of the +globe, of the arts, civilization, and christianity. There was a +peculiar, a moral fitness in restoring them to the land of their +fathers. And if, instead of the evils and sufferings which we had been +the innocent cause of inflicting upon the inhabitants of Africa, we can +transmit to her the blessing of our arts, our civilization, and our +religion, may we not hope that America will extinguish a great portion +of that moral debt which she has contracted to that unfortunate +continent? Can there be a nobler cause than that which, whilst it +proposes, &c. contemplates the spreading of the arts of civilized life, +and the possible redemption from ignorance and barbarism of a benighted +quarter of the globe? + +"It was proper and necessary distinctly to state, that he understood it +constituted no part of the object of this Meeting to touch or agitate in +the slightest degree, a delicate question connected with another +portion of the coloured population of our country. It was not proposed +to deliberate upon, or consider at all, any question of emancipation, or +that was connected with the abolition of slavery. It was upon that +condition alone, he was sure, that many gentlemen from the south and the +west, whom he saw present, had attended, or could be expected to +co-operate. It was upon that condition, only, that he had himself +attended." + + * * * * * + +Extracts from the speech of ELIAS B. CALDWELL, Esq. of the District of +Columbia. + +"The more you improve the condition of these people, the more you +cultivate their minds, the more miserable you make them, in their +present state. You give them a higher relish for those privileges which +they can never attain, and turn what we intend for a blessing into a +curse. No, if they must remain in their present situation, keep them in +the lowest state of degradation and ignorance. The nearer you bring them +to the condition of brutes, the better chance do you give them of +possessing their apathy. Surely, Americans ought to be the last people +on earth, to advocate such slavish doctrines, to cry peace and +contentment to those who are deprived of the privileges of civil +liberty. They who have so largely partaken of its blessings--who know so +well how to estimate its value, ought to be among the foremost to extend +it to others." + +These sentiments, it will be readily perceived, clash diametrically with +those which I had previously advanced in paragraph 30, on the subject of +extending mental cultivation to the African race in this country. And +notwithstanding I have no inclination to retract the sentiments which I +have heretofore had occasion to express, concerning the practical +benevolence and ardent zeal of Mr. Caldwell in the cause of religion and +human happiness; yet, it is out of my power to unite with him in his +opinion, of the utility of subjecting _men_ of any colour, or any +situation whatever, to "_the lowest state of degradation and +ignorance_," and, as near as possible, "_to the condition of brutes_." +Right education and knowledge should teach the legitimate slave +fortitude, and the advantages of submission, duty, and fidelity; and +should elevate the free man, of whatever colour, above the unhallowed +crime of despising himself for its having been ordained this or that +tint, or for its being obnoxious to those who have been created with a +different colour, or with none at all. Ask Capt. Paul Cuffee, Prince +Saunders, and many other well educated and worthy persons of African +extraction, whether they hate themselves, or whether any body else +possessing common sense, hates them, because they cannot _repeal_ the +laws of nature; or because there is a political and physical propriety +in their being considered as foreigners and aliens in _our_ country. + +Mr. Caldwell, having considered the various positions in which it had +been respectively proposed to establish the colony, and expressing his +preference of Africa, enlarged upon the greater importance of selecting +that quarter of the globe, "in the belief and hope of thereby +introducing civilization and the christian religion, &c." correspondent +to the sentiments of Mr. Clay. "The great movements (said he) and mighty +efforts in the moral and religious world, seem to indicate some great +design of Providence on the eve of accomplishment. The unexampled and +astonishing success attending the various and numerous plans which have +been devised and which are now in operation in different parts of the +world, and the union and harmony with which christians of different +denominations unite in promoting these plans, clearly indicate a Divine +Hand in their direction. Nay, sir, the subject on which we are now +deliberating has been brought to public view, nearly about the same +time in different parts of our country. In New Jersey, New York, +Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, and perhaps other places not known to me, +the public attention seems to have been awakened, as from slumber, to +this subject." + +Mr. Caldwell remarked, that "it is a great national object, and ought to +be supported by the public purse. And that, as had been justly observed +by the honourable gentleman in the chair, there ought to be a national +atonement for the wrongs and injuries which Africa had suffered." He +said that "as a nation, we cannot rid ourselves entirely from the +disgrace attending the iniquitous slave traffic formerly pursued by this +country, until we, as a nation, have made every reparation in our +power." He observed, that the example of our own ancestors, braving the +various dangers and hardships of their early emigration and settlement +upon these shores; and the prospect of the enjoyment of civil rights and +a state of equality, ought to encourage and influence these people to +comply cheerfully with the proposed plan of colonization. + + * * * * * + +The question being stated by the Chairman, on agreeing to the preamble +and resolutions offered by Mr. Caldwell, for forming an association to +accomplish the object of the meeting: + +"Mr. JOHN RANDOLPH (of Roanoke) rose and said, that it had been properly +observed, by the chairman as well as by the gentleman from this +district, that there was nothing in the proposition submitted to +consideration which in the smallest degree touches another very +important and delicate question, which ought to be left as much out of +view as possible, (Negro Slavery.) + +"There was no fear, Mr. R. said, that this proposition would alarm the +slave holders; they had been accustomed to think seriously of the +subject. There was a popular work on agriculture, by John Taylor of +Caroline, which was widely circulated, and much confided in, in +Virginia. In that book, much read because coming from a practical man, +this description of people were pointed out as a great evil. They had +indeed been held up as the greater bug-bear to every man who feels an +inclination to emancipate his slaves, not to create in the bosom of his +country so great a nuisance. If a place could be provided for their +reception, and a mode of sending them hence, there were hundreds, nay +thousands of citizens, who would, by manumitting their slaves, relieve +themselves from the cares attendant on their possession. The great slave +holder, Mr. R. said, was frequently a mere sentry at his own +door--bound to stay on his plantation to see that his slaves were +properly treated, &c. Mr. R. concluded by saying, that he had thought it +necessary to make these remarks, being a slave holder himself, to shew +that, so far from being connected with abolition of slavery, the measure +proposed would prove one of the greatest securities, to enable the +master to keep in possession his own property." + + * * * * * + +Extracts from the Speech of Mr. WRIGHT. + +"Mr. Robert Wright (of Md.) said he could not withhold his approbation +of a measure that had for its object the amelioration of the lot of any +portion of the human race, particularly of the free people of colour, +whose degraded state robs them of the happiness of self-government, so +dear to the American people. And, said he, as I discover the most +delicate regard to the rights of property, I shall with great pleasure +lend my aid to restore this unfortunate people to the enjoyment of their +liberty; but I fear gentlemen are too sanguine in their expectation, +that they would be willing to abandon the land of their nativity, so +dear to man. However, I have no indisposition to give them that election +by furnishing all the means contemplated by the honourable and +benevolent propositions submitted to our consideration." + +"Nothing would have a stronger tendency to effect the contemplated +relief of the free people of colour, than some efficient laws to secure +the restoration of those not entitled to liberty, to their masters, +whose rights ought to be protected by law, and who, without such law, +would be certainly sacrificed by the transportation of the free blacks +with whom they would most certainly mix for that purpose. However, I +feel no hesitation in saying, I should be happy to see some plan for the +gradual abolition of slavery, that would prepare the rising generation +for that state, and remunerate the master out of the funds of the +nation, amply abundant for that purpose, without being felt by the +people of America." + +It is a strong presumptive evidence in favour of the rationality of a +moral proposition, when it emanates from several sources perfectly +distinct and remote from each other. The sentiments of Mr. Wright on the +propriety of adopting some plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, +&c. and to remunerate the master out of the funds of the nation, &c. are +so perfectly analogous to those which I had adopted and recorded, +(precisely as expressed in paragraphs 80 & 81,) fifteen days previous to +the Meeting at Washington, that my confidence in their correctness, and +hope of their favourable reception by the citizens in general of the +United States, is greatly strengthened; particularly as Mr. Wright is +one of the representatives of a large state in which slavery prevails, +and is himself probably a possessor of slaves. + + * * * * * + +The Preamble and Resolutions having been unanimously adopted by the +Meeting, committees were appointed to draught articles of association, +&c. + + * * * * * + +The following are the two first articles of the Constitution:-- + + "Article I.--The Society shall be called 'The American Society for + Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States.' + + "Article II.--The object to which its attention is to be + exclusively directed, is to promote and execute a plan for + colonizing (with their consent) the free people of colour residing + in our country, in Africa, or such other places as Congress shall + deem most expedient." + +In pursuance of this object, a Board of Managers have been organized; of +which Bushrod Washington, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the +United States, has been appointed president. This body have submitted +their views to the Congress, by a Memorial.--And as this Memorial +embraces subjects which concern, more or less, every description of +population in the United States, its circulation cannot, perhaps, be too +widely extended. + + _In the House of Representatives, Jan. 14._ + + Read, and ordered to lie on the Table. + + To the honourable the Senate and House of Representatives of the + United States of America, in Congress assembled: + + The Memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the + "American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the + United States," + + Respectfully shews-- + + THAT your Memorialists are delegated by a numerous and highly + respectable association of their fellow citizens, recently + organized at the seat of government, to solicit Congress to aid, + with the power, the patronage, and the resources of the country, + the great and beneficial object of their institution; an object + deemed worthy of the earnest attention, and of the strenuous and + persevering exertions, as well of every patriot, in whatever + condition of life, as of every enlightened, philanthropic, and + practical statesman. + + It is now reduced to be a maxim, equally approved in philosophy and + politics, that the existence of distinct and separate casts or + classes, forming exceptions to the general system of polity adapted + to the community, is an inherent vice in the composition of + society; pregnant with baneful consequences, both moral and + political, and demanding the utmost exertions of human energy and + foresight to remedy or remove it. If this maxim be true in the + general, it applies with peculiar force to the relative condition + of the free people of colour in the United States; between whom and + the rest of the community, a combination of causes, political, + physical and moral, has created distinctions, unavoidable in their + origin, and most unfortunate in their consequences. The actual and + prospective condition of that class of people; their anomalous and + indefinite relations to the political institutions and social ties + of the community; their deprivation of most of those independent, + political, and social rights, so indispensable to the progressive + melioration of our nature, rendered, by systematic exclusion from + all the higher rewards of excellence, dead to all the elevating + hopes that might prompt a generous ambition to excel; all these + considerations demonstrate, that it equally imports the public + good, as the individual and social happiness of the persons more + immediately concerned, that it is equally a debt of patriotism and + of humanity, to provide some adequate and effectual remedy. The + evil has become so apparent, and the necessity for a remedy so + palpable, that some of the most considerable of the slave-holding + states have been induced to impose restraints upon the practice of + emancipation, by annexing conditions, which have the effect to + transfer the evil from one state to another; or, by inducing other + states to adopt countervailing regulations, and in the total + abrogation of a right, which benevolent or conscientious + proprietors had long enjoyed under all the sanctions of positive + law and of ancient usage. Your Memorialists beg leave, with all + deference, to suggest, that the fairest and most inviting + opportunities are now presented to the general government, for + repairing a great evil in our social and political institutions, + and at the same time for elevating, from a low and hopeless + condition, a numerous and rapidly increasing race of men, who want + nothing but a proper theatre, to enter upon the pursuit of + happiness and independence, in the ordinary paths which a benign + Providence has left open to the human race. Those great ends, it is + conceived, may be accomplished by making adequate provision for + planting, in some salubrious and fertile region, a colony, to be + composed of such of the above description of persons as may choose + to emigrate; and for extending to it the authority and protection + of the United States, until it shall have attained sufficient + strength and consistency to be left in a state of independence. + + Independently of the motives derived from political foresight and + civil prudence on the one hand, and from moral justice and + philanthropy on the other; there are additional considerations, and + more expanded views to engage the sympathies and excite the ardour + of a liberal and enlightened people. It may be resolved for our + government (the first to denounce an inhuman and abominable + traffic, in the guilt and disgrace of which most of the civilized + nations of the world were partakers) to become the honourable + instrument, under Divine Providence, of conferring a still higher + blessing upon the large and interesting portion of mankind, + benefited by that deed of justice; by demonstrating that a race of + men, composing numerous tribes, spread over a continent of vast and + unexplored extent, fertility and riches; known to the enlightened + nations of antiquity; and who had yet made no progress in the + refinements of civilization; for whom history has preserved no + monuments of arts or arms; that even this hitherto ill-fated face + may cherish the hope of beholding, at last, the orient star + revealing the best and highest aims and attributes of man. Out of + such materials, to rear the glorious edifices of well ordered and + polished society, upon the deep and sure foundations of equal laws + and diffusive education, would give a sufficient title to be + enrolled among the illustrious benefactors of mankind; whilst it + afforded a precious and consolatory evidence of the all-prevailing + power of liberty, enlightened by knowledge and corrected by + religion. If the experiment, in its remote consequences, should + ultimately tend to the diffusion of similar blessings through those + vast regions and unnumbered tribes yet obscured in primeval + darkness; reclaim the rude wanderer, from a life of wretchedness, + to civilization and humanity; and convert the blind idolater, from + gross and abject superstitions, to the holy charities, the sublime + morality and humanizing discipline of the gospel; the nation, or + the individual, that shall have taken the most conspicuous lead in + achieving the benignant enterprise, will have raised a monument of + that true and imperishable glory, founded in the approbation and + gratitude of the human race; unapproachable to all but the elected + instruments of divine beneficence: a glory with which the most + splendid achievements of human force or power must sink in the + competition, and appear insignificant and vulgar in the comparison. + And above all, should it be considered, that the nation or the + individual, whose energies have been faithfully given to this + august work, will have secured, by this exalted beneficence the + favour of that Being, "whose compassion is over all his works," and + whose unspeakable rewards will never fail to bless the humblest + effort to do good to his creatures. + + Your Memorialists do not presume to determine that the views of + Congress will be necessarily directed to the country to which they + have just alluded. They hope to be excused for intimating some of + the reasons which would bring that portion of the world before us, + when engaged in discovering a place the most proper to be selected, + leaving it with confidence, to the better information and better + judgment of your honourable body to make the choice. + + Your Memorialists, without presuming to mark out, in detail, the + measures which it may be proper to adopt in furtherance of the + object in view; but implicitly relying upon the wisdom of Congress + to devise the most effectual measures; will only pray, that the + subject may be recommended to their serious consideration, and + that, as an humble auxiliary in this great work, the Association, + represented by your Memorialists, may be permitted to aspire to the + hope of contributing its labours and resources. + + BUSH. WASHINGTON, _President_. + +With respect to the most eligible situation for the establishment of the +proposed colony, I shall probably more certainly avoid the imputation of +unbecoming assurance, by omitting, for the present, to add any thing +more specific to what I had already expressed (Par. 38, 39, 40) before +the least intimation of the design of forming this Association had come +to my knowledge. + +I cannot forbear, however, to remark, that although it would give me +inexpressible pleasure to see the banners of knowledge and rational +religion triumphing over ignorance and superstition, in Africa, as well +as in the many other vast regions of the earth, yet it impresses me that +it will absorb all the benevolence, all the delegated authority, and all +the resources, for a century to come, of both our national and state +legislatures, to reclaim from the awful abyss of ignorance, vice, and +consequential misery, in which thousands and hundreds of thousands of +human beings, of all colours and all extractions, are involved on our +own continent:--That moral contamination on this continent cannot +produce religion and moral purification by a transfer to the continent +of Africa:--And that the great moral debt which this continent has +incurred, is due more specifically to the immense population of the sons +of Africa, who still remain in the shackles of slavery, than to those +who are now enjoying personal liberty, or to the continent of Africa. + +I have been assured by citizens of Philadelphia, who were active in +aiding Capt. Cuffee in collecting emigrants for Sierra Leone, that the +injunctions of the British authorities were very positive not to admit +any without testimonials of an irreproachable moral character from +respectable magistrates. After a proper system of African education has +become matured in this country, the seeds of much future good might be +gradually disseminated in Africa, by frequent exportations to that +country of well instructed virtuous school-masters, artisans and +farmers; as the Society of Friends have done, with encouraging prospects +of success, amongst the aboriginal natives of this country. + + * * * * * + +I will conclude for the present, with a transcript of the Proceedings of +a Meeting of the free Coloured People at Richmond, (Virg.) which have +come to hand (through the "Freeman's Journal,") just in time for +insertion, before this Work is dismissed from the press.--They are +similar to those of a similar Meeting at Georgetown several weeks ago. + + RICHMOND, JAN. 28. + + _Meeting of Free People of Colour_. + + At a Meeting of a respectable portion of the Free People of Colour, + of the City of Richmond, on + + Friday the 24th of January 1817, William Bowler was appointed + Chairman, Ephraim Speed, Moderator, and Lantey Crow, Secretary. + +The following Preamble and Resolution was read, unanimously adopted, and +ordered to be printed: + + Whereas a Society has been formed at the seat of Government, for + the purpose of "colonizing (with their own consent) the Free People + of Colour of the United States;" Therefore, we the Free People of + Colour of the city of Richmond, have thought it adviseable to + assemble together, under the sanction of authority, for the purpose + of making a public expression of our sentiments on a question in + which we are so deeply interested. We perfectly agree with the + Society, that it is not only proper, but would ultimately tend to + the benefit and advantage of a great portion of our suffering + fellow-creatures, to be colonized: but while we thus express our + entire approbation of a measure, laudable in its purposes and + beneficent in its designs, it may not be improper in us to say, we + prefer being colonized in the most remote corner of the land of our + nativity, to being exiled to a foreign country.[36] + + And whereas the President and Board of Managers of the said + Society, have been pleased to leave it to the entire discretion of + Congress to provide a suitable place for carrying their laudable + intentions into effect;--Be it therefore resolved, That we + respectfully submit to the wisdom of Congress, whether it would not + be an act of charity to grant us a small portion of their + territory, either on the Missouri river, or any place that may seem + to them most conducive to the public good, and our future welfare: + subject, however, to such rules and regulations as the Government + of the United States may think proper to adopt. + + W. BOWLER, Chairman. + + _Ephraim Speed_, Moderator. + _Lantey Crow_, Secretary. + + + +The following article from the New York Columbian, may, perhaps, throw a +little additional light on this subject:-- + + "NECESSITY OF A COLONY OF FREE BLACKS--SUPERSEDED. + + We gave an abstract of the Constitution of Hayti some weeks ago; + and out of compassion, &c. we again publish the 44th clause, which + shows a land of promise nearer our doors than Sierra Leone. + + "44. Every African, Indian, and their descendants, born in the + colonies of foreign countries, who shall come to reside in the + Republic, shall be recognized as Haytians, but shall not enjoy the + rights of citizenship until after a year's residence." + + The same constitution that excludes the white man, invites the + black; and, gentlemen from Port au Prince have assured us, that + President Petion gives a marked welcome to the Free Blacks from the + United States who settle in Hayti." + +THE END. + +_Printed by C. Clement._ + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The liberty of the black population in but a single state, is +estimated at about thirty millions of dollars. + +[2] Governor Miller's message to the legislature of North Carolina in +1815. + +[3] The Capitol at Washington. + +[4] "Political subordination, however hateful to a liberal mind, is as +bright as day when compared with the dark and hopeless bondage of the +Negro." + +[5] Since writing the above, I have been favoured with the perusal of a +letter from the brother of the late Governor of the State of Delaware, +to his friend in Philadelphia, dated Lewes, November 27, 1816, in which, +after mentioning the arrest of a banditti of kidnappers, &c. he relates +the following narrative:-- + +"A melancholy catastrophe has recently occurred here. A pilot, who owned +a young black man, last Thursday morning, when in the bay off here, for +some small offence, struck him three or four times with a rope's end; +his man observed, 'Master, you have promised whenever I am unwilling to +serve you, that I might choose another master; I now want to leave you.' + +'Very well, (replied the master) but I will settle with you first, pull +off your shirt,' and signified or said he would beat him until sun-set. +His man replied, 'I will die first,' and immediately jumped overboard +and drowned himself." + +[6] The aboriginal Americans have offered their civilized brethren a +most beautiful and instructive lesson on this subject. The author of +"The Star in the West," Elias Boudinot, LL. D. relates the following +fact. From page 232:-- + +"The writer of these sheets, many years ago, was one of the +corresponding members of a society in Scotland for promoting the gospel +among the Indians. To further the great work, they educated two young +men, of very serious and religious dispositions, and who were desirous +of undertaking the mission for this purpose. When they were ordained and +ready to depart, we wrote a letter in the Indian style, to the Delaware +nation, then residing on the northwest of the Ohio, informing them that +we had, by the goodness of the Great Spirit, been favoured with a +knowledge of his will, as to the worship he required of his creatures, +and the means he would bless to promote the happiness of men, both in +this life and that which is to come. That thus enjoying so much +happiness ourselves, we could not but think of our red brethren in the +wilderness, and wish to communicate the glad tidings to them, that they +might be partakers with us. We had therefore sent them two ministers of +the gospel, who would teach them these great things, and earnestly +recommended them to their careful attention. With proper passports the +missionaries set off, and arrived in safety at one of their principal +towns. + +"The chiefs of the nation were called together, who answered them, that +they would take it into consideration, but in the mean time they might +instruct their women, but they should not speak to the men. They spent +fourteen days in council, and then dismissed them very courteously, with +an answer to us. This answer made great acknowledgments for the favor we +had done them: They rejoiced exceedingly at our happiness in thus being +favored by the Great Spirit, and felt very grateful that we had +condescended to remember our red brethren in the wilderness: But they +could not help recollecting that we had a people among us, who, because +they differed from us in colour, we had made slaves of, and made them +suffer great hardships and lead miserable lives. Now, they could not see +any reason, if a people being black, entitled us thus to deal with them, +why a red colour should not equally justify the same treatment: They +therefore had determined to wait, to see whether all the black people +amongst us were made thus happy and joyful, before they could put +confidence in our promises; for they thought a people who had suffered +so much and so long by our means, should be entitled to our first +attention; that therefore, they had sent back the two missionaries, with +many thanks, promising that when they saw the black people among us +restored to freedom and happiness, they would gladly receive our +missionaries. This is what in any other case, would be called close +reasoning, and is too mortifying a fact to make further observations +upon." + +[7] An inn-keeper, in the south part of Virginia, who hires his stand, +complains that his landlord _does_ him _much_ harm, by inviting nearly +all his respectable company to the festivities of his own dwelling +house. + +[8] The ingenious and benevolent Mr. J. M'Leod, teacher of a respectable +seminary in the city of Washington, has assured the author, that he has +extended the science of encouraging promptitude in duty to such a +degree, that, (by his permission) his pupils have often flocked to his +lodgings, in crowds, before the dawn of day, emulating each other, who +should first rouse him from his bed, in order to proceed upon their +studies. At the same time, he did not permit his rules to be violated +with impunity. He pursued the same policy with soldiers, while an +officer a short time formerly, in the United States' army, and with the +same success. While a private teacher in a family in which slaves were +kept, his sympathy was so deeply wounded by the severity of their +punishments for misconduct, that he frequently gave them a quarter of a +dollar out of his own pocket, as an inducement for doing their duty so +as not to incur the displeasure of their masters. Might not such a +system of _genuine_ and _generous republican government_ as this be +adopted with mutual benefit to both _the people and their rulers_, on +the slave plantations universally? + +[9] "Give me an uninformed brute," said Mirabeau, "and I will soon make +him a ferocious monster. It was a white, who first plunged a negro into +a burning oven,--who dashed out the brains of a child in the presence of +its father,--who fed a slave with his own proper flesh. These are the +monsters that have to account for the barbarity of the revolted savages. +Millions of Africans have perished on this soil of blood. In this +dreadful struggle the crimes of the whites are yet the most +horrible:--They are the offspring of despotism; whilst those of the +blacks originate in the hatred of slavery--the thirst of vengeance." + +[10] Several letters have been addressed to the Pennsylvania Society for +Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, by individuals residing in the +southern and south-western states, expressing their desire to emancipate +their slaves, and requesting the Society to receive them under its +patronage. + +In a letter from Dr. John Adams, to the Society, dated Richmond Hill, +Dec. 19, 1815, he states that, "A certain Samuel Guest, deceased, had, +by his will, directed that his slaves, amounting to about 300, should be +emancipated, and his lands sold for their benefit; which, being +prohibited by law, unless they should be removed out of the boundaries +of the commonwealth of Virginia, he requests the aid of the Society, and +recommends their transportation to Guinea." + +The committee of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of +Slavery, to whom this letter was referred, reported, "that it did not +appear that the convention could, at present, propose any specific plan +for accomplishing the benevolent intention of Samuel Guest." This is +really a distressing case. If there exists _any where_, the power of +affording a remedy in such instances as this, the omission of exercising +it is, in effect, an act of converting freemen into slaves! This subject +demands the serious attention of the government, and of every citizen, +who, like Howard, the model of beneficence, is "a patriot of every +clime." + +Since the original of the preceding note was written, the following +statement has been published in the National Intelligencer:-- + +"The legislature of Indiana are now actively engaged in the organization +of the details of the state government. Much debate has taken place on a +petition or letter from W. E. Sumner, of Williamson county, (Tennessee,) +requesting that the legislature may enable him to bring into the state a +number of slaves, with the view which he expresses in the following +words: + +"I have about 40, and my intention is, if permitted by the laws of +Indiana, to bring and free them, to purchase land for them and settle +them on it; to give them provisions for the first year, and furnish them +with tools for agriculture and domestic manufactory, and next spring +with domestic animals. You must be aware, sir, that this must be +attended with no small expenditure of money and trouble. I think, that +after a man has had the use of slaves and their ancestors, twenty or +thirty years, it is unjust and inhuman to set them free, unprovided with +a home, &c. &c. All that I have were raised by my father and myself, and +the oldest is about my age (46.) I am also very desirous to leave the +slave states, and spend my few remaining days in that state where +involuntary slavery is not admissible; and will, with the blessing of +God, prepare to do so as soon as I can settle my affairs." + +"The mode in which this letter should be treated is the subject of the +debate. It appears to be agreed that the constitution of the state +forbids a compliance with his request." + +The writer has been assured that this conscientious, just, and generous +individual is one among the number of those who made similar +propositions to the above, to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and +with the like disappointment. + +[11] A few days subsequent to the time that the above suggestions were +originally committed to paper, the House of Delegates of the Virginia +Legislature, passed the following resolution, by an almost unanimous +vote; "That the Executive be requested to correspond with the President +of the United States, for the purpose of obtaining a Territory upon the +North Pacific, or at some other place, not within any of the states, or +the territorial governments of the United States, to serve as an asylum +for such persons of colour, as are now free, and may desire the same, +and for those who may be hereafter emancipated within this commonwealth, +&c." If the present system of restrictions upon emancipation should be +persevered in, for an indefinite length of time, the necessary final +result must be frightful to contemplate. If a state, containing soil +sufficient to subsist only 1,000,000 of slaves, besides the free +population, provides no outlet, for the excess of that number, by +permitting their emancipation or otherwise, _starvation_ must be the +consequence! + +[12] On first hearing this epithet used, I was at a loss to account for +its meaning. I have since observed that, in the middle states, the +general title applied to slave-traders, indiscriminately, is +"_Georgia-men_." + +[13] Would it be superstitious to presume, that the sovereign Father of +all nations, permitted the _perpetration_ of this apparently execrable +transaction, as a _fiery_, though salutary signal of his displeasure at +the conduct of his Columbian children, in erecting and idolizing this +splendid fabric as the temple of freedom, and at the same time +oppressing with the yoke of captivity and toilsome bondage, twelve or +fifteen hundred thousand of their African _brethren_ (by logical +induction,) making merchandize of their _blood_, and dragging their +bodies with _iron chains_, even under its towering walls? Yet is it a +fact, that _slaves_ are employed in rebuilding this sanctuary of +_liberty_. + +[14] It is a notorious and afflicting truth, that in the United States, +the head of a _poor black man_ has been cut off _with impunity_, by a +white man (or master;) that black men have been _wantonly shot_ by white +men; and that a free black man (whom I have seen myself) was _hoppled_, +and being unsuccessfully offered for sale as a slave, was bound to a +post in the winter, and left without food until his feet _were frozen_, +where he would probably have perished, had he not extricated himself by +his own struggles. + +[15] This statement was furnished by a respectable citizen, who was one +of the first that found the dead body, near his own house. + +N.B. Nothing can more strongly indicate the true state of the case than +this _disguising of names_. The _Author_ dared put _his_ name; but he +was in _Pennsylvania_: he would, probably have exposed his +_Maryland_-informant to _death_ by naming him. W. C. + +[16] It is a frequent custom in the district of Columbia, Maryland, and +Delaware, for masters to endeavour to reform their bad slaves, by +terrifying them with threats of selling them for the Georgia market, or +"_to Carolina_" them; which is often carried into effect. There are, +notwithstanding, several individuals, so conscientiously opposed to +selling men against their will, that the most unpardonable conduct will +not induce men to do it; and they prefer rejecting them, and letting +them keep all the wages they can get for their own use. + +[17] One of the members of the house of representatives (Mr. ADGATE,) +related to me, while at Washington, the following fact:--"That during +the last session of congress, (1815-16,) as several members were +standing in the street, near the new capitol, a drove of manacled +coloured people were passing by; and when just opposite, one of them +elevating his manacles as high as he could reach, commenced singing the +favorite national song, "_Hail Columbia! happy land_," &c. + +N.B. This is an excessively stupid song, written more than 20 years ago +by one HOPKINSON, a lawyer of Philadelphia, who seems to have been born +to be an ornament of Grub-Street. But, however silly the thoughts or +inflated the expressions, down it goes if national vanity or party +strife lay hold of it. "_Hail Columbia_" is much about upon a level with +"_God save the king_;" they have both had about the same cause to keep +them in vogue; but, I must confess, that the Americans, with _manacles +on their hands and chains round their necks_, singing songs in praise of +the _freedom_ of that Country, is going a little further than our fools +when they bleat and bellow and bawl out that parcel of stuff, that low +bombast, which the news-papers, in their cant, call "Our great National +_Anthem_;" an "_Anthem_" that talks, amongst other things, of +"confounding _politicks_ and all their _knavish tricks_!" Come, come: we +must not pretend to _laugh_ at the Washington Negro!--W. C. + +[18] Judge Morrel, in his charge to the grand jury of Washington, at the +session of the circuit court of the United States, in January 1816, for +the district of Columbia, urged this subject to its attention very +emphatically, as an object of remonstrance and juridical investigation. +He said the frequency with which the streets of the city had been +crowded with manacled captives, sometimes even on the sabbath, could not +fail to shock the feelings of all humane persons; that it was repugnant +to the spirit of our political institutions, and the rights of man, and +he believed was calculated to impair the public morals, by familiarizing +scenes of cruelty to the minds of youth. + +[19] Extract from the preamble to the first act passed by the +legislature of Pennsylvania, for the gradual abolition of slavery in +that state: + +"Sect. 2. And whereas the condition of those persons who have heretofore +been denominated negro and mulatto slaves, has been attended with +circumstances which not only deprived them of the common blessings that +they were by nature entitled to, but has cast them into the deepest +afflictions by an unnatural separation of husband and wife from each +other and from their children--an injury the greatness of which can only +be conceived by supposing that we were in the same unhappy case," &c. + +Darwin, who may well be styled an _arch connoisseur_, both in physiology +and morality, in his classification of human diseases, includes one +which he denominates _Nostalgia_, and thus defines it: + +"_Nostalgia._ An unconquerable desire of returning to one's native +country, frequent in long voyages, in which the patients become so +insane as to throw themselves into the sea, mistaking it for green +fields and meadows. The Swiss are said to be particularly liable to this +disease, and when taken into foreign service frequently desert from this +cause, and especially after hearing or singing a particular tune, which +was used in their village dances, in their native country; on which +account their playing or singing this tune was punished with death. +Zwingerus. + +Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms, And dear that hill, which +lifts him to the storms. Goldsmith." Zoonomia, Cl. III. 1. 1. 6. + +The late _indefatigable Rush_, in his Inquiry into the Causes of the +Derangement of the Human Mind, states, that the slaves imported into the +_West Indies from Africa_, frequently become distracted when they are +about to commence the toils of perpetual slavery on the plantations. + +N. B. This "_indefatigable_ RUSH" was, indeed, _indefatigable_ in +_puffing himself off_ for a friend of _humanity_, in which he was pretty +successful too. He made his court to the Quakers, and even exceeded some +of them in cunning. It was as puny a creature, in point of talent, as +ever contrived to get a reputation for wisdom. Principles he had none: +he wrote about every thing, and about nothing well; but, as a +_pretender_ to humanity he was consummate. Only mind how he _here_ calls +for indignation against the "_West India_" planters. Not a word about +those of his own "_free country_!" What a hypocrite! He was a Doctor of +Physic; and he knew well that he would have lost his best patients, +those that paid best for the _blood-letting_, (for which he was so +famous) if he had made free with the Slave-holders of his own +"free-country."--W. C. + +[20] To those speculators in human flesh, who purchase free people as +well as slaves, without discrimination, I must now apply the title of +_Man-Dealers_, instead of Slave Traders. + +[21] While interrogating him about the manner of his being seized and +bound, he gave his chains a shake, by moving his feet on the floor, and +with vexation muttered, "When the devil gets 'em he'll _chain them_." +"No, no," said I, "you shouldn't make such speeches as that, perhaps +they were brought up to such things, and don't know any better." "_Well +but_," said he, "_they know what's right_." I have since been assured, +that several instances of _black_ man-stealing had occurred, in which +fathers, sons, brothers, and even wives and daughters, were +promiscuously engaged. + +[22] I was informed, on my arrival in the neighbourhood where this +affair was transacted, that this _person_, on hearing that the mulatto +man had been intercepted at Washington, said he had a _bad pain_ on his +mind, and believed he should _clear out_; which he had done accordingly. + +[23] Thos. Clarkson states, in his History of the Abolition of the Slave +Trade, that "the arrival of slave ships on the coasts of Africa was the +uniform signal for the immediate commencement of wars for the attainment +of prisoners, for sale and exportation to America and the West Indies." +In Maryland and Delaware, the same drama is now performed in miniature. +The arrival of the Man-Traffickers, _laden_ with cash, at their +respective _stations_, near the coasts of a great American water, called +justly, by Mr. Randolph, "a Mediterranean sea," or at their several +_inland posts_, near the dividing line of Maryland and Delaware, (at +some of which they have grated prisons for the purpose) is the well +known signal for the professed _kidnappers_, like beasts of prey, to +commence their nightly invasions upon the _fleecy flocks_; extending +their ravages, (generally attended with bloodshed, and sometimes +murder,) and spreading terror and consternation amongst both freemen and +slaves throughout the _sandy regions_, from the western to the eastern +shores. These "two-legged featherless animals," or _human bloodhounds_, +when overtaken (rarely) by the messengers of law, are generally found +armed with instruments of death, sometimes with pistols with _latent_ +spring daggers attached to them! Mr. Cooper, one of the representatives +to congress from Delaware, assured me that he had often been afraid to +send one of his servants out of his house in the evening, from the +danger of their being seized by kidnappers. + +While at Wilmington (Del.) I accidentally heard a black woman telling +the gate-keeper of the bridge, that she had set out to go to Georgetown, +(Del.) but was returning without having reached it, for fear of being +caught on the road by the kidnappers. + +[24] I was informed in Delaware, that her seller absconded in about ten +days after the outrage was committed. + +[25] The mulatto youth had been purchased in the city of Washington, and +kept in it in irons several weeks, by a person who confessed his regret +that he had not removed him before the suit for the recovery of his +freedom had commenced; and that, if he had known it sooner, he would +have taken him on to ----, (the place of his residence,) even if he had +been satisfied of his being free. One Slave-Trader, to whom he had been +offered, was however so conscientious, that he refused to purchase him, +or the lad who was with him, (before mentioned) being confident that +they were illegally enslaved. + +[26] I have been assured by a gentleman of the highest respectability, +that a former representative to Congress, from one of the southern +states, acknowledged to him, that he held a mulatto man as a slave, +having purchased him in company with slaves, who affirmed that he was +free born, and had been kidnapped from one of the New England states; +who was well educated, and who, he had no doubt, was born as free a man +as himself, or my informant. Upon being asked, how he could _bear_ then +to retain him, he replied, that the customs of his part of the country +were such, that these things are not minded much. + +[27] I was informed that the mulatto man was probably destined for the +New-Orleans market, not very far distant from the _Gulf of Mexico_, +which probably embraces more personal slavery, including its +neighbouring regions, than any region of equal extent on the globe. + +[28] On the ensuing day, having persevered in endeavours to secure the +captives, the son of this landlord (to whom I presume _manacles_, +_hand-cuffs_, _iron man-fetters_, _hopples_ _&c._ are as familiar as +steel-traps and snares to the hunter of the _animals which yield fur_,) +expressed his sympathy for the loss of the purchaser of the mulatto man, +(who still remained in his chains,) should he be set at liberty. I asked +him whether he considered it worse for the trader to lose a few hundred +dollars in money, than for the mulatto man to be transported to a +strange country, and be deprived of his liberty for life. To which he +replied, after a short pause, _that he did not know as there was much +difference_! I assured him, that if he _did not_, I was _sorry_ for him. +This illustrates the invincible force of morbid education and of habit. + +[29] By information, derived from distinct and corresponding sources, a +few days after this caravan left Washington, there is no doubt of the +fact, that it contained, in addition to the slaves, a young black woman, +who had been emancipated in Delaware, and was sold by the same person as +an agent, that assisted in seizing and sold the black woman and child; +and also a legally free mulatto man, in irons, who had been sold in the +night by his employer, near Philadelphia, and who was most unmercifully +beaten with a club, on the night previous to their arrival in the city, +for telling a person that he was free. + +[30] Additional aid was also rendered by the Abolition Society at +Wilmington. + +[31] It would be equally as absurd to do this, as it would to import +2,000,000 prisoners of war from Turkey or China, and make citizens of +them. + +[32] "It is not for us to inquire why, in the creation of mankind, the +inhabitants of the several parts of the earth were distinguished by a +difference in feature or complexion. It is sufficient to know, that all +are the work of an Almighty Hand." [From the first section of the +Preamble to the Pennsylvania act for the Abolition of Slavery, before +referred to.] + +[33] M'Gurran Coulon, in his "Observations on the Insurrection of the +Negroes in the Island of St. Domingo," read before the National Assembly +of France, attributes the _troubles_ of that island, "above all, to the +injustice of which the whites have been guilty, in refusing to let the +mulattos partake of the blessings of liberty." This was evidently one of +the chief _proximate_ causes;--but the primitive radical origin of those +implacable conflicts between different shades of colour, may be traced +to the miserable fatal policy which permitted the production of those +shades. "The white father falls a victim to the unnatural rage of his +mulatto son." "In a country where it is by no means unusual for the +known children of the Planter to undergo all the hardships, and the +ignominy of slavery, in common with the most degraded class of mortals, +is it there we are to seek for instances of filial affection?" [Inquiry +into the Causes of the Insurrection of the Negroes in St. Domingo.] + +[34] Recent message of the President of the United States to Congress, +alluding to the red natives of America. + +[35] See Parag. 40. I consider it a fortunate circumstance, and one +which will protect me effectually from the imputation of plagiarism, in +respect to the similarity of what I had previously written on the +subject of colonization by "_beneficent societies_" and the national +ransom of slaves (see Parag. 80 & 81) to any thing advanced at this +meeting; that I had communicated the contents of the original manuscript +of the preceding work to page 98, except some notes and slight +alterations, to Roberts Vaux, Esq. one of the members of the common +council of the city of Philadelphia, on or previous to the 8th of Dec. +1816--And the fact is made public, in this manner, with his consent and +approbation. + +[36] Several free persons of colour, of both sexes and all a little +shaded with a yellowish tint, being employed as servants in the house in +which I lodge, I inquired of two of the females, a few days ago, whether +they would like to go to Africa, as it was the country of their +forefathers. One of them expressed great repugnance at going there, and +the other said her fathers did not come from Africa, "and (said she) if +they (the Americans) did not want us, they had no need to have brought +us away: after they've brought us here, and made us work hard, and +_disfigured the colour_, I don't think it would be fair to send us back +again." + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's note: + +There is some inconsistency in the placing of italic and small +capital markup. 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