A Visit to the United States in 1841 Part 12

"The two great political parties in the United States, radically disagreeing in almost all other points, are of one heart and mind, in opposing emanc.i.p.ation; not, I suppose, from any real affinity to, or love for the 'peculiar inst.i.tution,' but for the purpose of securing the votes of the slave-holders, who, more consistent than the Northern abolitionists, refuse to support any man for office, who is not willing to do homage to slavery.

The compet.i.tion between these two parties for Southern favor is one of the most painful and disgusting spectacles which presents itself to the view of a stranger in the United States. To every well wisher of America it must be a matter of interest and satisfaction to know, that there is a growing determination in the free States to meet the combination of slave-holders in behalf of slavery, by one of freemen in behalf of liberty; and thus compel the party politicians, on the ground of expediency, if not of principle, to break from the thraldom of the slave power, and array themselves on the side of freedom.

"It is an undoubted fact, that, at the present time, the various denominations of professing Christians in the United States are more deeply agitated by this question than at any former period.

The publication of such books as Weld's 'Slavery as it is,' has unveiled the monstrous features of slavery to the Christian public in the Northern States. The blasphemous attempts of Southern professors and ministers, to defend their abominable practices upon Christian grounds, have powerfully re-acted against them at the North; and church after church, especially in New England, is taking the high stand of the late General Convention in London, in withholding its fellowship from slave-holders, and closing its pulpit against their preachers.

"Recent movements in the slave States themselves encourage the friends of freedom. In Kentucky, at the late election for state officers, one of the candidates, Ca.s.sius M. Clay, nephew of Henry Clay, avowed his opposition to pro-slavery principles in the strongest terms, and staked his election upon this avowal.

He was warmly supported, and his opponent only succeeded by a small majority. Tennessee, in her mountain region, has many decided, uncompromising abolitionists, whose encouraging letters and statements have been published within the last year, in the Northern anti-slavery papers. The excellent work of Joseph John Gurney, on the West Indies, and Dr. Channing's late pamphlet, ent.i.tled "Emanc.i.p.ation," have been very widely circulated in many of the slave States; and, so far as can be ascertained, have been read with interest by the planters. The movements of English and French abolitionists have attracted general attention, and, in the Southern States, have awakened no small degree of solicitude.

"That baleful American peculiarity, prejudice against color, is evidently diminishing, under the influence of anti-slavery principles and practice; and the laws which have oppressed the free colored citizen are rapidly yielding to the persevering action of the abolitionists. Dr. Channing has not over-stated the fact, that the provision in the Federal Const.i.tution, relative to the reclaiming of fugitive slaves, has been silently but effectually repealed by the force of public opinion, and the interposition of jury trial, in many of the free States. In Ma.s.sachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and New York, with the exception of its slavery-ridden commercial emporium, the recovery of a slave by legalized kidnappers is entirely out of the question.

In any one of these States, it would, to use the language of a New York mechanic, be exceedingly difficult to prove, to the satisfaction of a jury of honest freemen, that a man had been born 'contrary to the Declaration of Independence.' The frontiers of slavery are every where very much exposed, and all along the line of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Virginia, and Missouri, the tide of self-emanc.i.p.ated men and women is pouring in upon the free States. I cannot give a better idea of the extent of this peculiar emigration, than by copying extracts from the _Centreville Times_, a paper published in Maryland:--

"'_Free Negroes and Slaves_.--When it is too late, the people of Maryland will begin to look for the means of protection in their slave property. We still say slave property; although, notwithstanding slaves are recognized as property by the const.i.tution, without which recognition this confederation never would have been formed: yet such has been the effect of fanaticism and emanc.i.p.ation, of the intermeddling machinations of abolitionists, and the mischievous agency of free negroes--that _the very owners of this species of property seem to begin to doubt whether slaves are property or not_; and so much has its value become impaired, in the possession of those who reside contiguous to the non-slaveholding States, that the question has been raised, whether they are, in fact, worth keeping. Either discipline must be so much relaxed, as that the labor of the slave will scarcely pay for his support; or, if forced to labor no more than is even necessary to health and contentment, they abscond, and pa.s.sing over the lines into a non-slaveholding State, are there concealed and protected. The number and the success of elopements leave no doubt of the establishment of a regular chain of posts, accessary to, and of systematic plans, deliberately organized, for their seduction and concealment. In these escapes, the free negroes are, for the most part, undoubtedly instrumental, as they are to most of the robberies committed by slaves. While at Easton, two weeks since, the slaves of two gentlemen made their escape, being each, if not recovered, a loss of one thousand dollars; and the firm persuasion was, that, in both cases, the runaways were furnished with pa.s.ses by a free negro barber. Even if apprehended, these gentlemen will have been put to an expense of not less than three hundred dollars, and this without the slightest pretext of ill usage or unkindness.

"'The usual process is, when the owner is supposed to have despaired of his recovery, for some abolition or free negro lawyer to open a correspondence with the owner, representing the runaway to be in Canada, or otherwise beyond apprehension--coolly adding, with a highwayman's impudence, "take that or nothing;" and the owner has to put up with a total loss, or compromise for a third of the value of his property--the result in either case, proving an incentive to others to be off in like manner"'

"'There is not an interest that is not impaired, by the proximity of the free States, and the protection there afforded to slaves, and by the presence and intercommunion of the free with the slave negro. Even the value of land is diminished by it. Maryland suffers the disadvantages, without the advantages of a slave State. The disadvantage consists in the reputation, (the odium, north of the Delaware,) of being a slave State.

_The capitalists of the North refuse, on that account, to invest in Maryland lands, though they could buy land in Maryland for twenty dollars an acre, which is intrinsically worth more than theirs, which they could sell for an hundred._ Our condition is, in fact, that of neither the one or the other; and, unless something can be done to counteract the progress of fanaticism on this subject, and that abuse of strength and heedless injustice which always follows irresponsible power, _slavery in Maryland must cease, either by sale, while that right remains to the slave-holder, or ere long, by forced emanc.i.p.ation_.

"'Virginia--once proud and independent Virginia, already half captive to the North--will soon take her place as the frontier slave State;--Maryland, with her Southern principles, eaten out by Northern men, will then a.s.sume to her the relation that Pennsylvania now bears to Maryland;--nay, it is but too obvious that, as things are now working, in process of time, and that not slowly, _slavery must cease to exist in all the provision-growing States_,--its northernmost line will be the line of the sugar, the rice, and the cotton culture,--the climate alone affording to the slave-holder that shelter which justice could not offer from the rapacity of his pursuers. Will the Southern still accept the shadow without the substance of equal and confederate powers? Be his relation, then, what it may--independent, confederate, or colonial--for one, we say, let it be defined. To the misery of the slave, let him not add the meanness of the dupe. Let him remember, that time and corruption have often achieved what would have defied the power of the sword;--in a word, let the slave-holder think, while yet, if yet, he has power to act.'"

I have now concluded an imperfect attempt to delineate the present state of the anti-slavery cause, on the North American continent, with incidental notices of the past history of the efforts of its friends. In regard to the future, my hopes are built on the continuance of these efforts, and on the concurrent aid afforded by the march of events, both in the United States and in the world at large, under the manifestly over-ruling power of that gracious Being, who sometimes employs human instrumentality to accomplish His purposes of mercy; but who works also Himself, by His immutable laws, and by the dispensations of His providence.

THE END.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX A. P. 30.

ANTI-SLAVERY EPISTLE OF "FRIENDS" IN GREAT BRITAIN.

"From our Yearly Meeting held in London, by adjournment from the 20th of the 5th Month to the 29th of the same inclusive, 1840.

"_To the Yearly Meetings of Friends on the Continent of North America_.

"DEAR FRIENDS,--We think it a favor to us, and we accept it as an evidence that our Lord is mindful of us, that from one time to another, when thus a.s.sembled for mutual edification, and the renewing of our spiritual strength, we are in any small measure brought afresh to the enjoyment of that love which flows from G.o.d to man, through Jesus Christ our Savior; and under its blessed influence quickened to exercise of mind, not only for the health and prosperity of all those professing the same faith with ourselves, but for the coming of the kingdom of G.o.d upon earth, and the universal prevalence of righteousness and truth among men. This love has often brought us in Christian compa.s.sion and tenderness of spirit, deeply to feel for that portion of the great family of man subjected to the degradation and cruelty of slavery.

"We do not cease to rejoice with reverent thanksgiving to Almighty G.o.d, for the termination of this system of iniquity in the British Colonies. It was an act of justice on the part of our Legislature, and it has removed an enormous load of guilt from our beloved country; but in our rejoicing, we cannot, nor would we wish, to forget the hundreds of thousands of our brethren and sisters on the continent of America, and elsewhere, still detained in this abject condition, and liable to all the misery and oppression which it entails upon its victims.

"We have a strong conviction of the guilt and sinfulness of slavery, and its pernicious effects upon both the oppressed and the oppressor. That man should claim a right of property in the person of his fellow--that man should buy and sell his brother--that civil governments in their legislative enactments, should so far forget that 'G.o.d who giveth to all, life, and breath, and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth,' as to treat those who differ from them in the color of their skin, or any other external peculiarity, as beasts that perish, as chattels and articles of merchandise,--is in such direct violation of the whole moral law, and of the righteousness of the New Testament, and that in a day in which the principles of civil and religious liberty are so fully acknowledged in many of the nations of Christendom, may well excite both indignation and sorrow. And we cannot but regard it as such proof of hardness of heart, and perverted understanding, that we think it can be attributed to nothing short of the deceivableness of Satan working upon the fallen nature of man.

"It was, dear friends, in the gradual unfolding of that light in which the things that are reproved are made manifest, that your forefathers and ours, were brought to see the criminality of slavery. Thus enlightened, they could find no peace with G.o.d, until they had put away this evil of their doings from before his eyes--until by a conscientious discharge of their individual religious duty, they had restored those whom they held in bondage, to the full enjoyment of unqualified freedom. Under the influence of Divine wisdom, and by this faithfulness on the part of upright Friends, our religious society were brought to a united and settled judgment as a body, that personal slavery, both in its origin and its results, was so great an evil, that it could be tolerated by no mitigation of its hardship; and they felt the demands of equity to be so urgent upon them, that they were concerned to enjoin it upon Friends every where, by a ready compliance with such reasonable duty, to cease to do evil, by immediately releasing those they held as slaves. Their own hands being cleansed from this pollution, they felt it to be laid upon them, plainly and faithfully, to labor with their countrymen to bring them to a full understanding of the requiring of the Divine law, and to press it upon them to act up to its commandments. In the love of G.o.d, they were bold, both in your country and in ours, to plead the cause of the oppressed with those in power. We believe, and we would wish to speak of it with modesty and humility, that their faithfulness, in connection with the exertions of humane and devoted men of other Christian communities, were instrumental to bring about the abolition of the slave trade, as well as the extinction of slavery.

"We are reverently impressed with a sense of the prerogatives of the Great Head of the Church, to dispose of his servants, and to employ their time, and every talent which he has intrusted them, in such a way and manner as may consist with the purposes of his wisdom and love. It is the concern of this Meeting, that all our dear friends may carefully seek each to know his Lord's will, and to ascertain his individual path of duty; at the same time we desire to encourage one another to simple obedience to that which in the true light may be made manifest to them; and each to an unflinching and uncompromising avowal of his allegiance to his Lord in all things.

"We observe with satisfaction and comfort, in the epistles from your Yearly Meetings, which have been read in this Meeting, that there is a very general acknowledgment of concern on this important subject. It has often been a prominent feature in the brotherly correspondence which subsists between us. The expression of your encouragement in times past, has been helpful to us, and in the trials and difficulties you have had to endure, our hearts have been brought into fellow feeling with you. In this work of justice and love, we have long labored together. It has helped to strengthen the bond of our union; and in the fresh sense of this Christian fellowship, as it is now renewed amongst us, we offer you, beloved friends, the warm expression of our sympathy, and our strong desire for your help and encouragement. So far removed as we are from the scene of slavery, we are aware that we can but imperfectly appreciate either the sufferings of the slave, or the trials of those who live in the midst of such oppression; nor do we believe that we can fully appreciate either the labors of faithful Friends in your land, or the obstacles and discouragements which have been thrown in their way.

"The brief review we have taken of the history of our Society, in reference to this deeply interesting subject, and the feeling which prevails with us, under a sense of the enormity of the evil, urges us, and we desire that it may have the same effect upon you, still to persevere; and in every way that may be pointed out to us of the Lord, that we may continue to expose the evil of this unjust interference with the natural and social rights of man. Time is short, the day is spending fast with every one of us, and we had need to use diligence in the work of our day. We know the high authority under which we are commanded to 'love our neighbor as ourselves.' It is our desire on our own account, and in this exercise of mind we believe, dear friends, that you are one with us, that in our efforts to discharge the duties laid upon us, we may watch against a hopeless and distrustful spirit in times of discouragement. And O that in his great mercy and love towards his poor afflicted and helpless children, it might please Him to hasten the coming of that day, even to this generation of the enslaved in your land, in which every yoke shall be broken and the oppressed go free.

"If, in this righteous cause, we move in the leading of our Lord, we may humbly trust that he, with whom there is no respect of persons, who careth for the sparrows and feedeth the ravens, will grant to his dependent ones the help and support of his Holy Spirit, and enable them, in the face of every opposition, to do that which is made known to them as his will.

"With the enlarged views entertained by Friends of the mercy and love of our heavenly Father towards his children of every nation and tongue all the world over, we desire to press it upon you still to labor for the removal of all those unjust laws and limitations of right and privilege consequent upon the unwarrantable distinction of color--a distinction which has brought so much suffering upon those settled in different parts of the Union, and which we think must conduce to the strengthening of the prejudices of former years, and to r.e.t.a.r.d the work of emanc.i.p.ation.

"It is affecting to us to think with what astonishing rapidity slavery is extending itself upon the Continent of North America, and how from year to year the slave population is increasing among you. Our spirits are oppressed with a sense of the magnitude of the evil; we tremble at the awful consequence which, in the justice and wisdom of Almighty G.o.d, may ensue to those who persist in the upholding of it. We commend the whole subject to your most serious attention, and desiring that divine wisdom may be near to help in your deliberations upon it,

"We bid you, affectionately, farewell.

"Signed in and on behalf of the Meeting, by

"GEORGE STACEY,

"_Clerk to the Meeting this year_."

APPENDIX B. P. 30.

EARLY EFFORTS OF "FRIENDS" IN BEHALF OF NEGRO SLAVES.

The following extract from Clarkson's "Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of William Penn," will show how the society of Friends, at a very early period, became unwarily entangled with the practice of slave holding; and also that the unchristian nature of it was immediately perceived by the more spiritual minded among them. It will serve also to prove that the testimony of Friends against slavery is no novelty, but is coeval with its rise as a distinct religious body. The measures proposed by William Penn on this subject, are an honorable testimony to the comprehensive benevolence of that truly great and magnanimous legislator, yet they fell short of the exigencies of the case, and of what Christian people required; consequently what good they directly effected was local and temporary. Viewed as the germ of subsequent anti-slavery enterprises of the last century, in Europe and America, their interest and importance cannot be too highly estimated.

"I must observe, that soon after the colony (Pennsylvania) had been planted, that is, in the year 1682, when William Penn was first resident in it, some few Africans had been imported, but that more had followed. At this time the traffic in slaves was not branded with infamy, as at the present day. It was considered, on the other hand, as favorable to both parties: to the American planters, because they had but few laborers, in comparison with the extent of their lands; and to the poor Africans themselves, because they were looked upon as persons redeemed out of superst.i.tion, idolatry, and heathenism. But though the purchase and sale of them had been admitted with less caution upon this principle, there were not wanting among the Quakers of Pennsylvania those who, soon after the introduction of them there, began to question the moral licitness of the traffic. Accordingly, at the Yearly Meeting for Pennsylvania, held in 1688, it had been resolved, on the suggestion of emigrants from Crisheim, who had adopted the principles of William Penn, that the buying, selling, and holding men in slavery, was inconsistent with the tenets of the Christian religion. In 1696, a similar resolution had been pa.s.sed at the Yearly Meeting of the same religious society for the same province. In consequence, then, of these n.o.ble resolutions, the Quakers had begun to treat their slaves in a different manner from that of other people. They had begun to consider them as children of the same great Parent, to whom fraternal offices were due; and hence, in 1698, there were instances where they had admitted them into their meeting houses to worship in common with themselves.[A]

[Footnote A: "I cannot help copying into a note an anecdote from Thomas Story's Journal for this year (1698). 'On the 13th,' says he, 'we had a pretty large meeting, where several were tendered, among whom were some negroes. And here I shall observe, that Thomas Simons having several negroes, one of them, as also several belonging to Henry White, had of late come to meetings, and having a sense of truth, several others thereway were likewise convinced, and like to do well. And the morning that we came from Thomas Simons's, my companion speaking some words of truth to his negro woman, she was tendered; and as I pa.s.sed on horseback by the place where she stood weeping, I gave her my hand, and then she was much more broken: and finding the day of the Lord's tender visitation and mercy upon her, I spake encouragingly to her, and was glad to find the poor blacks so near the truth and reachable.' She stood there, looking after us and weeping, as long as we could see her. I had inquired of one of the black men how long they had come to meetings, and he said 'they had always been kept in ignorance, and disregarded as persons who were not to expect any thing from the Lord, till Jonathan Taylor, who had been there the year before, discoursing with them, had informed them that the grace of G.o.d, through Christ, was given also to them; and that they ought to believe in and be led and taught by it, and so might come to be good Friends, and saved as well as others. And on the next occasion, which was when William Ellis and Aaron Atkinson were there, they went to meetings, and several of them were convinced.' Thus one planteth and another watereth, but G.o.d giveth the increase."]

"William Penn was highly gratified by the consideration of what has been done on this important subject. From the very first introduction of enslaved Africans into this province, he had been solicitous about their temporal and eternal welfare. He had always considered them as persons of the like nature with himself; as having the same desire of pleasure and the same aversion from pain; as children of the same Father, and heirs of the same promises. Knowing how naturally the human heart became corrupted and hardened by the use of power, he was fearful lest, in time, these friendless strangers should become an oppressed people. Accordingly, as his predecessor, George Fox, when he first visited the British West Indies, exhorted all those who attended his meetings for worship there, to consider their slaves as branches of their own families, for whose spiritual instruction they would one day or other be required to give an account, so William Penn had, on his first arrival in America, inculcated the same notion. It lay, therefore, now upon his mind to endeavor to bring into practice what had appeared to him to be right in principle. One of them was to try to incorporate the treatment of slaves, as a matter of Christian duty, into _the discipline of his own religious society_; and the other, to secure it among others in the colony of a different religious description, _by a legislative act_. Both of these were necessary. The former, however, he resolved to attempt first.

The Society itself had already afforded him a precedent, by its resolutions in 1688 and in 1696, as before mentioned, and had thereby done something material in the progress of the work. It was only to get a minute pa.s.sed upon their books to the intended effect. Accordingly, at the very first Monthly Meeting of the Society, which took place in Philadelphia in the present year, he proposed the subject. He laid before them the concern which had been so long upon his mind, relative to these unfortunate people; he pressed upon them the duty of allowing them as frequently as possible to attend their Meetings for worship, and the benefit that would accrue to both, by the instruction of them in the principles of the Christian religion. The result was, that a Meeting was appointed more particularly for the negroes, once every month; so that besides the common opportunities they had of collecting religious knowledge, by frequenting the places of worship, there was one day in the month, in which, as far as the influence of the Monthly Meeting extended, they could neither be temporally nor spiritually overlooked. At this Meeting also, he proposed means, which were acceded to, for a more frequent intercourse between Friends and the Indians; he (William Penn,) taking upon himself the charge of procuring interpreters, as well as of forwarding the means proposed."--Vol. II. pp. 218-222.

APPENDIX C. P. 34.