Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments Part 12

"Suppose, moreover, that during all these fifteen years, they had been quitting the cities, _where the ma.s.s of them rot, both physically and morally_, and had gone into the country to become farmers and mechanics--suppose, I say, all this--and who would have the hardihood to affirm that the Colonization Society lives upon the malignity of the whites--but it is true that it lives upon _the voluntary degradation of the blacks_. I do not say that the colored people are more debased than the white people would be if persecuted, oppressed and outraged as are the colored people. But I do say that they are debased, deeply debased; and that to recover themselves they must become heroes, self-denying heroes, capable of achieving a great moral victory--a two-fold victory--a victory over themselves and a victory over their enemies."

The _New York Tribune_, September 22, 1855, in noticing the movements of the colored people of New York, to secure to themselves equal suffrage, thus gives utterance to its views of their moral condition:

"Most earnestly desiring the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of the Afric-American race, we would gladly wean them, at the cost of some additional ill-will, from the sterile path of political agitation. They can help win their rights if they will, but not by jawing for them. One negro on a farm which he has cleared or bought patiently hewing out a modest, toilsome independence, is worth more to the cause of equal suffrage than three in an Ethiopian (or any other) convention, clamoring against white oppression with all the fire of a Spartacus. It is not logical conviction of the justice of their claims that is needed, but a prevalent belief that they would form a wholesome and desirable element of the body politic. Their color exposes them to much unjust and damaging prejudice; but if their degradation were but skin-deep, they might easily overcome it. . . . . Of course, we understand that the evil we contemplate is complex and retroactive--that the political degradation of the blacks is a cause as well as a consequence of their moral debas.e.m.e.nt. Had they never been enslaved, they would not now be so abject in soul; had they not been so abject, they could not have been enslaved. Our aborigines might have been crushed into slavery by overwhelming force; but they could never have been made to live in it.

The black man who feels insulted in that he is called a 'n.i.g.g.e.r,'

therein attests the degradation of his race more forcibly than does the blackguard at whom he takes offense; for negro is no further a term of opprobrium than the character of the blacks has made it so. . . . . If the blacks of to-day were all or mainly such men as Samuel R. Ward or Frederick Dougla.s.s, n.o.body would consider 'negro' an invidious or reproachful designation.

"The blacks of our State ought to enjoy the common rights of man; but they stand greatly in need of the spirit in which those rights have been won by other races. They will never win them as white men's barbers, waiters, ostlers and boot blacks; that is to say, the tardy and ungracious concession of the right of suffrage, which they may ultimately wrench from a reluctant community, will leave them still the political as well as social inferiors of the whites--excluded from all honorable office, and admitted to white men's tables only as waiters and plate-washers--unless they shall meantime have wrought out, through toil, privation and suffering, an intellectual and essential enfranchis.e.m.e.nt. At present, white men dread to be known as friendly to the black, because of the never-ending, still-beginning importunities to help this or that negro object of charity or philanthrophy to which such a reputation inevitably subjects them. Nine-tenths of the free blacks have no idea of setting themselves to work except as the hirelings and servitors of white men; no idea of building a church, or accomplishing any other serious enterprise, except through beggary of the whites. As a cla.s.s, the blacks are indolent, improvident, servile and licentious; and their inveterate habit of appealing to white benevolence or compa.s.sion whenever they realize a want or encounter a difficulty, is eminently baneful and enervating. If they could never more obtain a dollar until they shall have earned it, many of them would suffer, and some perhaps starve; but, on the whole, they would do better and improve faster than may now be reasonably expected."

In tracing the causes which led to the organization of the American Colonization Society, the statistics of the penitentiaries down to 1827, were given, as affording an index to the moral condition of the free colored people at that period. The facts of a similar kind, for 1850, are added here, to indicate their present moral condition. The statistics are compiled from the Compendium of the Census of the United States, for 1850, and published in 1854.

_Tabular Statement of the number of the native and foreign white population, the colored population, the number of each cla.s.s in the Penitentiaries, the proportion of the convicts to the whole number of each cla.s.s, the proportion of colored convicts over the foreign and also over the native whites, in the four States named, for the year_ 1850:

_Cla.s.ses, etc._ Ma.s.s._ _N. York._ _Penn._ _Ohio._ NATIVE WHITES, 819,044 2,388,830 1,953,276 1,732,698 In the Penitentiary, 264 835 205 291 Being 1 out of 3,102 2,860 9,528 5,954

FOREIGN WHITES, 163,598 655,224 303,105 218,099 In the Penitentiary, 125 545 123 71 Being 1 out of 1,308 1,202 2,464 3,077

COLORED POPULATION, 9,064 49,069 53,626 25,279 In the Penitentiary, 47 257 109 44 Being 1 out of 192 190 492 574

Colored convicts over foreign, 6.8 times 6.3 times 5 times 5.3 times

Colored convicts over native whites, 16.1 times 15 times 19.3 times 10.3 times

It appears from these figures, that the amount of crime among the colored people of Ma.s.sachusetts, in 1850, was 6 8/10 times greater than the amount among the foreign born population of that State, and that the amount, in the four States named, among the free colored people, averages _five-and-three-quarters_ times more, in proportion to their numbers, than it does among the foreign population, and over _fifteen_ times more than it does among the native whites. It will be instructive, also, to note the _moral condition_ of the free colored people in Ma.s.sachusetts, the great center of abolitionism, where they have enjoyed equal rights ever since 1780. Strange to say, there is nearly three times as much among them, in that State, as exists among those of Ohio!

More than this will be useful to note, as it regards the direction of the _emigration_ of the free colored people. Ma.s.sachusetts, in 1850, had but 2,687 colored persons born out of the State, while Ohio had 12,662 born out of her limits. Take another fact: the increase, _per cent._, of the colored population, in the whole New England States, was, during the ten years, from 1840 to 1850, but 1 71/100, while in Ohio, it was, during that time, 45 76/100.

There is another point worthy of notice. Though the New England abolition States have offered equal political rights to the colored man, it has afforded him little temptation to emigrate into their bounds. On the contrary, several of these States have been diminishing their free colored population, for many years past, and none of them can have had accessions of colored immigrants; as is abundantly proved by the fact, that their additions, of this cla.s.s of persons, have not exceeded the natural increase of the resident colored population.[71] Another fact is equally as instructive. It will be noted, that, in Ohio, the largest increase of the free colored population, is in the anti-abolition counties--the abolition counties, often, having increased very little, indeed, between 1840 and 1850. But the most curious fact is, that the largest majorities for the abolition candidate for governor, in 1855, were in the counties having the fewest colored people, while the largest majorities against him, were in those having the largest numbers of free negroes and mullatoes.[72] From these facts, both in regard to New England and Ohio, one of two conclusions may be logically deduced: Either the colored people find so little sympathy from the abolitionists, that they will not live among them; or else their presence, in any community, in large numbers, tends to cure the whites of all tendencies toward practical abolitionism!

FOOTNOTES:

[71] See Table IV, Appendix.

[72] See Table V, Appendix.

CHAPTER XVI.

Disappointment of English and American Abolitionists--Their failure attributed to the inherent evils of Slavery--Their want of discrimination--The differences in the system in the British Colonies and in the United States--Colored people of United States vastly in advance of all others--Success of the Gospel among the Slaves--_Democratic Review_ on African civilization--Vexation of Abolitionists at their failure--Their apology not to be accepted--Liberia attests its falsity--The barrier to the colored man's elevation removable only by Colonization--Colored men begin to see it--Chambers, of Edinburgh--His testimony on the crushing effects of New England's treatment of colored people--Charges Abolitionists with insincerity--Approves Colonization--Abolition violence rebuked by an English clergyman.

The condition of the free colored people can now be understood. The results, in their case, are vastly different from what was antic.i.p.ated, when British philanthropists succeeded in West India emanc.i.p.ation. They are very different, also, from what was expected by American abolitionists: so different, indeed, that their disappointment is fully manifested, in the extracts made from their published doc.u.ments. As an apology for the failure, it seems to be their aim to create the belief, that the dreadful moral depravation, existing in the West Indies, is wholly owing to the demoralizing tendencies of slavery. They speak of this effect as resulting from laws inherent in the system, which have no exceptions, and must be equally as active in the United States as in the British colonies. But in their zeal to cast odium on slavery, they prove too much--for, if this be true, it follows, that the slave population of the United States must be equally debased with that of Jamaica, and as much disqualified to discharge the duties of freemen, as both have been subjected to the operations of the same system. This is not all. The logic of the argument would extend even to our free colored people, and include them, according to the American Missionary a.s.sociation, in the dire effects of "that enduring legacy which, with its foul, pestilential influences, still blights, like the mildew of death, every thing in society that should be lovely, virtuous, and of good report." Now, were it believed, generally, that the colored people of the United States are equally as degraded as those of Jamaica, upon what grounds could any one advocate the admission of the blacks to equal social and political privileges with the whites? Certainly, no Christian family or community would willingly admit such men to terms of social or political equality!

This, we repeat, is the logical conclusion from the Reports of the American Missionary a.s.sociation and the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society--a conclusion, too, the more certain, as it makes no exceptions between the condition of the colored people under the slavery of Jamaica and under that of the United States.

But in this, as in much connected with slavery, abolitionists have taken too limited a view of the subject. They have not properly discriminated between the effects of the original barbarism of the negroes, and those produced by the more or less favorable influences to which they were afterward subjected under slavery. This point deserves special notice.

According to the best authorities, the colored people of Jamaica, for nearly three hundred years, were entirely without the gospel; and it gained a permanent footing among them, only at a few points, at their emanc.i.p.ation, twenty-five years ago; so that, when liberty reached them, the great ma.s.s of the Africans, in the British West Indies, were heathen.[73] Let us understand the reason of this. Slavery is not an element of human progress, under which the mind necessarily becomes enlightened; but Christianity is the _primary_ element of progress, and can elevate the savage, whether in bondage or in freedom, if its principles are taught him in his youth. The slavery of Jamaica began with savage men. For three hundred years, its slaves were dest.i.tute of the gospel, and their barbarism was left to perpetuate itself. But in the United States, the Africans were brought under the influence of Christianity, on their first introduction, over two hundred and thirty years since, and have continued to enjoy its teachings, in a greater or less degree, to the present moment. The disappearance from among our colored people, of the savage condition of the human mind--the incapacity to comprehend religious truths--and its continued existence among those of Jamaica, can now be understood. The opportunities enjoyed by the former, for advancement, over the latter, have been _six_ to _one_. With these facts before the mind, it is not difficult to perceive that the colored population of Jamaica can not but still labor under the disadvantages of hereditary barbarism and involuntary servitude, with the superadded misfortune of being inadequately supplied with Christian instruction, along with their recent acquisition of freedom.

But while all this must be admitted, of the colored people of Jamaica, it is not true of those of our own country; for, long since, they have cast off the heathenism of their fathers, and have become enlightened in a very encouraging degree. Hence it is, that the colored people of the United States, both bond and free, have made vastly greater progress, than those of the British West Indies, in their knowledge of moral duties and the requirements of the gospel; and hence, too, it is, that Gerrit Smith is right, in a.s.serting that the demoralized condition of the great ma.s.s of the free colored people, in our cities, is inexcusable, and deserving of the utmost reprobation, because it is _voluntary_--they knowing their duty but abandoning themselves to degrading habits.

This brings us to another point of great moment. It will be denied by but few--and by none maintaining the natural equality of the races--that the free colored people of the United States are sufficiently enlightened, to be elevated by education, in an encouraging degree, where proper restraints from vice, and encouragements to virtue prevail.

A large portion, even, of the slave population, are similarly enlightened. We speak not of the state of the morals of either cla.s.s.

As the public are not well informed, in relation to the extent to which the religious instruction of the slaves at the South prevails, the following information will prove interesting, and show that a good work has long been in progress, and has been producing its fruits:

"The South Carolina Methodist Conference have a missionary committee devoted entirely to promoting the religious instruction of the slave population, which has been in existence twenty-six years. The Report[74]

of the last year shows a greater degree of activity than is generally known. They have twenty-six missionary stations in which thirty-two missionaries are employed. The Report affirms that public opinion in South Carolina is decidedly in favor of the religious instruction of slaves, and that it has become far more general and systematic than formerly. It also claims a great degree of success to have attended the labors of the missionaries."

The Report of the Missionary Board, of the Louisiana Conference, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1855, says:[75]

"It is stated upon good authority, that the number of colored members in the Church South, exceeds that of the entire membership of all the Protestant missions in the world. What an enterprise is this committed to our care! The position we, of the Methodist Church South, have taken for the African, has, to a great extent, cut us off from the sympathy of the Christian Church throughout the world; and it behooves us to make good this position in the sight of G.o.d, of angels, of men, of churches, and to our own consciences, by presenting before the throne of His glory mult.i.tudes of the souls of these benighted ones abandoned to our care, as the seals of our ministry. Already Lousiana promises to be one vast plantation. Let us--we must gird ourselves for this Heaven-born enterprise of supplying the pure gospel to the slave. The great question is, How can the greatest number be preached to?--The building roadside chapels is as yet the best solution of it. In some cases planters build so as to accommodate adjoining plantations, and by this means the preacher addresses three hundred or more slaves, instead of one hundred or less. Economy of this kind is absolutely essential where the labor of the missionary is so much needed and demanded.

"On the Lafourche and Bayou Black Missionwork, several chapels are in process of erection, upon a plan which enables the slave, as his master, to make an offering towards building a house of G.o.d. Instead of money, the hands subscribe labor. Timber is plenty; many of the servants are carpenters. Upon many of the plantations are saw mills. Here is much material; what hindereth that we should build a church on every tenth plantation? Let us maintain our policy steadily. Time and diligence are required to effect substantial good, especially in this department of labor. Let us continue to ask for buildings adapted to the worship of G.o.d, and set apart; to urge, when practicable, the preaching to blacks in the presence of their masters, their overseers, and the neighbors generally."

"One of the effects of the great revival among colored people has been the establishment of a regular system of prayer-meetings for their benefit. Meetings are held every night during the week at the tobacco factories, the proprietors of which have been kind enough to place those edifices at the disposal of the colored brethren. The owners of the several factories preside over these meetings, and the most absolute good conduct is exhibited."[76]

"In Newbern, N. C., the slaves have a large church of their own, which is well attended. They pay a salary of $500 per annum to their white minister. They have likewise a negro preacher in their employ, whom they purchased from his master.[77]

And Newbern in this respect is not isolated. For in nearly every town of any size in the Southern States, the colored people have their churches, and what is more than is always known at the North, _they sustain their churches and pay their ministers_,[78]

"_Resolved_, that the religious instruction of our _colored population_ be affectionately and earnestly commended to the ministry and eldership of our churches generally, as opening to us a field of most obligatory and interesting Christian effort, in which we are called to labor more faithfully and fully, by our regard for our social interests, as well as by the higher considerations of duty to G.o.d and the souls of our fellow men.[79]

The following extracts are copied from the _New York Observer_, of the present year:

The Presbytery of Roanoke, Virginia, (O. S.) has addressed a Pastoral letter, on the instruction of the colored people, to the churches under its care, and ordered the same to be read in all the churches of the Presbytery, in those that are vacant, as well as where there are pastors or stated supplies. It commences by saying: "Among the important interests of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, which have claimed our special attention since the organization of the Presbytery in April last,--that the work of the Lord may be vigorously and efficiently carried forward within our bounds,--_the religious instruction of the colored people_, is hardly to be placed second to any other." After speaking of the obstacles and encouragements to the work, it gives the following statistics:

"In the Presbytery of Charleston, S. C., 1637 out of 2889 members, or considerably over one-half, are colored. In the whole Synod of South Carolina, 5,009 out of 13,074, are colored members. The Presbyteries of Mississippi and Central Mississippi, of Tuscaloosa and South Alabama, of Georgia, of Concord, and Fayetteville, also show many churches with large proportions of colored communicants, from one-third to one-seventh of the whole. Our own Presbytery reports 276 out of 1737 members. In the whole of the above mentioned bodies, there are 9,076 colored, out of 33,667 communicants. Among the churches of these Presbyteries, we find twenty with an aggregate colored membership of 3,600, or an average of 130 to each. We find also, such large figures as these, 260, 333, 356, 525! These facts speak for themselves and forbid discouragement."

Speaking of the obligations to instruct this cla.s.s, the letter says:

"But these people are _among_ us, at our doors, in our own fields, and around our firesides! If they need instruction, then the command of our Lord, and every obligation of benevolence, call us to the work of teaching them, with all industry, the doctrines of Christ. The _first and kindest_ outgoings of our Christian compa.s.sion should be toward them. They are not only near us, but are also entirely _dependent_ upon us. As to all means of securing religious privileges for themselves, and as to energy and self-directing power, they are but children,--forced to look to their masters for every supply. From this arises an obligation, at once imperative, and of most solemn and momentous significance to us, to make thorough provision for their religious instruction, to the full extent that we are able to provide it for ourselves. This obligation acquires great additional force when it is further considered, that besides proximity and dependence, they are indeed _members of our_ '_households_.' As the three hundred and eighteen 'trained servants' of Abraham were 'born in his own house;' i. e., were born and bred as members of his _household_, so are our servants. Of course no argument is needed, to show that every man is bound by high and sacred obligations, for the discharge of which he must give account, to provide his _family_ suitably, or to the extent of his ability, with the means of grace and salvation.

After dwelling on the duties of the ministry, the letter goes on:

"But the work of Christianizing our colored population can never be accomplished by the labors of the ministry alone, unaided by the hearty co-operation of families, by carrying on a system of _home instruction_.

_We must begin with the children._ For if the children of our servants be left to themselves during their early years, this neglect must of necessity beget two enormous evils. Evil habits will be rapidly acquired and strengthened; since if children are not learning good, they will be learning what is bad. And having thus grown up both ignorant and vicious, they will have no inclination to go to the Lord's house; or if they should go, their minds will be found so dark, so entirely unacquainted with the rudimental language and truths of the gospel, that much of the preaching must at first prove unintelligible, unprofitable at the time, and so uninteresting as to discourage further attendance.

In every regard, therefore, masters are bound to see that religious instruction is provided at home for their people, especially for the young.

"If there be no other to undertake the work, (the mistress, or the children of the family,) the master is bound to deny himself and discharge the duty. It is for him to see that the thing is properly done; for the whole responsibility rests on him at last. It usually, however, devolves upon the mistress, or upon the younger members of the family, where there are children qualified for it, to perform this service. Some of our young men, and, _to their praise be it spoken_, still more of our young women, have willingly given themselves to this self-denying labor; in aid of their parents, or as a duty which they themselves owe to Christ their Redeemer, and to their fellow creatures.

We take this occasion, gladly, to bid all these 'G.o.d speed' in their work of love. Co-workers together with us, we praise you for this. We bid you take courage. Let no dullness, indifference, or neglect, weary out your patience. You are laboring for Christ, and for precious souls.

You are doing a work the importance of which _eternity_ will fully reveal. You will be blessed, too, in your deed even now. This labor will prove to you an important means of grace. You will have something to pray for, and will enjoy the pleasing consciousness, that you are not idlers in the Lord's vineyard. You will be winning stars for your crowns of rejoicing through eternity. Grant that it will cost you much self-denial. Can you, notwithstanding, consent to see these immortal beings growing up in ignorance and vice, at your very doors?

"The methods of carrying on the home instruction are various, and we are abundantly supplied with the needful facilities. We need not name the reading of the Bible; and judiciously selected sermons, to be read to the adults when they cannot attend preaching, should not be omitted.

Catechetical instruction, by means of such excellent aids as our own 'Catechism for young children,' and 'Jones' Catechism of Scripture doctrine and practice,' will of course be resorted to; together with teaching them _hymns_ and _singing with them_. The reading to them, for variety, such engaging and instructive stories as are found in the 'Children's column' of some of our best religious papers; and suitable Sabbath school, or other juvenile books, such as 'The Peep of Day,'

'Line upon Line,' etc., will, in many cases, prove an excellent aid, in imbuing their minds with religious truth. _Masters should not spare expense or trouble_, to provide liberally these various helps to those who take this work in hand, to aid and encourage them to the utmost in their self-denying toil.

"Brethren, the time is propitious to urge your attention to this important duty. A deep and constantly increasing interest in the work, is felt throughout the South. Just at this time, also, extensively throughout portions of our territory, an unusual awakening has been showing itself among the colored people. It becomes us, and it is of vital importance on every account, by judicious instruction, both to guide the movement, and to improve the opportunity.

"We commend this whole great interest to the Divine blessing; and, under G.o.d, to your conscientious reflection, to devise the proper ways; and to your faithful Christian zeal, to accomplish whatever your wisdom may devise and approve."