Thoughts on African Colonization Part 11

'The existence, within the very bosom of our country, of an anomalous race of beings, the most debased upon earth, who neither enjoy the blessings of freedom, nor are yet in the bonds of slavery, is a great national evil, which every friend of his country most deeply deplores. They const.i.tute a large ma.s.s of human beings, who hang as a vile excrescence upon society--the objects of a low debasing envy to our slaves, and to ourselves of universal suspicion and distrust.' * * 'If this process were continued a second term of duplication, it would produce the extraordinary result of forty white men to one black in the country--a state of things in which we should not only cease to feel the burdens which now hang so heavily upon us, but actually regard the poor African as an object of curiosity, and not uneasiness.' * * 'Enough, under favorable circ.u.mstances, might be removed for a few successive years--if young _females_ were encouraged to go--to keep the whole colored population in check.'--[African Repository, vol. vii. pp. 230, 232, 246.]

'The existence of such a population among us is a most manifest evil. And every year adds to its threatening aspect. They are more than a sixth of our population! Their ratio of increase exceeds that of the whites. They have all the lofty and immortal powers of man. And the time must arrive, when they will fearlessly claim the prerogatives of man. They may do it in the spirit of revenge. They may do it in the spirit of desperation.

And the result of such a mustering of their energies--who can look at it even in distant prospect without horror? Almost as numerous are they now, as our whole population when this nation stood forth for freedom in a contest with the mightiest power of the civilized world. And if nothing is done to _arrest their increase_, we shall have in twenty years four millions of slaves; in forty years eight millions; in sixty years sixteen millions, and a million of free blacks;--seventeen millions of people; seven millions more than our present white population;--enough for a powerful empire! And how can they be governed? Who can foretel those scenes of carnage and terror which our own children may witness, unless a seasonable remedy be applied? The remedy is now within our reach. _We can stop their increase_; we can diminish their number.'--[Rev. Baxter d.i.c.kinson's Sermon delivered at Springfield, Ma.s.s. in 1829.]

'We have a numerous people, who, though they are among us, are not of us; who are aliens and outcasts in the land of their birth. A people whose condition is degraded and miserable; who, so far from adding to our national strength, are an element of weakness, and detract from the amount of human effort. A people, whose condition, while it excites our commiseration, must awaken our fears.' * * 'Those persons of color who have been emanc.i.p.ated, are only nominally free; and the whole race, so long as they remain among us, and whether they be slaves or free, must _necessarily_ be kept in a condition full of wretchedness to them and full of danger to the whites. This view of the subject is rendered the more alarming by the rapid increase of this portion of our population.'--[Second Annual Report of the New-York State Colonization Society, pp. 4, 34.]

'We would ask, whence have the troubles, which have taken place among the slaves of Louisiana, originated? Trace the causes, and we will invariably find them to have proceeded from the suggestions and officious interferences of the free blacks.

Their very existence in our limits, enjoying supposed independence, excites the envy and dissatisfaction of the slaves. The latter naturally inquire, why is it, that persons of the same color, are permitted to possess more privileges than they do?... We know the danger to which we are exposed from such a cla.s.s of beings living in the very heart of our population, and increasing greatly every year.'--[An advocate of the Society in the New-Orleans Argus.]

'Among us the free negroes are multiplying rapidly; both conscience and religion, as well as propagation, increase them, and, unless instant and decisive steps are taken to prevent their increase, you will soon have 50,000 _determined and vengeful enemies_ in the heart of your country, protected there by the const.i.tution, forsooth, by which it seems we are forbidden to expel the free negroes, or to prevent farther importations of this deadly pest in the persons of slaves.'--[Louisville Focus.]

'Will not the people of the United States be induced to do something to remove their colored population? I refer to their condition, whether bond or free. They are wretched and dangerous, and should be removed. And the danger arises, not because we have thousands of slaves within our borders, but because there are nearly two millions of colored men, who are by necessity any thing rather than loyal citizens.'--[Address by Gabriel P. Disosway, Esq.]

'It is not now a novel or a debateable proposition, that slavery is a great moral and political curse. It is equally clear that its mult.i.tudinous evils are greatly increased by the existence among us of a mongrel population, who, freed from the shackles of bondage, yet bear about them the badge of inferiority, stamped upon them indelibly by the hand of nature, and are therefore deprived of those rights of citizenship, without which they must necessarily be a degraded caste--depraved in morals and vicious in conduct, and _exercising a mischievous and dangerous influence over those to whom they are nominally superior_. Their mere existence among the slaves is sufficient, of itself, to excite in the bosoms of the latter a feeling of dissatisfaction with their own condition, apparently worse, because of the coercion to labor which it imposes; but essentially better, because of the comforts which that labor procures, and of which the idle and dissolute habits of the free negro almost invariably deprive him. The slave, however, is not capable of reasoning correctly, if he reasons at all, on these truths. He envies the free negro his idleness, and his freedom from restraint, with all its attendant disadvantages of poverty and disease, crime and punishment--and hence, he will sometimes indulge the delusive dream of effecting his own emanc.i.p.ation by the murder of those who hold him in bondage. Take away from him this cause of dissatisfaction, and this incentive to insurrection, and then these "impracticable hopes," which now sometimes flit before his imagination, will no longer embitter his hours of labor, and urge him to the commission of those horrid deeds of ma.s.sacre, which, though they may glut a momentary revenge, must result disastrously, not only to the slaves engaged immediately in their perpetration, but to all that unfortunate race. Our true interests require that they shall remove from among us--and no longer be a source of disquietude to the whites, _of envy to the slaves_, and of degradation to themselves.'--[Lynchburg (Va.) Virginian.]

'For the most conclusive reasons this removal should be to Africa. If it be to the West Indies, to Texas, to Canada, then, how strong and various the objections to building up, in the vicinity of our own nation, a mighty empire, from a race of men, _so unlike ourselves_? But, if the removal be to Africa, then it is to a _happy distance_ from us and to their father land....

Then let it aid in removing that population, which, under its peculiar relation to the whites, and under its degrading social and civil disabilities, is a most fruitful source of national dishonor, demoralization, weakness and _horrid danger_.'--[Memorial of the New-York State Colonization Society.]

'The males removed should be persons between 16 and 17 years of age; the females between 13 and 14. Now as a number would be annually removed equal to the whole increase, and as that number would be composed of individuals, of such ages that their removal would affect the future increase of the race in the greatest possible degree, I believe that their numbers would not only not increase, but would diminish. And the number removed might be increased as the proportion of white persons in the State became greater, until the removal reached a point at which all the males who attained the age of sixteen, and all the females who attained the age of fourteen, in any given year, would during that year be removed.'--[Petersburg (Va.) Times.]

'They are well calculated to render the slaves sullen, discontented, unhappy and refractory--and the masters suspicious, fearful of consequences, and disposed to enhance the rigor of the condition of their slaves, in order to avert the dangers that appear to impend over them from the promulgation of the anti-slavery doctrines; thus, in this case, as in so many others, the imprudent zeal of friends is likely to produce as much substantial injury as the animosity of decided enemies could accomplish.'--[Mathew Carey's Essays.]

'Hatred to the whites is, with the exception in some cases of an attachment to the person and family of the master, nearly universal among the black population. We have then a foe, cherished in our very bosoms--a foe willing to draw our life-blood whenever the opportunity is offered, and, in the mean time, intent upon doing us all the mischief in his power.'--[Southern Religious Telegraph.]

Does the reader wish for any additional proof that the governing motive of the American Colonization Society is fear--undisguised, _excessive_ FEAR? Language is altogether inadequate to express my indignation and contempt, in view of such a heartless and cowardly exhibition of sentiment. There is a deep sense of guilt, an awful dread of retribution, manifested in the foregoing extracts; but we perceive no evidence of contrition for past or present injustice, on the part of those terror-stricken plotters. Instead of returning to those, whom they have so deeply injured, 'with repenting and undissembling love;'

instead of seeking to conciliate and remunerate the victims of their prejudice and oppression; instead of resolving to break the yoke of servitude and let the oppressed go free; it seems to be their only anxiety and aim to outwit the vengeance of Heaven, and strengthen the bulwarks of tyranny, by expelling the free people of color from our sh.o.r.es, and effecting such a diminution of the number of slaves as shall give the white population a triumphant and irresistible superiority!

'_Check the increase!_' is their cry--'let us retain in everlasting bondage as many as we can, _safely_; but the proportion must be at least ten millions of ourselves to two millions of our va.s.sals, else we shall live in jeopardy! To do justly is not our intention; we only mean to remove the surplus of our present stock; we think we shall be able, by this prudent device, to oppress and rob with impunity. Our present wailing is not for our heinous crimes, but only because our avarice and cruelty have carried us beyond our ability to protect ourselves: we lament, not because we hold so large a number in fetters of iron, but because we cannot safely hold more!'

Ye crafty calculators! ye hard-hearted, incorrigible sinners! ye greedy and relentless robbers! ye contemners of justice and mercy! ye trembling, pitiful, pale-faced usurpers! my soul spurns you with unspeakable disgust. Know ye not that the reward of your hands shall be given you? 'Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far?

to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?'--'What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord G.o.d of hosts.'--'Behold, the hire of the laborers which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.' Repent! repent! _now_, in sackcloth and ashes. Think not to succeed in your expulsive crusade; you cannot hide your motives from the Great Searcher of hearts; and if a sinful worm of the dust, like myself, is fired with indignation at your dastardly behaviour and mean conspiracy to evade repentance and punishment, how must the anger of Him, whose holiness and justice are infinite, burn against you? Is it not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living G.o.d? You may plot by day and by night; you may heap together the treasures of the land, and multiply and enlarge your combinations, to extricate yourselves from peril; but _you cannot succeed_. Your only alternative is, either to redress the wrongs of the oppressed _now_, and humble yourselves before G.o.d, or prepare for the chastis.e.m.e.nts of Heaven. I repeat it--REPENTANCE or PUNISHMENT must be yours.

There are several points upon which I wish to fasten the attention of the reader:

1. The inhumanity and craftiness of these propositions for the removal of the free people of color.

It will be seen that the conspirators have taxed their ingenuity to the utmost, to ascertain the exact number of emigrants which must be transported annually, the amount of money that must be raised, the persons that must be selected, the number of vessels that must be employed, &c. &c. It is their determination, if the necessary means can be obtained, to transport the annual increase of our colored population; but in this calculation we find no allowance made for unwillingness or resistance on the part of those who are the objects of their supervision. It is taken for granted that all will be induced to go into exile, or must be made willing compulsorily. Nothing else is contemplated but their entire expulsion. In order to insure a reduction of this 'alarming increase,' and effectually to check the fruitfulness of generation, even the unmanly and scandalous proposition is made to remove princ.i.p.ally those of both s.e.xes who are just come to the age of p.u.b.erty! The system of _espionage_, established by Napoleon to prevent the possibility of a successful conspiracy, was not more detestable and observant than is this violent and unnatural project. 'If young _females_ were encouraged to go'!--why, then they could not propagate here! Infamous calculation!

2. The princ.i.p.al object avowed for the removal of the free people of color, is, their corruptive and dangerous influence over the slave population.

It is demonstrated, then, beyond disputation, that this removal will infuse new strength into the tottering system of slavery, tighten the grasp of the masters upon the throats of the slaves, lull them into a profound and quiet sleep, postpone the hour of emanc.i.p.ation, and enhance the security and value of slave property. The terror of mind which calls for this separation cannot be benevolence, and the combination which seeks to effect it cannot merit support. It were folly to hope that the owners of slaves will ultimately emanc.i.p.ate them, from conscientious motives. In the first place, they affect to be innocent in holding their victims in servitude; secondly, they are a.s.sured by their colonization brethren that they are not guilty of oppression, but, on the contrary, are watchful guardians; and lastly, they are obstinate in shutting their eyes upon the light, and kindle into a rage on being arraigned for their tyrannous conduct. Our only ground of hope, then, is in increasing the difficulty of holding their slaves, in multiplying the causes of their apprehensions, in destroying the value of slave labor, and in making their situation full of disquietude and distress. Such a course is not inconsistent with benevolence--such a course we are obligated to pursue, as we value the present and everlasting welfare of the oppressor and the oppressed, and desire to have a conscience void of offence toward G.o.d and toward man. It may--it _must_ be effected by a scrupulous abstinence from the productions of slavery; by encouraging planters to cultivate their lands by the hands of free laborers; by educating our free colored population, and placing them on an equality with ourselves; and by constantly exhibiting the criminality of holding rational and immortal beings in servile bondage. Thus, and thus only, shall we be able to liberate our enslaved countrymen.

3. Consider the inevitable consequence of these reiterated and malignant statements, with regard to the habits and designs of the free people of color.

First, it deters a large number of masters from liberating their slaves, and hence directly perpetuates the evils of slavery: it deters them for two reasons--an unwillingness to augment the wretchedness of those who are in servitude by turning them loose upon the country, and a dread of increasing the number of their enemies. It creates and nourishes the bitterest animosity against the free blacks. It has spread an alarm among all cla.s.ses of society, in all parts of the country; and, acting under this fearful impulse, they begin to persecute, believing self-preservation imperiously calls for this severe treatment. The legislative enactment of Ohio, which not long since drove many of the colored inhabitants of that State into Upper Canada, was the legitimate fruit of the anathemas of the Colonization Society. A bill has been reported in the same legislature for preventing free people of color from partic.i.p.ating in the benefit of the common school fund, in order to hasten their expulsion from the State! Other States are multiplying similar disabilities, and hanging heavier weights upon their free colored population. The Legislature of Louisiana has enacted that whosoever shall make use of language, in any public discourse, from the bar, the bench, the pulpit, the stage, or in any other place whatsoever shall make use of language, in any private discourses, or shall make use of signs or actions having a tendency to produce discontent among the colored population, shall suffer imprisonment at hard labor, not less than three years, nor more than twenty-one years, or DEATH, at the discretion of the court!! It has also prohibited the instruction of the blacks in Sabbath Schools--$500 penalty for the first offence--DEATH for the second!! The Legislature of Virginia has pa.s.sed a bill which subjects all free negroes who shall be convicted of remaining in the commonwealth contrary to law, to the liability of _being sold by the sheriff_. All meetings of free negroes, at any school-house or meeting-house, for teaching them reading or writing, are declared an unlawful a.s.sembly; and it is made the duty of any justice of the peace to issue his warrant to enter the house where such unlawful a.s.semblage is held, for the purpose of apprehending or dispersing such free negroes. A fine is to be imposed on every white person who instructs at such meetings. All emanc.i.p.ated slaves, who shall remain more than twelve months, contrary to law, shall revert to the executors as a.s.sets. Laws have been pa.s.sed in Georgia and North Carolina, imposing a heavy tax or imprisonment on every free person of color who shall come into their ports in the capacity of stewards, cooks, or seamen of any vessels belonging to the non-slaveholding States. The Legislature of Tennessee has pa.s.sed an act forbidding free blacks from coming into the State to remain more than twenty days. The penalty is a fine of from ten to fifty dollars, and confinement in the penitentiary from one to two years.

Double the highest penalty is to be inflicted after the first offence.

The act also prohibits manumission, without an immediate removal from the State. The last Legislature of Maryland pa.s.sed a bill, by which no free negro or mulatto is allowed to emigrate to, or settle in the State, under the penalty of fifty dollars for every week's residence therein; and if he refuse or neglect to pay such fine, he shall be committed to jail and sold by the sheriff at public sale; and no person shall employ or harbor him, under the penalty of twenty dollars for every day he shall be so employed, hired or harbored! It is not lawful for any free blacks to attend any meetings for religious purposes, unless conducted by a _white_ licensed or ordained preacher, or some respectable white person duly authorised! All free colored persons residing in the State, are compelled to register their names, ages, &c. &c.; and if any negro or mulatto shall remove from the State, and remain without the limits thereof for a s.p.a.ce longer than thirty consecutive days, unless before leaving the State he deposits with the clerk of the county in which he resides, _a written statement of his object in doing so_, and his intention of returning again, or unless he shall have been detained by sickness or coercion, _of which he shall bring a certificate_, he shall be regarded as a resident of another State, and be subject, if he return, to the penalties imposed by the foregoing provisions upon free negroes and mulattoes of another State, migrating to Maryland! It is not lawful for any person or persons to purchase of any free negro or mulatto any articles, unless he produce a certificate from a justice of the peace, or three respectable persons residing in his neighborhood, that he or they have reason to believe, and do believe, that such free negro or mulatto came honestly and bona fide into possession of any such articles so offered for sale! A bill has been reported to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, which enacts, that from and after a specified time, no negro or mulatto shall be permitted to emigrate into and settle in that State, without entering into bond in the penal sum of _five hundred dollars_, conditioned for his good behavior. If he neglect or refuse to comply with this requisition, such punishment shall be inflicted upon him as is now directed in the case of vagrants. Free colored residents are not to be allowed to migrate from one township or county to another, without producing a certificate from the Clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions, or a Justice of the Peace, or an Alderman!

The pa.s.sage of a similar law has been urged even upon the Legislature of Ma.s.sachusetts by a writer in the Salem Gazette!

All these proscriptive measures, and others less conspicuous but equally oppressive,--which are not only flagrant violations of the Const.i.tution of the United States, but in the highest degree disgraceful and inhuman,--are resorted to, (to borrow the language of the Secretary in his Fifteenth Annual Report,) 'for the more complete accomplishment of the great objects of the American Colonization Society'!!

I appeal to the candor and common sense of the reader, if this grievous persecution be not justly chargeable to the Society? It is constantly thundering in the ears of the slave States--'Your free blacks contaminate your slaves, excite their deadliest hate, and are a source of _horrid danger_ to yourselves! They must be removed, or your destruction is inevitable!' What is their response? Precisely such as might be expected--'We know it; we dread the presence of this cla.s.s; their influence over our slaves weakens our power, and endangers our safety; they must, _they shall_ be expatriated, or be crushed to the earth if they remain!' It says to the free States--'Your colored population can never be rendered serviceable, intelligent or loyal; they will only, and always, serve to increase your taxes, crowd your poor-houses and penitentiaries, and corrupt and impoverish society!'

Again, what is the natural response?--'It is even so; they are offensive to the eye, and a pest in community; theirs is now, and must inevitably be, without a reversal of the laws of nature, the lot of vagabonds; it were useless to attempt their intellectual and moral improvement among ourselves; and therefore be this their alternative--either to emigrate to Liberia, or remain for ever a despicable caste in this country!'

Hence the enactment of those sanguinary laws, to which reference has been made: hence, too, the increasing disposition which is every where seen to render the situation of the free blacks intolerable. Never was it so pitiable and distressing--so full of peril and anxiety--so burdened with misery, despondency and scorn; never were the prejudices of society so virulent and implacable against them; never were their prospects so dark, and dreary, and hopeless; never was the hand of power so heavily laid upon their limbs; never were they so restricted in regard to locomotion and the advantages of education, as at the present time. Athwart their sky scarcely darts a single ray of light--above and around them darkness reigns, and an angry tempest is mustering its fearful strength, and 'thunders are uttering their voices.' Treachery is seeking to decoy, and violence to expel them. For all this, and more than this, and more that is to come, the American Colonization Society is responsible. And no better evidence is needed than this: THEIR PERSECUTION, TRADUCEMENT AND WRETCHEDNESS INCREASE IN EXACT RATIO WITH THE INFLUENCE, POPULARITY AND EXTENSION OF THIS SOCIETY! The fact is undeniable, and it is conclusive. For it is absurd to suppose, that as the disposition and ability of an a.s.sociation to alleviate misery increase, so will the degradation and suffering of the objects of its charities.

The a.s.sertion that the free blacks corrupt the morals of the slaves, is too ludicrous to need a serious refutation. Corrupt the morals of those who are recognized and treated as brutes, and who know as little of the laws of G.o.d as of the laws of the land! Immaculate creatures! The system of slavery is constantly developing new excellencies: it is, we now perceive, the protector of virtue, the enemy of vice, and a purifier of the soul!

But something more indiscreet and preposterous than this, is advanced for our admiration. We are gravely a.s.sured, first, by a New-England clergyman, that, generally, the condition of the free man of color 'is one in comparison with which the condition of the slave is _enviable_;'

and, secondly, by the last distinguished convert to the Colonization Society--the Hon. Mr. Archer of Virginia--'the condition of the slave is _a thousand times_ the best, [the disparity is wonderful!]--_supplied_, _protected_, instead of _dest.i.tute_ and _desolate_'![Q] Let us draw a brief comparison. The limbs of the free black are fetterless; he is controlled by no brutal driver; he bleeds not under the lash; he is his own master; his wife and children cannot be torn from his arms; he enjoys the fruits of his own labor; he can improve his own mind, make his own bargains, manage his own business, go from place to place, and a.s.sert his own rights. The situation and privileges of the slave are exactly the reverse. Reader, are they 'enviable'--'a thousand times the best'--in comparison with those of the former? I do not mean to say that there are no instances in which the slave fares as well as the free man of color; but the argument of these apologists implies that a state of slavery is superior to a state of freedom, or it is worthless.

4. It appears, from the quotations that have been given, that the only reason why the free blacks are not colonized in the 'far West,' or in Canada, or Hayti, or Mexico, is, because their proximity to the slave States might prove detrimental. If they could be sent to any or to all these places, without any danger to ourselves, why then all objections would cease. This confession places the hypocrisy of this Society in bold relief. It pretends to be anxious to evangelize benighted Africa, and stop the slave trade; but only a.s.sure it that the blacks may be safely colonized nearer home, and Africa might still continue to grope in darkness, and the slave trade to increase in enormity, and its bowels of compa.s.sion would speedily cease to yearn!--Hence it is that the rapid enlargement of the Wilberforce Settlement in Upper Canada so disturbs the repose of the advocates of African colonization; and many of them would rejoice at its overthrow.

FOOTNOTES:

[P] How very strange that the slave should 'regard as tyranny and injustice the authority which compels him to labor' without recompense!!!

[Q] Paupers and criminals are supplied and _protected_. How invidious to treat them so generously, and leave honest, hard-working men exposed to dest.i.tution and abandonment! They ought to be sent to the poor-house or penitentiary forthwith.

SECTION VII.

THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY AIMS AT THE UTTER EXPULSION OF THE BLACKS.

The implacable spirit of this Society is most apparent in its determination not to cease from its labors, until our whole colored population be expelled from the country. The following is the evidence in confirmation of this charge:

'How came we by this population? By the prevalence for a century of a guilty commerce. And will not the prevalence for a century of a restoring commerce, place them on their own sh.o.r.es? Yes, surely!'--[African Repository, vol. i. p. 347.]

'For several years the subject of abolition of slavery has been brought before you. I am decidedly opposed to the project recommended. NO SCHEME OF ABOLITION WILL MEET MY SUPPORT, THAT LEAVES THE EMANc.i.p.aTED BLACKS AMONG US. Experience has proved, that they become a corrupt and degraded cla.s.s, as burthensome to themselves as they are hurtful to the rest of society. To permit the blacks to remain amongst us, after their emanc.i.p.ation, would be to aggravate and not to cure the evil.'--[Idem, vol. ii. pp.

188, 189.]

'We would say, LIBERATE THEM ONLY ON CONDITION OF THEIR GOING TO AFRICA OR TO HAYTI.'--[Idem, vol. iii. p. 26.]