Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

as one, in which the master and slave are alone interested. The rights of community at large, are seldom if ever, taken into consideration; and yet means unimportant points, in the discussion of the subject. A large numbe States hold no slaves; and within the slaveholding States, more especially tucky and Missouri, a large and respectable portion of our citizens are per from the crime and its profits. That these have a right to be protected fro fatal consequences of immediate emancipation, they at least, have no doubt they ground upon the fundamental law of society, which gives the commu protect itself against a portion of its own citizens, by restricting and co rights, when incompatible with the interests of the whole. The white app free borne, and entitled to the unqualified use of his own limbs, and the ag of his own labor, in an abstract point of view, and this as fully, and comple one year or period of his life as during any other, is nevertheless by the 1 (which by the way he has no voice in making,) condemned to a qualified seven years of his life; and so general and unquestionable are the beneficial servitude, that its propriety, and the right of society to impose it, are never Other instances in the laws of all civilized societies in relation to pauper women, corroborate and sustain the general principle. This right of soc duty, and should be exercised, not only in reference to the present generati terity.

The abolitionists contend that slavery is a crime and that immediate, emancipation is the only remedy; that it is the duty of the masters, and p all concerned. Slaveholders generally admit the evil, but contend that a assassinations, Southampton tragedies and anarchy, (which they say would of immediate emancipation) are greater crimes, and that it is not their d which will terminate in the extermination by violence, of either the blacks To this the abolitionists reply, "You are interested in this question in a p of view!—your testimony as witnesses, and your decision as judges cann received; your fears are the result of your cupidity and their sincerity may tioned." The slaveholder answers "We have correct means of judging up you have not. We know intimately, and not by report, the character, fee positions of our slaves, you do not. In the experiment of emancipation w ved, not only our property in slaves, but all our property, and the lives and selves, our wives and our children; while your only stake is a mere matter Let us turn from the opinions of these interested' and 'ignorant judges, t standing indifferent, between the parties, and relieved, if not of all inter hat-pecuniary interest-which the law lays down as the ground of incor The citizens of the State of Ohio, are by birth, education and habits, op y; so much so that slaveholders seldom think it worth their while, to atter unaways in that state. Every legal obstacle is thrown in the way of such vhen such means fail, slaves are often rescued from their reclaiming master ecreted from subsequent arrest. Now notwithstanding this general sentim eedom, and the small number of free blacks in the State, she has been evere laws against the influx of blacks by laying them under regulations n heir power to comply with. The burden and danger of such a population elings of humanity towards them. Again; it is known to most of those cquaintance with the proceedings of the Colonization Society, that many aveholders in the Southern States, have liberated their slaves and even ith an outfit, on condition of their emigration to Liberia. This testimony e expense and loss of hundreds, and in some cases thousands of dollars, aims to disinterestedness. These same individuals would, however, und the danger of emancipation upon the soil, have felt it their duty to retai avery, if no means nor place were provided for their emigration from the The citizens of the free States bordering immediately upon the slavel d also those citizens of the slaveholding States, who own and hold no sl

mere opinions go, these are certainly entitled to much weight, but facts are preferable to opinions.

The objections to immediate, unconditional emancipation are that it is dangerous to society, and unproductive of benefit to the slaves themselves. By this it is not meant that many individual cases of hardship and oppression would not be relieved, but that even if the mightier evils of insurrection and crime are avoided, neither the physical, moral, nor religious character of the blacks would be improved, while intolerable evils would be the consequence to the whites.

In support of this view of the subject, I beg leave to adduce a few facts in reference to a county and Borough, in the western part of Pennsylvania. This State by an act of the Legislature of 1780, provided for the gradual emancipation of its slaves. There are but 2 or 3 hundred in the State, and those of very advanced ages. The free blacks in the State, number about 38,000. In the county of which I speak, the white population is 42,784, the black 852-ratio 1-50. In the Borough, whites 1816, blacks 154-ratio about 1-12.— Probably 1-2 of the whole were free born-and the remainder, free at 28 years of age.Of course, the evils attendant upon the sudden acquisition of freedom by a numerous, ignorant and depraved population, were with us, happily avoided. Few in number, gradually prepared for freedom, partially instructed in reading and writing and in the possession of freedom commensurate in every respect with the whites, a case is presented favorable to their advancement in all that makes life valuable. You will ask me, "Are they industrious?" I answer, Wealth appears to have no charms for any of them. They are idle and poor. An entire want of energy of mind and body, is and ever has been the first consequence of their freedom. Although able to obtain equal wages with the laboring whites, none of them acquire property. They live in cabins, little one story log huts, chinked with mud, in the suburbs of the town. These generally contain but one room, and often have mud floors. The interior presents a picture of poverty, and too often squalidity. I believe there is but one of these houses, owned by the black tenant, or a colored person. The whole amount of Borough tax collected in 1833, was $1965,46,The whole amount paid by the colored population, was $4,84. The proportion received by them as paupers, has generally been from one half to two thirds of the whole amount of funds expended for the support and relief of the poor, although constituting as before observed, but 1-12th of the population. They live from hand to mouth-proverbially making no provision for the future. Although a cow is protected from execution for debt, it is rare indeed, that one is owned by a black man.

Their improvement in education is about upon a par with their pecuniary advancement and domestic economy. But a few of them can write, and I have never known one read so well as to take pleasure in reading. Books form no part of their cabin furniture or sources of enjoyment. The most of them, perhaps it might be said of all, who acquire any education, receive it at the public expense. Repeated efforts of philanthropic citizens to procure their general and regular attendance at Sabbath schools, and also to organise them into a separate school to be governed and instructed by teachers and managers from among themselves, have produced nothing but mortifying failures.

The most of them, old and young, depend for their dress upon the cast clothing of the whites, and of course have in the shabbiness of their cloths, a ready excuse for non-attendance at school and at meeting, when from idleness or any other cause they choose to absent themselves. Morals and religion seem to be at as low an ebb amongst them, as can well be conceived of in a Christian country. The moral tone of their preachers may be judged of from the fact, that a distinguished one among them in this place, openly and unblushingly advocated their right to steal from the whites. I have no statistics of crime before me, but I have no hesitation in saying, where they form 1-50th of the population, they furnish 1-8th of the criminals in our jails.

Free, but realizing none of the nobler advantages of freedom-possessing the right of elective franchise, but never claiming to exercise it-ignorant and degraded, among schools and in the midst of education and refinement-attaining no higher eminence even in the mechanic arts, than the lowest and meanest handicrafts, which not one in fifty attains to as a class, poor in the extreme and oftentimes actual sufferers from penury in a land of ease, wealth, and plenty-adding nothing to the stock of national wealth or national defence, but a drawback upon both-they form any thing but a valuable class of the community, and however much we may pity their situation, the hope of improving it here, is feeble indeed.

Is it to be expected that under these circumstances, and with these facts staring us in the face, we can desire the unconditional emancipation of the Slaves of the United States; exposing ourselves to an influx of such a population ten and perhaps forty times as numerous as the present? and this too while we know that the evils accompanying a degraded population increase in a geometrical and not arithmetical proportion to their numbers. It should be recollected too, that the burden and loss to the wealth of the community from such a class, bear no comparison as evils, with the injuries resulting to the moral tone and character imparted by them to the lower classes of the whites. Of the cause of this degradation and the means of removing it, I may perhaps speak hereafter; the present remarks are advanced only as arguments against immediate, unconditional emancipation.

G. O. W.

[From the Vermont Chronicle, June 6.]

THE OBJECT, AND ITS BEARINGS:

In examining the claims of the Colonization Society the two ought to be considered separately; for the Society, as such, has one single and simple object, while its members have different views of the bearings of the enterprize, and those bearings depend indeed entirely on the manner in which the enterprize is carried on. The object is to colonize, from the United States, in Africa or elsewhere, free people of color who are willing to go. Now a commercial colony would be one thing and an agricultural another -a Christian colony would be a blessing, a slave-trading one, a curse to Africa and the world. The establishment of a parcel of ignorant, idle and vicious free blacks on the coast of Africa, is to be deprecated, while nothing could be more cheering to the eye of a Christian philanthropist, than a community of the virtuous and intelligent from that class of our citizens, established there, happy in themselves and a light amid the darkness of their father land.

What then may we reasonably expect to be the bearings of this enterprize?

Mr. Stuart says of Liberia, that "for Africa it is good. It interrupts the slave trade within its own limits; and the least interruption to that nefarious traffic is an unspeakable good." Even the enemies of the Society, then, are compelled to acknowledge that its affairs have been so conducted as to establish on the coast of Africa a colony that interrupts the slave trade. So far it is well. The bearings of the enterprize are good. And when the reader considers that this is already true of a long extent of coast in Liberia—that it is rapidly stretching along in both directions-that the new colony at Cape Palmas will be equally effective in the cause of humanity-and that the slave trade may be interrupted along the whole coast by a mere extension of the same plan; when he remembers, too, the horrors of that trade, and thinks of the amount of good involved in its suppression,he will acknowledge that this single item is enough to overbalance a vast amount of incidental evil-should such be found connected with it-and to repay abundantly any probable labors and sacrifices that may be required to effect it.

Again, Mr. Stuart acknowledges that Liberia, like Sierra Leone and the Cape of Good Hope, "forms a new centre, whence civilization and Christianity are radiating through the adjoining darkness. In this respect," he says "no praise can equal the worth of these settlements." Here, also, the character of the colony is so evident, that even an enemy is compelled to acknowledge its value as a means of extending through Africa the blessings of civilization and Christianity. What are these blessings? Such as to be counterbalanced by trifling evils? Such that to bestow them on Africa is an object worthy of but little effort and but trifling sacrifices? Let these questions be meditated upon in the spirit of Christ.

What must be the plan and actual character of a colony, the influence of which is such as Mr. Stuart describes. What in fact is the plan and character of the colonies at Liberia and Cape Palmas? These questions are not to be answered by petty cavils at the conduct of this or that individual, or by the mention of censurable customs that may have been, in some quarters, countenanced. The subject must be considered as a whole, and in all its bearings. If the general plan is good, mistakes and errors in the minor details of it will be corrected by experience: and it is mean and illiberal, as well as unchristian, to oppose the enterprize by attempting to fix attention exclusively on a few alleged faults, even if the allegations are founded in fact. But this point deserves an article by itself.

THE NATIONAL SIN.

The Mosaic law required the liberation of Hebrew servants at the end of every sixth year. This law had long been disregarded, when Zedekialı at one time attempted to enforce it. He induced the people to "enter into a covenant" to observe it; and those who had been unjustly retained in bondage were accordingly set free. The principles of the law were acknowledged to be just and of binding force. This spirit, however did not long continue;-but passed away apparently with the circumstances that called it forth. The liberated servants were again brought into subjection, in contempt of law, and in violation of solemnly acknowledged principles of right. In these circumstances, Jeremiah was sent to the Jews with a He reminded them of the message of solemn expostulation and warning. original law-of the neglect of it by their fathers-of their own solemn and practical recognition of its obligations, which he declared to have been right in the sight of the Lord-then upbraided them with their relapse into the same sin in circumstances that greatly increased its enormity, and ended with a terrible warning, which begins thus:

"Therefore thus saith the LORD: Ye have not hearkened to me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine."**

Now we as a nation have sinned just as those Jews did. The principles of right, in accordance with which we have from the first settlement of our country claimed to be treated ourselves, we have refused to apply to the case of our brethren whom we hold in bondage. That liberty, the claim to which on our part, and the principles of which as we have acknowledged and proclaimed to the world, we know to be right we have withheld. We have known the right, and have boastfully proclaimed our knowledge of and allegiance to it; but have refused or neglected to extend its benefits to our slaves.t And we are thus exposing ourselves to the very curse threatened by the prophet. So far as we have as individuals, failed to de our duty in regard to making this whole people consistent in applying the principles of American Liberty, just so far ought we as individuals, to regard as addressed to ourselves, the expostulations and warnings of Jeremiah.

In such circumstances what are we, in Vermont, to do? Can we be silent and inactive? What course can we take in order no longer to be partakers in the guilt connected with the continuance of slavery? How can we best combat the spirit of slavery; how most successfully labor to secure to its victims what is required by justice and the law of love?

We answer, by continuing to support the Colonization Society on antislavery principles. In connexion with what we do, let our principles in regard to slavery be fully and earnestly proclaimed. Let it be seen that we think and feel, and act under the control of deep convictions of duty on the subject; and that we are willing to labor and to make sacrifices in obedience to these convictions. Let our support of this society be such, and given on such grounds, as to prove our readiness to do our part towards making every man in the United States an intelligent freeman. Such support given to the cause here would operate in favor of the abolition of slavery in several ways,-of which we will now mention only one: It would increase the Anti-Slavery influence of the Colonization Society in the slaye-holding states. When a man liberates his slaves in order to

*See the 34th Chapter of Jeremiah.

We speak of the people of the United States as a people bound by the laws of love and righteousness. Some of the States, as such, have become consistent. But as Christians, and friends of liberty, we are bound, to the extent of our influence, to see that such consistency prevails throughout the whole country.

emigrate to Liberia, he attracts the attention of his friends, and of all slaveholders in the vicinity, to the subject of manumission. His character is known. Those who thus liberate their slaves, are men whose characters command respect. The subject is urged home on the others by the authority of such an example. It is Anti-Slavery preaching of the most powerful kind; and we can use it, here and there throughout the whole South, without, by the manner of our approach, barring minds and hearts against our appeal. Such examples of manumission will increase just in proportion as we succeed in making our Colonies desirable homes for the blacks, and in providing funds to defray the expenses of their passage, &c. The subject may thus be kept before the mind and urged on the conscience of the slave-holder, without the intervention of any of that prejudice and illwill that are two easily awakened by more direct appeals from non-slaveholding States.--[Ibid.

[From the National Intelligencer, August 30.]

FREE PERSONS OF COLOUR.

Approving of the patriotic design, our best wishes have always attended the exertions of the American Society for colonizing on the coast of Africa such free persons of color as desire to go thither, for the purpose of enjoying all the privileges of a free government, and have rejoiced to see the Society hitherto supported by the joint contributions of benevolent individuals in every part of the Union. We have also observed with pleasure, that the Colonization Society of Maryland (formerly an auxiliary of the Parent Society) has lately purchased Cape Palmas, on the coast of Africa, for the purpose of forming a separate establishment for that State, to be supported by the resources of the State, and under the entire control of that society; for the maintenance of which the Legislature has generously appropriated $20,000 a year for ten years. But, after the State of Maryland had made so liberal an appropriation in behalf of its institution, we regretted to see that the Society had employed agents to solicit aid from the citizens of Massachusetts for carrying into effect their project; because we feared, that in doing so, they would, in proportion to their success, deprive the Parent Society of its usual support, which depends entirely on the voluntary contributions of individuals and auxiliary societies; and if these were to fail, no further additions could be made to the Colony, the emigrants at present in Liberia would necessarily be exposed to great want and distress, and the Society itself expire for want of that support which is indispensable to its existence.

The young men of Pennsylvania, or rather of Philadelphia, have also lately formed themselves into a Colonization Society, with a view of establishing a settlement at Bassa Cove, within the limits of Liberia: the Society to be auxiliary to the Parent Society, and the colonists to be governed by the general laws of the present colony, and such other municipal regulations as may be provided, subject to the approval of the Parent Board; the expense of settlement to be defrayed by funds to be raised by themselves within their own State.

Whatever separate colonial establishments may hereafter be formed on the African Coast by any of the States (if others shall be found desirable,) we think it would be but just towards the Parent Society, and expedient as regards the general cause of colonization, to confine themselves to their

« AnteriorContinuar »