OLD FASHIONED ABOLITIONISTS.
"Those are men-stealers who abduct, keep, sell, or buy slaves." -
GROTIUS, A.D. 1650.
"Slavery is unjust in its nature." - E. STILES, President of Yale
College, 1791.
"Slavery is, in every instance, wrong, unrighteous, and oppressive, a very
great and crying sin." - Samuel Hopkins, 1776.
"I thought it my duty to expose the monstrous impiety and cruelty, not only of the slave trade, but of slavery itself, in whatever form it is found." - G. Sharp, Esq., 1787.
"Slavery is incurable injustice. Why is injustice to remain for a single hour?" - William Pitt, 1770.
"Slavery is a dominion an system of laws the most merciless and tyrannical that were ever tolerated upon the face of the earth. - Dr. Paley, 1780.
"He that holds another man in bondage, subjects the whole sum of his existence
to oppression, bereaves him of every hope, and is therefore more detestable
than the robber and assassin combined." - << Thomas Day>> ,
Esq., 1780.
"Man stealers! the worst of thieves; - in comparison of whom, highway robbers
and housebreakers are innocent. This equally concerns all slave-holders, of
whatever rank and degree; seeing men-buyers are exactly on a level with men-stealers!"
- Rev. J. Wesley, 1777.
"Slavery is made up of every crime that treachery, cruelty, and murder can invent; - and men stealers are the very worst of thieves." - Rowland Hill, 1790.
"Slavery is injustice which no considerations of policy can extenuate." - Bishop Horsley, 1785.
"The Conference acknowledge that slavery is contrary to the laws of God, man and nature, and hurtful to society; contrary to the dictates of conscience and pure religion; and doing what we would not that others should do unto us; and they pass their disapprobation upon all our friends who keep slaves, and they advise their freedom." - Am. Methodist Conference, 1780.
August 8, 1835
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 5 No. 32
A CARD.
We, the undersigned, having availed ourselves during the session of the colored Convention, held in Philadelphia, June, 1835, of Mrs. Serena Gardiner's select boarding house, No. 13, Elizabeth-street, are happy to say, that with its pleasant situation, the cleanliness of its apartments, the good order therein preserved, and its good table, we were highly pleased; and to persons of color visiting this city, who are prepared to appreciate the above advantages, we freely recommend her house, as possessing superior inducements to their patronage and support
Wm. P. POWELL, New Bedford.
Dr. JAMES H. FLEET, District of Columbia.
AUGUSTUS PRICE, Washington, D.C.
JOHN F. COOK, do.
HENRY OGDEN, Newark, N.J.
JOHN D. CLOSSON, do.
ALFRED NIGER, Providence, R.I.
FRANCIS C. LIPPINS, Easton, Pa.
JUSTIN REYNOLDS, North Carolina.
CHARLES C. REMOND, Salem, Mass.
NATHAN GILBERT, Providence, R.I.
SAMUEL HARDENBURG, New York.
WM. HAMILTON, do
WM. H. NOLAND, Washington, D.C.
JOHN PECK, Carlisle, Pa.
JOSEPH J. ROBERTS. Liberia, W.A.
WM. N. COBSTON, Petersburg, Va.
WM. WHIPPER, Columbia, Pa.
HENRY SCOTT, Worcester, Mass.
WM. NICKINS, late of New Orleans.
<< THOMAS DAY>> , North Carolina.
July 11, 1835
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 5 No. 28
A CARD.
We, the undersigned, having availed ourselves during the session of the colored Convention, held in Philadelphia, June, 1835, of Mrs. Serena Gardiner's select boarding house, No. 43. Elizabeth street, are happy to say, that with its pleasant situation, the cleanliness of its apartments, the good order therein preserved, and its good table, we were highly pleased; and to persons of color visiting this city, who are prepared to appreciate the above advantages, we freely recommend her house, as possessing superior inducements to their patronage and support.
Wm. P. POWELL., New-Bedford.
Dr. JAMES H. FLEET, District of Columbia.
AUGUSTUS PRICE, Washington, D.C.
JOHN F. COOK, do.
HENRY OGDEN, Newark, N.J.
JOHN D. CLUSSON, do.
ALFRED NIGER, Providence, R.I.
FRANCIS C. LIPPINS, Easton, Pa.
JUSTIN REYNOLDS, North Carolina.
CHARLES C. REMOND, Salem, Mass.
NATHAN GILBERT, Providence. R.I.
SAMUEL. HARDENBURG, New York.
WM. HAMILTON, do.
WM. H. NOLAND, Washington, D.C.
JOHN PECK, Carlisle, Pa.
JOSEPH J. ROBERTS, Liberia, W.A.
WM. N. COBSTON, Petersburg, Va.
WM. WHIPPER, Columbia, Pa.
HENRY SCOTT, Worcester, Mass.
WM. NICKINS, late of New-Orleans.
<< THOMAS DAY>> , North Carolina.
April 19, 1834
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 4 No. 16
CONNECTICUT ELECTION.
Returns from all the towns in the State, with the exception of Bolton, Hamden, Salem, Stonington, Sherman, Voluntown, North Haven add Union, are received at this office, from which it appears that the following is the result of the elections. These towns will not probably vary the result materially.
FOR GOVERNOR.
Foot(Anti-Jackson)
17,895
Edwards(Jackson)
15,106
Storrs(Anti-Mason)
2,246
Scattering
208
17,362
Majority for Foot
333
FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.
Betts(Anti-Jackson)
15,725
Stoddard(Jackson)
12,304
Holly(Anti-Mason)
1,938
Scattering
181
14,423
Majority for Betts
1,302
Isaac Spencer Treasurer, and << Thomas Day>> Secretary, are re-elected by large majorities.
SENATORS.
District Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, Anti-Jackson. District Nos. 3, 7, 16, 18, Jackson.
(In the House of Representatives, if we have counted right, there are 134 Anti-Jackson members, 55 Jackson, and 12 not ascertained.)
June 1, 1833
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 3 No. 22
GEORGIA OUTDONE!!
An ACT in addition to an Act for the Admission and Settlement of Inhabitants in Towns.
WHEREAS attempts have been made to establish literary institutions in this State for the instruction of colored persons belonging to other States and countries, which would tend to the great increase of the colored population of the State and thereby to the injury of the people. Therefore—
SEC. 1. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened,— That no person shall set up or establish in this State any school, academy or literary institution for the instruction or education of colored persons, who are not inhabitants of this State, nor instruct or teach in any school, academy or other literary institution whatsoever in this State, or harbor or board for the purpose of attending or being taught or instructed in any such school, academy or literary institution any colored person who is not an inhabitant of any town in this State, without the consent in writing first obtained of a majority of the civil authority, and also of the Selectmen of the town in which such school, academy or literary institution is situated; and each and every person who shall knowingly do any act forbidden as aforesaid, or shall be aiding or assisting therein, shall, for the first offence, forfeit and pay to the treasurer of this State a fine of one hundred dollars, and for the second offence, shall forfeit and pay a fine of two hundred dollars, and so double for every offence of which he or she shall be convicted; and all informing officers are required to make due presentment of all breeches of this act.
Provided that nothing in this act shall extend to any district school established in any school society under the laws of this State, or to any school established by any school society under the laws of this State, or to any incorporated academy or incorporated school for instruction in this State.
SEC. 2. Be it further enacted— That any colored person not an inhabitant of this State, who shall reside in any town therein for the purpose of being instructed as aforesaid, may be removed in the manner prescribed in the sixth and sevenths sections of the act to which this is an addition.
SEC. 3. Be it further enacted— That any person not an inhabitant of this State who shall reside in any town therein for the purpose of being instructed as aforesaid, shall be an admissible witness in all prosecutions under the first section of this act, and may be compelled to give testimony therein, notwithstanding any thing contained in this act or the act last aforesaid.
SEC. 4. Be it further enacted— That so much of the seventh section of the act to which this is an addition, as may provide for the infliction of corporeal punishment, be and the same is hereby repealed.
SAMUEL INGHAM,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
EBENEZER STODDARD,
President of the Senate.
Approved, May 24, 1833:
HENRY W. EDWARDS.
STATE OF CONNECTICUT:
Secretary's Office, May 25, 1833.
I HEREBY CERTIFY, that the foregoing is a true copy of record: In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the Seal of said State, the day of the year above written.
<< THOMAS DAY>> , Secretary.
November 3, 1832
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 2 No. 44
THE LIBERATOR.
'What would you say to a man, in private life, who should pretend to be no
thief, because he only bought stolen goods; or that he was no villian because
he did not forge a dead himself, but only paid another to do it, and enjoyed
the estate by that honorable security? Yet this is literally the title which
the Americans plead to the unfortunate inhabitants of Africa.— <<
THOMAS DAY>> .
August 20, 1831
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 1 No. 34.
FOR SALE AT THIS OFFICE,
FRAGMENT of an Original Letter on the Slavery of the Negroes, written in the Year 1776. By << Thomas Day>> , Esquire, Author of Sandford and Merton. Addressed to an American Slaveholder. Price 25 cents per dozen. This is one of the most powerful productions every written on the subject of slavery.
August 13, 1831
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 1 No. 33.
THE LIBERATOR.
'Robbers invade the property, and murderers the life of human beings; but he
that holds another man in bondage subjects the whole sum of his existence to
oppression, bereaves him of every hope, and is, therefore, more detestable than
robber and assassin combined.'— << THOMAS DAY>> .
April 9, 1831
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 1 No. 15
ACKNOWLEDGMENT. We are greatly indebted to Robert Dale Owen, Editor of the New-York
Free Enquirer, for a beautiful manuscript 'Fragment of an original Letter on
the Slavery of the Negroes, written in the year 1776, by << Thomas Day>>
, Esq. Author of Sandford and Merton,' and printed in London, 1784. 'The pamphlet,'
Mr. Owen informs us, 'is now very rare, if not altogether out of print.' A copy
of it had never fallen into our hands, and we receive the present one as a precious
gift. It is written with wonderful power and in choice language. We shall publish
it entire next week, and afterwards print it in the form of a tract for circulation.
April 30, 1777
The Pennsylvania Gazette
IF any of the undermentioned persons (soldiers in the Pennsylvania Third Battalion,
commanded by Colonel JOSEPH WOOD, some of whom are deserters, and others have
exceeded the time of their furlough) will return and join their Regiment before
the 15th day of May next, shall be entitled to the benefit of his Excellency
General Washingtonproclamation, and shall not be treated as deserters, viz.
Joseph McCormick, John Richardson, John Moore, Thomas Pedley, John Smith, John
Frick, Patrick Morris, Robert McFerlin, Peter Donnelly, John Smith, John Richardson,
John McGready, James Frey, John Bushy, John Smith, John Johnson, John Brown,
Martin Yort, John Hawes, William Baxter, John Lackey, Hugh Brown, William Hurlihill,
William Jones, Jacob Whirts, John Montgomery, William McManus, John Camble,
George McCully, Ephraim Nunn, John Topping, Charles Conner, James Dagley, John
Brogan, Battis Christ, Peter Bowerman, Anthony Assie, John Aukward, John Thompson,
John Shepherd, James Thompson, Thomas Carlton, Joseph Smith, << Thomas
Day>> , Adam Tate, Charles Kelly, Patrick Donpho, William Clark, James
Chart, Jesse Ward, John Reed, John Oxburn, Adam Hamilton, James Johnson, George
Gardner, Joseph Norman, Michael Carmody, William Evans, William Lucas, Ephraim
Nunn, John Thomas, William Crawford, James Coleman, James Gallagher, George
Clemins, Robert Davis, Patrick Lafferty, Henry Fleming, John Wherry, and James
Robinson.
Princeton, April 3, 1777.
DESERTED from the second Regiment of the State of New Jersey, commanded by Colonel
Israel Shreve, Esq; and of Captain John Noble CummingCompany, now quartered
at Princeton, the following persons, viz.
Valentine Rochester, about 25 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches high, dark complexion, brown hair, and grey eyes; inlisted at Ticonderoga.
William Wood, about 30 years of age, 5 feet 9 inches high, fair complexion, black hair and blue eyes, remarkably squint eyes; inlisted at Albany.
Consider Aditon, about 35 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, fair complexion, red hair and beard, and grey eyes; inlisted at Albany.
Charles Salter; inlisted at Ticonderoga. Patrick McMullin; inlisted in Woodtown, Salem county. George Powers, about 5 feet 5 inches high, 35 years of age, swarthy complexion, light brown hair, grey eyes; inlisted at Gloucester. Edward Parker, about 25 years of age, 5 feet 11 inches high, dark complexion hair and eyes; inlisted at Gloucester. Thomas Burns; inlisted at the Cross Roads of Cumberland. Owen Ward, a native Irishman, about 39 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches high, his fore teeth gone, knock kneed, has the letters O.W. pricked out with gunpowder on his arm; had on, when deserted, an old brown coat, striped lincey trowsers, and old shoes; supposed to have gone through Mount Holly. John Stephenson, about 23 years of age, 5 feet 9 inches high, well made, an Irishman, brown complexion, dark brown hair, which curls naturally in his neck, wore a brown cloth coat and vest, buckskin breeches; inlisted in Gloucester county, where he has lived some time and is well acquainted; the last intelligence of him, he was over Delaware river. Henry Bishop, about 22 years of age, 5 feet 11 inches high, fair complexion, brown hair, grey eyes; had on, when deserted, a long skirted brown coat and vest, buckskin breeches; born in Burlington county, and inlisted in Woodtown, Salem county. Gideon Steel, Hector McNeil, and << Thomas Day>> , all of the above county.
Whoever takes up the said Deserters, and secures them, so that they may be brought to justice for having been guilty of perjury, shall receive the sum of TWENTY DOLLARS reward for each, that an account thereof may be transmitted to the Commanding Officer of said Regiment.
JOEL NOBLE CUMMING, Capt. 2d J.R.
December 27, 1775
The Pennsylvania Gazette
FORTY SHILLINGS Reward.
RUN away, on First day, the 24th instant, from the subscriber, living on Newtown
Creek, in Gloucester county, an English servant lad, about 5 feet 4 inches high,
named << Thomas Day>> , but probably may change it, about 20 years
of age, wears his own light coloured bushy hair; had on, when he went away,
a half worn beaver hat, cloth coloured upper jacket, very much worn, under it
a Wilton coatee, much on the redish cast, buckskin breeches, much wore and broke
on the knees, coarse homespun shirt, quite new, grey yarn stockings, lately
footed, old shoes, with plated buckles. Whoever takes up and secures the said
servant, so that his master may get him again, shall be entitled to the above
reward, from
BENJAMIN THACKREY.
It is likely he will make for Dunmore, as he came from that way, and is a great
Tory. December 27, 1775.
Church News.
-----
Rev. A.C. Terrell, (Chillicothe, Mo.) writes: “I am thankful to say we
have succeeded in removing the entire indebtedness from the church and carried
the membership from 23 to 64.”
-----
Rev. C.H., << Thomas>> , (<< Day>> , Mich.), writes:
“I have just closed my revival of meetings with one hundred and thirty
added to the church, of which number one hundred and twenty-three are converts.”
-----
Rev. L.E. Edwards, (Durham, N.C.) writes: “We have made the church safe
and ceiled [?] over head, lathed and wainescoated and painted, and in a few
days we will commence the plastering. We expect to make this the grandest station
in the State. We have raised three hundred dollars in three months. The good
Master is with us.”
-----
Rev. J.M. Moorman, Jr., (Dublin, Ga.), writes: “Rev. S.J. Thomas, our
pastor in charge, is the right clergyman in the right places. The new church
in this town is almost completed, and the debt nearly canceled. The trustees
have purchased a good parsonage. We have a thorough-going Sabbath school in
operation. The Child's Recorder and Turner's Catechism are used.”
-----
Rev. W.T. Boardley, (Woodville, Miss.), writes: “Our last quarterly session
was held in Allen Chapel. Rev. H.M. Foley, presiding elder, preached the sacramental
sermon. The baptismal was preached by your humble servant. We had a glorious
time, our congregation consisting of about five hundred persons. We received
in the church thirty-four members; the same day one hundred and eighty persons
communed.”
-----
Rev. J.H. Hurley, (Sulphur Springs, Texas), writes: “I have not been much
for the twelve months past, but what little of myself I have had, I have put
forth in the interest of African Methodism and to relieve the suffering condition
of humanity. I have charge of the above named place in the interest of the A.M.E.
Church in the bounds of the North East Texas Annual Conference. I have neither
churches nor ministers in this county. The population is 3,000.”
-----
Rev. H.H. Lewis, (Brooklyn, N.Y.) writes: “Fleet street A.M.E. Church
is winding up the affairs of this conference year grandly. Mr. J.G. Bergen's
presentation entertainment at Music Hall, Wednesday evening. May 3rd, cleared
for the church $856.80 [?]. Our honored Bishop, Rt. Rev. John M. Brown, D.D.,
D.C.L., was with us and addressed a splendid audience of at least fifteen hundred
persons, including the pastors of the various city churches.”
-----
Rev. S.W. Bird, (Lincoln, Neb.,), writes: “I arrived here on October 5th,
1881, and found the Capital of Nebraska to be quite a city. I found good schools;
no difference on account of color. Our church was in very good condition. They
had just enlarged their church and of course I found debts to pay. We succeeded
in plastering, seating, painting and paying every dollar we owed by the 1st
of March. Since then we have raised money to build a parsonage on one of our
church lots.”
-----
Rev. Wilson Nichols, (Denton, Tex.) writes: “I arrived here on the 27th
of December and found on the whole circuit one little church 12 x 14. There
were no Sabbath schools, but today we have three. We expect to build two churches
on this work this year. I thought I would be ready to send for my Sabbath school
literature by the second quarter, but I failed; but thank God I have got eight
dollars in the treasury of each of the schools and will send for them by next
quarter.”
-----
John J. Whitbick, (Bradford, Pa.), writes: “The A.M.E. Church of this
city is progressing finely, both spiritually and financially under the pastorate
of Rev. R.H. Jackson. A glorious revival was held which resulted in the conversion
of thirty-two souls. Thirty five have joined the church. Several of those converted
were members of the Sabbath school. Our services are well attended both by white
and colored friends of the city. Our Sunday school is in a flourishing condition.”
For the Christian Recorder.
THROUGH THE CAROLINAS.
February 20th - We had something of a skirmish with one of General Bragg's "bad
men," General Hoke, and, as usual be fell back. On the 21st we built a
line, and bivouacked for the night; being only four miles from the largest and
oldest city in the State. We asked ourselves as well as others, "How would
you like to march through Wilmington to-morrow, February 22d, the anniversary
of the birth-day of Washington?" The answer was, "It would be the
proudest moment of my life!" But little does a soldier know when, or at
what time, he may be ordered to "fall in." We slept behind our works
that night. The 22d came, and a more lovely day I never saw. By half past six
o'clock we were on the move, as General Hoke had evacuated during the night,
and one hour's march brought us on the corporation line of Wilmington, when
large volumes of smoke were seen rising in the eastern part of the city. For
a time, we thought Hoke had set fire to the city as he went through. But not
so. It was the burning of cotton and turpentine, at, and near the Wilmington
and Weldon Rail-road. The column halted for a few moments, when the mayor met
General Terry, and begged for protection. We finally moved, and entered the
blockaded city of the confederacy - the place where all the southern and some
of the northern men have made their piles of money - the once thriving city
of the confederacy; the place noted for its slave-market! But now, alas! we
march through these fine thoroughfares, where once the slave was forbid being
out after nine P.M., or to puff a "regalia," or to walk with a cane,
or to ride in a carriage! Negro soldiers! - with banners floating! With their
splendid brass bands and drum corps, discoursing the National airs and marches!
- the colored division of the 25th army corps, commanded by General Charles
J. Paine. It would be a mere attempt for such a one as myself to describe the
manner in which the colored people of Wilmington welcomed the Union troops -
cheer after cheer they gave us - they had prayed long for their deliverance,
and the 22d day of February, 1865, realized their earnest hopes. Were they not
happy that day? Free, for evermore? The streets were crowded by them, old and
young; they shook hands with the troops, and some exclaimed, "The chain
is broken!" "Joy! freedom to-day!" "Hurrah, for Uncle Abe!"
"There goes my son!" said a lady. "Which one," asked a
corporal. "That one, just gone ahead!" And, sure enough, it was her
son. She overtook him, and embraced him; and how proudly she felt, none but
those similarly situated can ever feel. The man knew that his mother was living
when he entered the service, for some friend had so informed him. He had left
his home a slave, but had returned in the garb of a Union soldier, free, a man.
Similar incidents have happened in other colored regiments. At one corner, near
the market, the colored people had boxes of tobacco, which they distributed
to the troops as they passed. At almost every door was a bucket of water; and,
in many places, ladies gave bread and meat to the boys, saying, "'Tis the
best we have." The farther we advanced, the more numerous the people. At
one corner, my attention was attracted to a crowd who were "jumping for
joy!" One old man among them, said he was nearly ninety-three years old,
and had not been in the street since last July; but hearing the music of the
Union troops, it had revived him, and he felt so happy that he came out; and
there he stood, with his long, white locks and his wrinkled cheeks, saying,
"Welcome, welcome."
We passed out of the town, and were soon on Hoke's track. We came up with him
at North-East Bridge, or Station, nine miles from town - the 4th, 6th, and 30th
U.S.C.T., Gen. Duncan's Brigade, gave him battle at this place, and during the
night - as usual - Gen. Hoke retreated.
BACK TO WILMINGTON.
On the 25th details from the different regiments were made for the purpose of recruiting. War meetings were announced, and the work went bravely on. Gen. Pauris Division obtained near one thousand men in a few days.
WHAT I SAW WHILE IN TOWN.
One of the first things I did while in the city was to take a view of the A.M.E.
Church that I have heard so much of. Having the good fortune to be introduced
to Mr. Edward Artis, he kindly volunteered to accompany me. The church is built
in the latest style, and is very commodious, seats sixteen hundred persons,
has a large and convenient gallery, and splendid basement. It is situated on
"Zion's Hill," so named by the Rev. Wm. Meredith, the founder of the
church. On each side of the steps are two marble slabs, one dedicated to the
Rev. Mr. Meredith, the other to a South Carolina Bishop. The former is on the
left side, and reads: -
"This marble is erected in Memory of the late William Meredith, who died
1799, by those for whom in life he labored." The ground on which this church
stands, was willed by this man to the colored people of Wilmington, N.C. Shortly
after his death a church was built, some years after it was burned, another
was built, this was burned. When the colored people began another, the whites
interfered, and informed them that unless they had white people to set with
them, no church could be erected. Thus was their plan to build a place for worshipping
God severed. Finding them otherwise as the whites desired impossible, they of
course had to yield. The church was finished, the colored people who paid the
largest portion of the money, and who owned the ground, were not allowed to
assemble in it unless a white man was present. Marriage ceremonies among colored
people must be in the basement. "Your seat in the Gallery." Thus it
was until February 22d, 1865, when things generally in Wilmington took a sudden
change. The first sermon ever delivered in Wilmington, N.C., by a colored man
was by Rev. W.H. Hunter, Chaplain of the 4th U.S.C.T., who will be known in
Wilmington as the second Meredith. The present, or at least the late pastor,
Mr. Burkhead, strongly objected; but the colored leaders insisted, and on Sunday
March 5th, 1865, at 3 o'clock, P.M., "Old Bethel" was crowded. Among
the distinguished persons I recognized General Harley and staff, General Abbott
and many of Generals Schofield and Terry's staffs, and a number of officers
of the navy, and a host of persons from all parts of the world. The audience
as it was, could not be excelled in regard to decorum or interest to the sermon.
Immediately over the pulpit reads: "For my house shall be called a house
of prayer for all people." Thirteen leaders were represented, and they
are worthy of their titles, not only as of this church, but of the very best
society and morality that can be found. Accompanied by the Rev. Jeremiah Asher,
Chaplain 6th U.S.C.T., Mr. Hunter entered. Robed in his army uniform, that manly
form failed, I am sure, to please the eye of one or two Secesh Gents, who came,
not to hear him preach, but to see "what was going to be done by the Negroes,
and how the Negroes were going to act."
The hymn chosen was "Sing unto the Lord a new song." I thought, as
did others, that it was the best singing we ever heard. The text was from Psalms,
"Sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things: with
his right arm he hath gotten him the victory." Eloquence never flowed so
freely as on that day: few in the church could say their eyes were dry. Mr.
Hunter himself was born a slave on this very soil, sixteen years previously
he left the state a slave. But now he comes to the land of his birth an officer
in the United States Army. Was not that congregation of citizens proud of him?
Yes! They are, they will never cease to remember him. How can they? He worked
day and night for them.
He had interviews with General Schofield and with General Terry, when finally
he showed the letter he received from the former, informing the colored people
that they should be protected while worshipping God according to the dictates
of their own conscience and loyalty to the Government of the United States,
and, that they might choose whom they desired to preach to them the gospel.
Mr. Hunter has thus turned over to the A.M.E. Church of the United States the
largest methodist congregation of any city that has been in the confederacy.
Every leader voted for being transferred to the A.M.E. Church of the U.S., and
each voted for the bill which dispensed with the services of the white pastor,
Mr. Burkhead of the M.E. Church South, and who still thought his church in authority.
"FREEDMEN'S SCHOOLS."
Nearly or quite seven hundred children were in the basement of the church on March 11th, it having been announced that schools were about to be organized. Speeches were made by Mr. Asher, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Coan and Mr. French, A.M.A., and others. At 10 1/2 Brig. General Hawley entered and spoke for half an hour. He, as all others, was pleased with the children, and I heard several say that a more intelligent body of little ones they never saw, and it is just so. One little boy, Master Horte, (slave) made a neat speech to that vast audience of people from all parts, and strangers to him. Some little Misses made little speeches, and did it as though it was common to them, and they sang splendidly.
The above named gentleman assisted by Misses Day, Sampsons, and Cowan, organized
the school, and it is now in splendid running order. The "underground"
schools have been taught in this city for a number of years by the young ladies
and others. Among the acquaintances I made are several who have friends and
relatives in the North. Mr. and Mrs. James Golly, Mrs. James Sampson, Joseph
Nichols, John H. Brown, Jas. Scull, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Mosely, whose hospitality
I enjoyed, Mr. and Mrs. R. Lowry, Mr. and Mrs. James Price, are some of the
most prominent. There are many mechanics here, Mr. << Thomas Day>>
, Mr. Hostler, Mr. J. Brown, and a host of others. The people are generally
refined and well informed. Union to the bone, liberal and modest. Almost or
I may say all of the colored people have been engaged in the business of hiding
Yankee prisoners. Almost every house in the city occupied by colored people
has done this favor for our prisoners.
Before closing permit me, by direction of the people em masse of Wilmington
to tender their highest regards to Chaplain Hunter for his labor in behalf of
restoring to them their church and as the father of "Freedman Schools,"
in Wilmington, North Carolina. His name will ever be.
"ARNOLD."
Wilmington, North Carolina, Mar. 29th, 1865.
April 16, 1831
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 1 No. 16
FRAGMENT
OF AN ORIGINAL LETTER
ON THE
SLAVERY OF THE NEGROES,
WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1776.
By << Thomas Day>> , Esq. Author of 'Sandford & Merton.'
'Cette soif insatiable de l'or donné naissance au plus infame, au plus atroce de tous les commerces, celui des esclaves. On parle de crimes contre nature, et l'on ne cite pas celui là comme le plus excerable.— Histoire Philosophique des deux Indes.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The following Letter was written in the year 1776, at the request of an American gentleman, who desired to know my sentiments upon the Slavery of the Negroes, and professed an intention of restoring all his own to liberty, could he be convinced that duty required the sacrifice. I therefore sent him the following Essay, the imperfections of which may perhaps be something extenuated by the precipitation with which it was written. It has lain by me many years in obscurity; nor did I choose to produce it during the progress of the American contest. Since the happy termination of that disastrous war, I have shewn it to some of my particular friends, who have honored me so far as to desire copies, and to suggest that its publication might not be unattended with utility. After reflecting upon the subject, I have chosen to comply with their wishes, and present this Fragment to the public; because, whatever discredit it brings upon my head, it may contribute to establish the sincerity of my heart; and if a single human being should by my means be restored to happiness, it is an ample recompense for all the dangers I may incur as an author. Should this Essay ever reach America, it perhaps might displease those who have not learned to discern friends from flatterers, and to distinguish between the language of truth and calumny. Those, on the contrary, who are enlightened, by a more extensive knowledge of human nature, may perhaps respect an Englishman, who, after daring to assert their cause through all the varied events of the late Revolution, dares now, with equal intrepidity, assert the cause of Truth and Justice, and of that part of the human species whose wrongs are yet unredressed, and almost unpitied. Should it be asked, why I rather publish a Fragment than a complete Essay, I can only answer, that I respect truth so much, that I am not inclined to violate it even as an author; and that this Letter having been really written in the year 1776, and being still in the possession of the gentleman to whom it was sent, I do not choose to piece it with additions in the year 1784.
FRAGMENT, &C.
SIR— I was extremely surprised at receiving a Letter, in an unknown hand, which desired me to give my sentiments relative to the SLAVERY OF THE NEGROES; till reading to the end, I recollected the name of a gentleman, whom I had the pleasure of seeing with Mr. Laurens.* Much as I am flattered by finding my opinion of any consequence with a gentleman, of whom I have heard so advantageous a character, I am still more surprised, that he can ask it upon such a question; a question which I am sure his own humanity and good sense will be sufficient to decide, if he attend, for a moment, to their dictates. I respect you, Sir, too much to doubt the sincerity of the declaration you make, when you profess to be guided by reason and morality upon this question; for this is the only arbitration which any man can have to consult upon a subject like this: where they are silent, the voice of the whole world ought to be disregarded; and where they approve, the dissent of all mankind can have no influence upon a mind like yours. But as you expressly desire to know my sentiments, I must waive both preface and ceremony, and address you with the modest freedom that becomes one man when he is speaking to another upon the most important question in the universe.
As a member of that society which has now made a solemn Appeal to Heaven, and taken up arms against the nation to which it owes its establishment, you must admit that there are such things as RIGHT and JUSTICE, to which the whole human species have an indefeasible claim. Indeed, unless there be such a thing as justice, it is in vain we inquire about its precepts, or refer to its arbitration. He that admits no right but force, no justice but superior violence, arms every arm against himself, and justifies all excesses. If it be lawful to injure, because we can; if we may seize the property of another, insult his person, or force him to labor for our luxury or caprice, merely because he is weaker; this principle will be equally fatal to ourselves, when fortune shall strip us of that power which is our only prerogative, and shift the plea of superiority. You are to remember that, upon this supposition, your slaves, the instant they shall become the strongest, will have a right to the services of yourself and every other gentleman of the southern colonies; will have a right to force you to labor naked in the sun to the music of whips and chains; to rob you of every thing which is now dear to your indolence, or necessary to your pleasures; to goad you to every species of servile drudgery, and punish you for their amusement and caprice; will have a right to exhaust your youth in servitude, and to abandon your age to wretchedness and diseases: in one word, Sir, they will have a right to use you, as you do them.
Let us, therefore, leave principles which can be maintained by no one but a professed enemy to mankind; who would at one stroke extirpate every thing which alleviates the evils of life, and arm every man in an eternal war against his fellow-creatures,— to inquire what are the real dictates of that justice, whose existence, I am persuaded, we both allow. You, therefore, admit there are certain claims, which, for want of a better name, we call rights, to which the human species has an indisputable title. To express myself in other words, 'There is a method of pursuing our own happiness in such a manner, that we may promote the general good at the same time; or, at least, not interfere with it.' This, our reason assures us, is the privilege of every created being; and while he confines himself within these bounds, we feel the most cordial approbation of his conduct. We love, and esteem, and sympathise with him, from the very constitution of our nature. On the contrary, whenever any one disturbs or injures a being acting in this manner, or prevents him from attaining the good to which he is impelled, we feel our hatred and indignation most forcibly excited against the aggressor. We consider such a character as armed against the welfare of the world, and as one who is endeavoring to make the common good subservient to his own selfishness. I appeal to the generosity of your own nature, for the existence of these principles. Have they not, a thousand times, animated you to acts of virtue and humanity, as well as inspired you with an involuntary reverence for all who acted from their impulse? Have they not often pleaded the cause of the wretch that lay trembling and defenceless at your feet, and, in spite of the prejudices of your country and education, whispered to your mind that one human being ought not to hold his existence by the tenure of another's will? Do not these principles now inspire you, and frequently impel you beyond the bounds of prudence and safety, while what you call your country's cause animates you to exertion? But this cause is only the united cause and interest of every particular man; those rights which the great Creator taught him to discover when he gave him reason, which he urges him to defend by passion, and which a mind like yours prizes beyond all the gratifications of sense, and dares to grasp at even while it is perishing. This appears to me a plain and concise deduction of morality, which means nothing more than that method or rule of conduct by which the whole human species may attain the greatest possible degree of happiness. And I rather choose to express myself so, because I thus comprehend all sects and opinions. The religious man allows that the happiness of the species is the great end of the Deity, which he promotes by the rewards and punishments of a future state: the disciple of Shaftsbury understands this, when he talks of the beauty of virtue and the love of order: and even the gloomy pupil of Hobbes, who resolves every thing into self-interest, must allow the existence of moral distinctions, so far as they influence the welfare of the species.
This universal morality appears to me to be the only rational and legal foundation of all human government; which ought to be nothing more than the application of this general rule to particular societies, and the enforcing it by civil establishments. If, therefore, it be granted, that the rights of a nation are nothing more than the rights of every man in it, and that all just and legal authority supposes a delegated power entrusted solely for the purpose of promoting the general good; it will appear evident, that every individual in the universe possesses certain rights, which no man can divest him of without injustice, unless he be guilty of some crime against society which exposes him to its vengeance.
Hence it follows, that whenever any nation attacks the rights and happiness of another nation, its deserves to find its own destruction in the attempt; and whenever any individual presumes to exercise this species of authority over his fellow-creatures, he must be a tyrant and an oppressor, whom it is permitted to destroy by every possible method. Whoever would deny this, must either deny the existence of right and justice entirely, and then it is in vain to argue; or must show some natural distinction, by which one part of the species is entitled to privileges from which the other is excluded.
The first supposition I have already considered, and the second is altogether absurd: for all alterations and distinctions among mankind solely arise from civil government, which has no other foundation than natural right; and natural right, for that reason, must be a principle of higher authority than civil government. Whenever, therefore, civil government tends to destroy and confound the rights of nature, it ceases to have any claim to our obedience; it becomes tyranny, corruption and despotism— a pest instead of a blessing— and subversive of every purpose for which it was instituted, or ought to be continued.
I am extremely fearful of expressing myself obscurely upon so abstract a subject, and must, therefore, though with the hazard of prolixity, attempt to place it in a different light. If you imagine any number of the human species assembled in some particular part of the globe, without any form of government established among them; it is evident, that these individuals may either live together in such a manner as to produce mutual comfort and assistance, or may be the cause of continual misery to each other. No proposition in the mathematics can be investigated with more precision than the methods of conduct which have these contrary tendencies. Every disposition which inclines one man to assist another, or to avoid giving him offence and doing injury, must necessarily contribute to the common welfare; which would be perfect, were these dispositions cultivated in the greatest possible degree. On the contrary, every disposition, which, either by fraud or violence, tends to interrupt the personal security of individuals, or to deprive them of those things which they have acquired by their industry, is detrimental to the sum of happiness, and would, if carried to the greatest possible degree, entirely destroy, that part of the species. In this view of things, morality arises from necessity, and comprehends 'certain rules of conduct founded upon the relations which beings endowed with particular faculties bear to each other; which rules, when properly observed, produce happiness to society; but when violated or neglected, as necessarily occasion misery as fire or pointed substances excite pain, when they act too forcibly upon the nerves.'
I hardly think that the greatest sceptic will deny these distinctions, founded upon facts as certain as the impression of any material substance upon our senses. If we now proceed a little farther, we shall find that the dispositions which produce these different kinds of conduct are by the moralists expressed by different names, and enforced by different motives, according to their several systems; while natural religion adds its sanctions, and inclines us to believe that the Deity himself, who has displayed so great an attention to the happiness and preservation of his creatures here, may extend his benevolence to another stage of existence, and compensate the evils sometimes suffered, unmeritedly, below. But, if we admit the evidence of revealed religion, the scheme of human things is perfect as it is august; the clouds which overshadowed our horizon are dissipated; and the gradual progress of triumphant virtue, through dangers and difficulties, to eternal happiness, is displayed and ascertained.
Having laid down these principles, it is easy to apply them to the particular case in question. Slavery is the absolute dependance of one man upon another; and is, therefore, as inconsistent with all ideas of justice, as despotism is with the rights of nature. It is a crime so monstrous against the human species, that all those who practise it deserve to be extirpated from the earth. It is no little, indirect attack upon the safety and happiness of our fellow-creatures, but one that boldly strikes at the foundations of all humanity and justice. Robbers invade the property, and murderers the life of human beings; but he that holds another man in bondage subjects the whole sum of his existence to oppression, bereaves him of every hope, and is, therefore, more detestable than robber and assassin combined. But if no one who has common feeling will commit the outrage, no one of common sense will attempt to justify it by argument; since it would involve him in the grossest and most inextricable contradictions. He must allow that every man has by nature a right to life, yet that every other man has a right to rob him of it; that every man has an equal right to subsistence, yet that every other man may deprive him of all the means; and that while every individual is justified by nature and the Deity in pursuing his own happiness by all innocent methods, every other individual is equally justified in making him miserable. In short, it is reducing every thing to the state before described, a state of contest and desolation, from which right and justice are equally excluded.
Of you, Sir, who say that you have several slaves, I beg leave to ask, what are the rights you claim over them? Have you a right to torture them when they are guilty of no faults? Have you a right to kill them for your diversion? Is your power circumscribed by no bounds, and are there particular beings who bring into the world all the rights which you yourself can pretend to, but have so entirely lost them by being transported into another country, as to be beyond the protection both of Nature and of Nature's God?
Surely, Sir, unless I am deceived in you, you are a man both of honor and humanity. You start at the idea of wanton and unprovoked barbarity. You would not murder a slave to shew your dexterity, nor maim him to prove your strength; you would not dash an infant upon the ground to feed your dogs, even though he was black; nor would you rip up the belly of his mother while she was suckling him, to improve your skill in anatomy. You neither would, nor dare you commit actions like these; you feel that you have no right to do them; or, if you have, that every other man has an equal and superior right to destroy you like a beast of prey. What then are your rights? I anticipate your answer: You will feed and clothe your negroes; you will treat them with humanity and tenderness, and then you have a right to moderate advantage from their labors. All this, Sir, is well; and could I conceive you ever had acted in another manner, I should never have troubled you with this tedious letter.— While your negroes choose to stay with you upon these terms, this is a fair and equitable compact. But what if they choose to leave you, will you let them go? If you do, you are a man— a man of honor, sense and humanity; but, I fear, no West Indian.
Are there no whips, no gibbets, no punishments more dreadful than death itself for contumacious slaves? And what is this but claiming the detestable power I have mentioned above, that of making other beings miserable, for your interest or amusement? Who, Sir, gave you a title to their labors, or a right to confine them to loathsome drudgery?— And, if you have no right to this, what are the punishments you pretend to inflict but so many additional outrages? Has a robber a claim upon your life because you withhold your property? or a ravisher a right to a woman's blood because she defends her chastity? Either then prove your right to their labors, or acknowledge that the punishments inflicted upon the fugitive slaves are a flagitious insult upon justice, humanity and common sense.
Permit me, here, to examine for a moment the nature of the title by which you
claim an irredeemable property in the labors of your
fellow-creatures. A wretch devoid of compassion and understanding, who calls
himself a king of some part of Africa which suffers the calamity of being frequented
by the Europeans, seizes his innocent subjects, or engages in an unnecessary
war to furnish himself with prisoners;— these are loaded with chains,
torn from all their comforts and connexions, and driven (like beasts to the
slaughter-house) down to the sea shore, where the mild subjects of a christian
government and a religious king are waiting to agree for the purchase, and to
transport them to America. They are then thrust by hundreds into the infectious
hold of a ship, in which the greater part frequently perishes by disease, while
the rest are reserved to experience the candor and humanity of American patriots.
If you have never yet considered it, pause here for a moment, and endeavor to
impress upon your mind the feelings of a being full as sensible, and perhaps
more innocent, than you or I, which is thus torn in an instant from every thing
that makes life agreeable; from country, friends and parents; from the intercourse
of mutual affection with mistress, lover or child; which; possessed of feelings
more exquisite than European hearts can conceive, is separated for ever from
all it loves; that, reduced to a depth of misery, which, even in the midst of
freedom and affluence, would be sufficient to overwhelm the most hardened disposition,
instead of friends and comforters and obsequious attendants, sees itself surrounded
with unrelenting persecutors and unpitying enemies; wretches who, by long intercourse
with misery, are grown callous to its agonies; who answer tears with taunts,
and complaints with torture! I shudder at the horrors which I describe, and
blush to be a human creature! Yet these are not the colors of description, but
a recital of facts less strong than the reality. Can any man reflect upon these
things without unutterable remorse? Can he know that, perhaps while he is wallowing
in luxury and sensuality, there are beings whose existence he has embittered,
mothers shrieking for their children, and children perishing for want of their
mother's care; wretches who are frantic with rage, and shame, and desperation,
or pining in all the agonies of a slow and painful death, who might have been
at peace if he had never existed? Can any man know this, and hope for mercy,
either from his fellow-creatures or his God? After the arrival of the surviving
wretches in America, you well know in what manner they are transferred to their
conscientious masters;— how they are brought into the market, naked,
weeping, and in chains;— how one man dares to examine his fellow-creatures
as he would do beasts, and bargain for their persons;— how all the most
sacred duties, affections, and feelings of the human heart, are violated and
insulted;— and thus you dare to call yourselves the masters of wretches
whom you have acquired by fraud, and retain by violence!— While I am
tracing this picture,— which you and every man, who has been in the
islands or southern colonies of America, knows to be true,— my astonishment
exceeds even my horror, to find it possible that any one should seriously doubt
whether an equitable title to hold human beings in bondage can be thus acquired.
With what face, Sir, can he who has never respected the rights of nature in another, pretend to claim them in his own favor? How dare the inhabitants of the southern colonies speak of privileges and justice? Is money of so much more importance than life? Or have the Americans shared the dispensing power of Saint Peter's successors, to excuse their own observance of those rules which they impose on others? If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.
If men would be consistent, they must admit all the consequences of their own principles; and you and your countrymen are reduced to the dilemma of either acknowledging the rights of your negroes, or of surrendering your own. If there be certain natural and universal rights, as the Declarations of your Congress so repeatedly affirm, I wonder how the unfortunate Africans have incurred their forfeiture. Is it the antiquity, or the virtues, or the great qualities of the English-Americans which constitutes the difference, and entitles them to rights from which they totally exclude more than a fourth part of the species? Or do you choose to make use of that argument, which the great Montesquieu has thrown out as the severest ridicule, that they are black, and you white? that you have lank, long hair, while theirs is short and woolly?
The more attentively you consider this subject, the more clearly you will perceive, that every plea, which can be advanced upon it, is the plea of interest and tyranny combatting humanity and truth. You cannot hide from yourself, that every title you can allege must be a title founded upon fraud or violence, and supported by open and avowed injustice.— Can any thing be clearer, than that a man, who is born free, can never forfeit his inheritance by suffering oppression; and that it is a contradiction to urge a purchase of what no one has a right to sell? Nor does it make any difference, whether the unfortunate victim pass from one to another, or from one to a thousand masters, any more than whether a nation be enslaved by a first, or by a hundreth tyrant. There can be no prescription pleaded against truth and justice; and the continuance of the evil is so far from justifying, that it is an exaggeration of the crime. What would you say to a man, in private life, who should pretend to be no thief, because he only bought stolen goods; or that he was no villain, because he did not forge a deed himself, but only paid another to do it, and enjoyed the estate by that honorable security? Yet this is literally the title which the Americans plead to the unfortunate inhabitants of Africa.
You do not go to Africa to buy, or steal your negroes; perhaps, because you are too lazy and luxurious: but you encourage an infamous and pitiless race to do it for you, and conscientiously receive the fruits of their crimes. You do not, merciful men, reduce your fellow-creatures to servitude! No— men of your independent spirits, that have taken up arms against the government that had protected and established them, rather than pay a tax of three-pence; that have laid the axe to the root of all human authority, and, instead of drinking the bitter waters of civil abuses and prescriptive obedience, have ascended to the living fountain of truth, justice and nature, would never make flagitious attempts upon the liberties and happiness of their brethren! Yes, gentlemen, men of liberal minds like yours, acknowledge all mankind to be their equals. Leave hereditary tyrants and their flatterers to make distinctions unknown to nature, and to degrade one part of the species to brutes, while they equal the other with gods!— You know that this is the greatest of all corruptions; and as such, you detest it:— What! are not all men naturally equal? And are not all civil distinctions, when legitimate, the permission of the people, and consequently subordinate to their power and control? Did you not carry the rights of men into the uncultivated desart and the howling wilderness? Not of Frenchmen, nor of Germans, nor of Englishmen, but of men; -men, the first and supreme distinction, who, created for freedom and happiness, transport to every soil the inherent prerogatives of their nature.
'Rome n'est plus dans Rome, elle est partout ou je suis.' Yes, gentlemen, as you are no longer English, I hope you will please to be men; and, as such, admit the whole human species to a participation of your inalienable rights. You will not, therefore, drag a trembling wretch from his cottage and his family; you will not tear the child from the arms of his frantic mother, that they may drag on a loathsome existence in misery and chains; you will not make depredations upon your unoffending neighbors, and, after having spread desolation over a fertile country, reduce the innocent inhabitants to servitude. To do this, you must be monsters, worse, I fear, than the majority of the House of Commons and the English ministry.** But you are men tremblingly alive to all the rights and feelings of the kind, and I believe, some of you at least, are christians. Your worst actions, therefore, the greatest crimes to which even your enemies can object, are only that you are the voluntary causes of all these mischiefs! You, you encourage the English pirate to violate the laws of faith and hospitality, and stimulate him to new excesses by purchasing the fruits of his rapine. Your avarice is the torch of treachery and civil war, which desolates the shores of Africa, and shakes destruction on half the majestic species of man!
* Colonel John Laurens, son of Henry Laurens, Esq. formerly President of the Congress. This young gentleman was sent over to England for his education, where he endeared himself to all who knew him, by his abilities and affectionate temper. In the beginning of the year 1777, he joined the American army, and from that time was foremost in every danger. He was present and distinguished himself in every action of the army under General Washington, and was amongst the foremost that entered the British lines at Yorktown. He fell August 27th, 1782, one of the last victims to this disastrous war, in an obscure skirmish with a foraging party. For several days preceding the action, he had been confined to his bed by a raging fever, but left it at the call of duty, and met his death.
Those who were intimately acquainted with this young man, will rank his martial qualities, by which he is chiefly known, as lowest in the catalogue of his virtues. They will lament the untimely loss of a clear discerning mind, and united the solid powers of the understanding with inflexible integrity. In him, his country has lost one of its noblest and most useful citizens; his father, the kindest and most affectionate friend; and all the wretched, a generous and disinterested patron.- O my unfortunate country! must I add, that when I consider all the leaders of thy factions, all thy hereditary magistrates, all that are destined to engross thy dignities or share thy spoils, I seek in vain a Colonel JOHN LAURENS.
** Should this doubt appear absurd, the reader is desired to remember it was
written in the year 1776.
December 29, 1832
THE LIBERATOR
Boston, Massachusetts, Volume 2 No. 52
ANNUAL COLLECTION OF TEXTS ON SLAVERY.
I.
'When I am indulging in my views of American prospects, and American liberty, it is mortifying to be told that in that very country, a large portion of the people are slaves. It is dark spot on the face of the nation. Such a state of things cannot always exist.'— Lafayette.
II.
'There are in the world two principles, force and reason. They stand in an inverse proportion to each other. When reason advances, force must give way, for reason cannot recede. When force resists, disastrous struggles follow. This is not the fault of reason but of force. It would be contrary to the nature of reason not to advance, or to return to that which it has discovered to be unreasonable; but it is not contrary to the nature of force to be convinced; it always will be so ultimately, however it may resist for the time. At first, the partizans of reason are called seditious, but it is afterwards discovered that its enemies are the rebels.'— B. Constant.
III.
'Thus far we can say we have gone right, keeping the road of honesty and sincerity, having done nothing but what we are able to justify, not by those weak and beggarly arguments drawn either from success, which is the same to the just and the unjust, or from the silence and satisfaction of a becalmed conscience,— but from the sure, safe, sound and unerring maxims of law, justice, reason and righteousness.'— Memorial of 'certain Baptist' to Charles II.
IV.
'Slavery is one unmingled mass of corruption, cruelty and crime. We maintain that every man who takes the oath of office in these States, and yet holds a slave, is guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury; and that, as the gospel of Christ is true and obligatory, every negro who professes to be a Christian, is a nondescript or a staunch hypocrite.'— R[ ]r. G. Bourne.
V.
'We are by no means indifferent to the expediency of the case. On the contrary, we think ourselves prepared to prove, by fair reasoning and by ascertained fact, that the expediency of the thing is all on our side; that IMMEDIATE ABOLITION is the only secure and p[ ]r way of attaining the object which we all profess to have in view; that to defer the measure to a distant period, and to admit the propriety of getting at it by a course of mitigation, is the surest mode of frustrating every hope we might otherwise entertain, and giving over the slaves to interminable bondage.'— Rev. Dr. Thomson.
VI.
'They do not recognise the false principle, that education, as a preparation for freedom, must precede emancipation; or that an amelioration of the slaves' condition should be a substitute for it: on the contrary, THEY INSIST UPON UNPROCRASTINATED EMANCIPATION, as a right which is unrighteously withheld, and the restoration of which is, in their opinion, the first and most indispensable step to all improvement, and absolutely essential to the application of the only remedy for that moral debasement, in which slavery has sunk its victims.'— Report of the Dublin Negro's Friend Society.
VII.
'What would you say to a man, in private life, who should pretend to be no thief, because he only bought stolen goods; or that he was no villain because he did not forge a deed himself, but only paid another to do it, and enjoyed the estate by that honorable security? Yet this is literally the title which the Americans plead to the unfortunate inhabitants of Africa.'— << Thomas Day>> .
VIII.
'Does emancipation from slavery imply emancipation from law? Does emancipation from lawless tyranny, from compulsory unremunerated labor, under the lash of the cartwhip,— imply emancipation from all responsibility and moral restraint? Were slavery extinguished, the same laws which restrain and punish crime in the WHITE population, would still restrain and punish crime in the BLACK population.'— Mrs. Heyrick.
IX.
'We are told that the system of slavery should be mitigated, and that a course of amendment should be pursued with a view to its final abolition. It appears to me, Sir, to be as clear as sunshine that no effectual mitigation of slavery is ever to be expected,— that the nature and circumstances of the case forbid such an expectation,— and that whatever may be accomplished in this way will prove a complete delusion,— it will only deceive the abolitionists, and ruin their cause.'— Rev. Dr. Thomson.
X.
'Calling one morning on a gentleman (at Cape Town) I was shewn into his library; and while waiting for him there, took up Cicero's Letters to Atticus. One of the first Letters which caught my eye was that in which the Roman Orator complains of the stupidity of the Slaves from Britain. Just as I had finished the perusal of that Letter, my eye lighting on two busts placed in opposite sides of the room, Cicero and Newton, I could not help exclaiming, “See what that man says of that man's country”!— Dr. Philip.
XI.
'It is a crime to go to Africa, and steal a man, and make him a slave. For
two centuries this was no crime at all. It was most just and innocent commerce.
My honorable friend (Mr. Wilberforce) instituted an inquiry into this innocent
traffic, and it turned out to be a most intolerable enormity. It is a crime,
then, by the laws of England, to make the full-grown African a slave. And how
is it less a crime to make a new-born Creole a slave? I say, it is as great—
it is even a greater crime. The African has at least passed a considerable portion
of his life in freedom: for twenty or thirty years, he has tasted the innumerable
enjoyments which liberty confers. But the child who is made a slave from his
birth, knows nothing but servitude and
misery.— Then as to guilt. Formerly we divided it with another party.
The black factor made the man a slave: that was his share of the guilt. We kept
him as a slave: that was our share. But, in the case of the child whom we enslave,
the whole abomination is our own. We make him a slave in the first place: we
use him as a slave, in the second. It is a crime to murder a man: it is no less
a crime to murder a child. It is a crime to rob a man: it is no less a crime
to rob a child. It is a crime to enslave a man: and, is it no crime to enslave
a child?'— Buxton's Speech in the British Parliament.
XII.
'Slavery is so vile and miserable an estate of man, and so directly opposite
to the generous temper and courage of our nation, that it is hardly to be conceived
that an Englishman, much less a gentleman, should plead for
it.'— Locke.
XIII.
'A negro child is born to-day. What right on earth have we to say, that that child shall be a slave? I want to know by what authority we act, under what warrant we proceed, when we say, that that child shall eat the bitter bread, and do the bitter labor of a bondsman, all the days of his life? I know the answer that will be given me: “The father is mine; the mother is mine; and therefore the child is mine.” That is, you have made his parents eat the bitter bread, and do the bitter labor of slaves; and this crime which you have committed against his parents, is to be your apology for the crime which you design to commit against him.'— Fowell Buxton.
XIV.
'Is there no difference between a vested interest in a house or a tenement, and a vested interest in a human being? No difference between a right to bricks and mortar, and a right to the flesh of man— a right to torture his body and to degrade his mind at your good will and pleasure? There is this difference,— the right to the house originates in law, and is reconcileable to justice; the claim (for I will not call it right) to the man, originated in robbery, and is an outrage upon every principle of justice, and every tenet of religion.'— Fowell Buxton.
XV.
'For it is not, Athenians! it is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury and treachery. These may perhaps succeed for once, and borrow awhile from hope a gay and flourishing appearance. But time betrays their weakness, and they fall into ruin of themselves. For as in structures of every kind the lower parts should have the greatest firmness, so the grounds and principles of actions should be just and true.'— Leland's Demosthenes, Orat. ii.
XVI.
'The persons who can imagine that the practice of slavery in this country, considered in all its consequences, connexions, and tendencies, productive of the happiness of mankind, must allow that the direct way to increase their happiness, is by every possible means to increase their misery.'— Parsons.
XVII.
'They tell us that they see a progressive danger of bringing about emancipation. The principle has begun since the Revolution; let us do what we will, it will come round. Slavery has been the foundation of that impiety and dissipation, which have been so much disseminated among our countrymen. If it were totally abolished, it would do much good.'— Zachariah Johnson of Virginia.
XVIII.
'That any human being who has not forfeited his liberty by his crimes, has a right to be free— and that whosoever forcibly withholds liberty from an innocent man, robs him of his right, and violates the moral law, are truths which no man would disturb or doubt, if custom had not obscured our perceptions, or if wickedness did not prompt us to close our eyes.'— Dymond's Essays.
XIX.
'There is not in “the oracles of God,” a doctrinal principle, a divine precept, a pertinent example, art illustrative type, an appalling denunciation, a consolatory promise, a historical fact, or a prophetical testimony, which does not either directly or indirectly condemn American slavery.'— Rev. George Bourne.
XX.
'Is it reasonable, is it just, that a poor infant who has done no injury to any one, should be subjected, he and his posterity for ever, to the arbitrary will and tyranny of another, and moreover to the condition of a brute, because by mere accident, and by no fault or will of his own, he was born of a person who had been previously in the condition of a slave?'— Clarkson.
XXI.
'It is quite evident, that our slave system will be abolished, and that its supporters will hereafter be regarded with the same public feelings, as he who was an advocate of the slave-trade is now. How is it that legislators, or that public men, are so indifferent to their fame? Who would now be willing that biography should record of him— THIS MAN DEFENDED THE SLAVE TRADE? The time will come when the record, THIS MAN OPPOSED THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY— will occasion a great deduction from the public estimate of worth of character. When both these atrocities are abolished, and but for the page of history forgotten, that page will make a wide difference between those who aided the abolition, and those who obstructed it. The one will be ranked amongst the Howards that are departed, and the other amongst those who, in ignorance or in guilt, have employed their little day in inflicting misery upon mankind.'— Dymond's Essays.
XXII.
'The slaves, it may be urged, are well treated. That I deny— man can never be well treated who is deprived of his rights. They are well clothed, well fed, well lodged, &c. Feed me with ambrosia, and wash it down with nectar; yet what are these, if Liberty be wanting?'— Edward Rushton.
XXIII.
'There is one God, one Saviour, and one Faith, for the negro and for ourselves,
for the bond and the free; let us not make distinctions where God has made none,
but include the whole human family within the influence of Christian love. For
my own part, both inclination, and the duties of my office, prompt me to use
all the means which are both lawful and within my power, for breaking the chains
that have been provided for any portion of the human race, how much care soever
hath been taken to file and polish
them.'— Anon.
XXIV.
'There is enough in the simplest conception of personal hereditary slavery,
to revolt every just and liberal mind, independently of all aggravations to
be found in its particular origin, or in abuses of the master's power. But how
much should sympathy and indignation be enhanced, when the cruel perpetual privation
of freedom, and of almost every civil and human right, is the punishment of
no crime, nor the harsh consequence of public hostility in war, but imposed
upon the innocent and helpless, by the hand rapacious violence alone; and maintained
for no other object but the sordid one of the master's profit, by the excessive
labor to which they are
compelled?'— Stephen.
XXV.
'I object, because the moment we enter into detail, we divide ourselves. That slavery is an atrocious crime— that it involves an intolerable excess of suffering— and ought, in RIGHTS, INSTANTLY to be abolished, we all cordially agree! But go beyond this, and we are sundered. Why should we sunder— why should we infuse delusive hopes into the minds of the friends of Slavery, already crazy with error— why should we help them in their iniquitous cause, by winking, even for a moment, under ANY modification, at ANY FEATURE, of their horrible system? Let us unite in THAT, in which every friend of liberty may cordially agree! and say, slavery shall be no more!'— Anon.
XXVI.
'The sin of slavery must be forsaken!!— The signs of the times are
awfully portentous! From the monarch, fearing treason, on the throne, to the
pauper, shrinking from dissection, in the workhouse; a conviction that some
impending danger threatens to shake, if not to loosen the bonds of society,
seems universal. Hence it is that forms of prayer and fast days are ordered,
and talked of even by men, and in places where and by whom, they would, till
now, have been scorned or ridiculed. This may, by some, be deemed trifling,
but is such trifling as bespeaks alarm. Nay, it speaks more— it speaks
a fear of God where either no such fear was, or where none was apparent. It
speaks peace and confidence to the truly religious, but terror to the
wicked.'— Roberts.
XXVII.
'Come forward, then, we beseech you, as men— and as christians; temperately, but fearlessly,— constitutionally, but DECIDEDLY— in the support of every legitimate measure for the utter abolition of a System which no prospect of private gain— no consideration of public advantage— no plea of political expediency— can sufficiently justify or excuse:— thus will you extend the blessings of Liberty to Hundreds of Thousands of your fellow creatures— hold up to an enlightened world a glorious and merciful example,— and stand among the foremost in the defence of the violated rights of Human Nature.'— Anon.
XXVIII.
'Opposed to the law of nature, and of God, that gives and secures to every man the rights adapted to his particular station in society, stands the artificial, or unnatural relation of master and slave; where power constitutes right; where, according to the degree of his capacity of coercion, every man becomes his own legislator, and erects his interest, or his caprice, into a law for regulating his conduct to his neighbor. And as the one draws its origin from the heavenly fountain of benevolence, so the other may be traced to the infernal enemy of all goodness.'— Rev. J. Ramsey.
XXIX.
'I am for speedy, immediate abolition. I care not what caste, creed, or color, slavery may assume. I am for its total, its instant abolition. Whether it be personal or political, mental or corporeal, intellectual or spiritual, I am for its immediate abolition. I enter into no compromise with slavery; I am for justice, in the name of humanity and according to the law of the living God.'— O'Connell.
XXX.
'It is utterly impossible that they who live in the administration of the petty despotism of a slave community, whose minds have been warped and polluted by the contamination of slavery, should not lose that respect for their fellow-creatures, over whom they tyrannize, which is essential in the nature and moral being of man, to secure them from the abuse of power over their prostrate follow-creatures. We cannot expect they should see things in the light we do who have the happiness to live in a free community; and therefore to expect they should adopt the requisite means to abolish slavery, is to expect not only an inconsistency, but almost an impossibility' ... Wilberforce.
XXXI.
'Tell those who would paralyze your exertions in this righteous cause by anticipations
of danger, or considerations of national policy,— that, whatever, is
moral duty, can never, ultimately, be a political evil,— that to do
evil that good may come,— or to avoid good, lest evil should come, is
as crooked a doctrine in Politics as it is in Divinity; and if a Heathen could
exclaim, “fiat Justitia ruat Coelum,” well may the Christian adopt
similar language, with his clearer views, and stronger confidence in the superintendence
and protection of a Power as Omnipotent as
Just!'— Abolitionist's Catechism.
XXXII.
'It was never given by God to man to hold his fellow-man in bondage. Every
thing short of a total abolition of slavery he considered as unsatisfactory,
and ending only in disappointment and discontent. The supporters of the abolition
of slavery took their stand upon the eternal principles of truth and justice,
and it would be next to blasphemy to doubt their
success.'— Speech of Dr. Lushington.
XXXIII.
'Man has no moral right to oppress his brethren. The planters talk of vested rights, and say you cannot touch them. If persons have investments, originally acquired by fraud, murder, and robbery, why they can boast of their association with banditti!— We do not hear them talk of vested wrongs. Let the slave but speak his sentiments upon his wrongs, and troops are sent amongst them— the whip and tortures applied. And is it to such men we are to apply for the relief of the persecuted slave? I, for myself, would, if in a state of slavery, prefer even the chance of being eat by cannibals, to dying by inches with tortures too horrible to dilate upon.'— Speech of Rev. Mr. Burnett of England.
XXXIV.
'It is neither on facts nor on arguments that slavery seems to depend for protection. It neither doubles, nor stands at bay. It has neither the ingenuity of the hare, nor the intrepidity of the lion. It defends itself, like a hunted pole-cat, by the loathsomeness with which it taints the atmosphere around it; and hopes to escape by disgusting those whom it can neither weary nor subdue.'— Edinburgh Review.
XXXV.
'There must be an end of the system of robbing one man to keep another; and
in no place can it se properly begin, as where, in addition to the simple robbery,
the whole thing supported is hateful in itself. The time is past when men could
be deterred from pursuing such an object by the apprehension of insult from
the defenders of the wrong. Such insults are honors; and there is no individual
so mean, as to be unable to aspire to a portion of the
credit.'— Westminster Review.
XXXVI.
'I expect that, as we are not embarked in a career of enthusiasm, but rest on the substantial foundation of righteousness, justice, and humanity, we are acting beneath the shelter, and with the blessing of Him, who looks with equal eye on all his creatures: and if in contemplating this question, I take a just view of the whole matter, I do feel that we stand up in this place, as much the defenders of the Planters, as we are of the slaves whose cause we seem more directly to advocate; for it is only by putting a period to a system that grinds down to the dust so many of our fellow creatures; it is only by rescuing them from the oppression under which they groan, that we can rescue from the displeasure of a retributive Providence, the proprietors themselves.'— Rev. Gerard Noel.
XXXVII.
'How shocking, that so many of our countrymen should, on the coast of Africa, have been “men-stealers,” and that so many of them should act the part of those who are the purchasers of stolen property; but, as by human laws, “The receiver is as bad as the thief,” so the law of heaven regards the kidnapping villain who stole his brother man, and the mammon-worshipping devotee who holds him in bondage, in the same point of light; both being the transgressors of His laws, and amenable to His righteous justice!'— Ivimey.
XXXVIII.
'Is slavery less slavery in a christian than in a mahometan country? I entreat your attention, while I plead the general cause of humanity. In such a cause, it is right to appeal to your sensibility, as well as to your reason. It is now no longer time to flatter petty tyrants, by acknowledging that color constitutes a legitimate title for holding men in abject and perpetual bondage ... Oh! gracious Heaven! must the shackles (of slavery) be yet rivetted on endless generations! Against this sin of a scarlet dye, I dare raise my voice! Fearless of offending, I have long ago attacked Tyranny in his strong holds!'— Humphreys.
XXXIX.
'Slavery corrupts the morals of the master, by freeing him from those restraints
so necessary to the control of the human passions, so beneficial in promoting
the practice of virtue. It is dangerous to the state, by its corruption of those
citizens on whom its prosperity depends; and by admitting within it a multitude
of persons, who, being excluded from the common benefits of the constitution,
are interested in scheming its destruction. Slavery, in whatever light we view
it, may be deemed a most pernicious institution— immediately so to the
unhappy person who suffers under
it— finally to the master who triumphs in it— and to the state
which allows it'— Hargrave.
XL.
'While slavery remained, Christianity could make no real progress among the slaves, or among the whites by whom they were controlled. All that the slaves knew of Christianity, they were left in many instances to learn from the planters— from apostles, that is, who came to them with a whip in one hand and a chain in the other. Were such teachers likely to recommend the gospel of the meek and lowly Jesus? Let Christians then especially arise to the discharge of their duty— let the slaves look at Christianity through a right medium— let them see, in every professor of the gospel, a man whose first object it was to teach the ignorant, comfort the miserable, and liberate the enslaved.'— Speech of Rev. J.W. Cunningham.
XLI.
'O, the cruel system of Slavery! Can it be justified on the principle that
the negro has a skin of a different complexion to that of his tyrant lord? Surely
this is no crime! Is it on this account, ye white tyrants, (for so I should
call them, if I were in the presence of these oppressors of their fellow-men)
that the produce of his labor is not his own; that the property in his own body
is not his own; that his wife and children do not belong to him but to his tyrant
oppressor? O, the heartless wretch, who treats his fellow-man as he would his
horse, or his dog, or with greater
brutality!'— Rev. Joseph. Ivimey.
XLII.
'Were the question simplified, (which is so entangled by human wickedness as to perplex even the best of men,) and offered to us in its proper character, what upright mind could hesitate? Thus, “What compensation would be due to white men, if, by wise and equal laws, they were prevented from continuing to rob unoffending black men of their inalienable rights to security in person and property; and rom insulting and degrading them with impunity; and from buying and selling and treating them like blocks and brutes?” Would no universal human feelings, and feeling as right as it was universal, cry out with one voice, “None— no compensation would be due to the white men; except it were the punishment meet for their crimes?”'— Anon.
XLIII.
'Did the Creator intend that the noblest creatures in the visible world should live such a life as this?'— 'If, therefore, you have any regard to justice, (to say nothing of mercy nor the revealed law of God,) render unto all their due. Give liberty to whom liberty is due; that is, to every child of man, to every partaker of human nature. Let none serve you but by his own act and deed, by his own voluntary choice. Away with all whips, all chains, all compulsion! Be gentle toward all men, and see that you invariably do unto every one, as you would he should do unto you.'— John Wesley.
XLIV.
'Does the eighth commandment relate merely to the seizure of our neighbor's goods; that the preacher of righteousness need not, when denouncing theft, say a word to, or of men-stealers, or their partizans? Is there but little sin in receiving or retaining stolen property? or does restitution of such property cease to be a duty when God is the proprietor who is defrauded, and the property stolen or retained is our fellow men?'— Rev. E. Dewdney.
XLV.
'As long a human being is bought and sold,— regarded as goods and
chattels,— compelled to labor without wages,— branded, chained
and flogged at the caprice of his owner,— he will, of necessity, as
long as the feeling of pain, the sense of degradation and injury remain,—
he will, unless he have the spirit of a Christian martyr, be vindictive and
revengeful. “Oppression (it is said) will make even) a wise man mad.”
Buy will the liberated captive, when the iron yoke of slavery is broken,—
when his heavy burdens are unbound,— his bleeding wounds healed,—
his broken heart bound up,— will he then scatter vengeance and destruction
around him?'— Anon.
XLVI.
'The only true policy is justice; and he who regards the consequences of an act, rather than the justice of it, gives no very exalted proof of the greatness of his character. If we call the man obdurate, who cannot perceive the atrociousness of slavery, what epithets does he deserve, who, while he does perceive its atrociousness, continues to be a proprietor of slaves? Of all the slaveholders under Heaven, those of the United States appear to me the most reprehensible; for man is never so truly odious as when he inflicts upon others that which he himself abominates.'— Rushton.
XLVII.
'To talk about rights, justice, equity and law as connected with slavery, is
to talk downright nonsense. If we had no interest in the case, and were only
speaking of the conduct of another nation, we should all use the same language;
and we should speak of slavery, as we now speak of slave trading: that is, we
should call it rank, naked, flagrant, undisguised
injustice.'— Fowell Buxton.
XLVIII.
'Slaves are either men or brutes. They are accountable beings, or they are not— have rational souls, or have not. It matters not how degraded they may be— or how depressed are their intellects: if they are men, no man has a right to hold them in involuntary bondage— if brutes, no legislature has a right to prescribe laws to punish them as rational beings.'— Temperance Advertiser.
XLIX.
'I speak in the spirit of the British law, which makes liberty commensurate with, and inseparable from, the British soil— which proclaims, even to the stranger and the sojourner, the moment the sets his foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he treads is holy, and consecrated by the Genius of Universal Emancipation. No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced;— no matter what complexion, incompatible with freedom , an Indian or an African sun may have burnt upon him;— no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down:— no matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of slavery: the first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty; his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that burst from around him, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible Genius of Universal Emancipation.' ----- Curran.
L.
'The blood of thy brother, (for, whether thou wilt believe it or no, such he is in the sight of Him that made him.) crieth against thee from the earth, from the ship, and from the waters. O, whatever it costs, put a stop to its cry before it be too late: instantly, at any price, were it the half of thy goods, deliver thyself from blood-guiltiness! Thy hands, thy bed, thy furniture, thy house, thy lands are at present stained with blood. Surely it is enough; accumulate no more guilt; spill no more the blood of the innocent! Do not hire another to shed blood; do not pay him for doing it! Whether you are a Christian or no, shew yourself a man! Be not more savage than a lion or a bear!'— John Wesley.
LI.
'If any man tells you he has been credibly informed the slaves are happy, ask
him if he would believe his informants if they told him the fish in a
frying-pan were happy. Can a slave marry?— Can a slave prevent his children
from being sold?— Can a slave give evidence of the rape of his daughter
or the murder of his wife, though he saw it with his eyes? Oh, a man who can
do none of these must be wondrous happy! What a “cake,” what a piece
of “unleavened dough,” must he be that can be persuaded of it! Things
may be endured to a certain length; but there are lengths that men who have
lived where bells have “knoll'd to church,” respectable men, well-educated
men, decent men, men who have the habits of good society, cannot
endure ----- there is a better word ----- will not. Don't endure it,
then;— you may put is down in two months if you like. Don't endure it;
but hold together like burrs, till you see this foul, indecent, unmanly shame
wiped off from you and your posterity.' ... Westminster Review.
LII.
'For my own part, in defiance of the threat of being deemed an enthusiast,
disregarding the imputation of imprudence, and of want of regard for the lives
and liberties of the white population,— I profess myself the advocate
for the speedy and entire emancipation of every slave. I am not content to wait
till it pleases the good judgment of their masters— until they, who
almost up to the present moment, have defended the system itself, and who contend
that on the continuance of that system is embarked their own earthly prosperity—
I am not content to wait until they shall grant us that boon. Well I know that
if we depend upon their exertions— if we rely upon their good will—
if we trust to their promises— not one of the vast assembly whom I now
address will live to see the happy day when England shall be able to boast that
slavery no longer prevails in any part of her
dominions.' ----- Dr. Lushington.