The whole nation witnessed the late successful efforts of the slaveholders in Congress, by their various gag resolutions, and through the aid of recreant Northern politicians, to destroy all freedom of debate adverse to "the peculiar institution." They were themselves ready to dwell, in debate, on the charms of human bondage; but when a member took the other side of the question, then, indeed, he was out of order, the constitution was outraged, and the Union endangered. We all know the violent threats which have been used, to intimidate the friends of human rights from expressing their sentiments in the national legislature. "As long," says Governor McDuffie to the South Carolina Legislature, "as long as the halls of Congress shall beopento thediscussionof this question, we can have neither peace nor security." The Charleston Mercury is, on this subject, very high authority; and in 1837 its editor announced that "Public opinion in the South would now, we are sure, justify animmediate resort toforceby the Southern delegation, even on thefloor of Congress, were they forthwith toseize and drag from the hallany man who dared to insult them, as that eccentric old showman, John Quincy Adams has dared to do."
When so much malignity is manifested against the freedom of speech, in the very sanctuary of American liberty, it is not to be supposed that it will be tolerated in the house of bondage. We have already quoted a Southern paper, which declares that the moment "any private individual attempts to lecture us on theevils and immorality of slavery, that very moment his tongue shall be cut out and cast upon the dunghill."
In Marion College, Missouri, there appeared some symptoms of anti-slavery feeling among the students. A Lynch club assembled, and the Rev. Dr. Ely, one of the professors, appeared before them, and denounced abolition, and submitted a series of resolutions passed by the faculty, and among them the following: "We do hereby forbid all discussions and public meetings among the students upon the subject of domestic slavery." The Lynchers were pacified, and neither tore down the college nor hung up the professors; but before separating they resolved that they would oppose the elevation to office of any man entertaining abolition sentiments, and would withhold their countenance and support from every such member of the community. Indeed, it is obvious to any person attentive to the movements of the South, that the slaveholders dreaddomesticfar more than foreign interference with their darling system. They dreadyou, fellow-citizens, and they dread converts among themselves.
The Constitutions of all the slave States guarantee, in the most solemn and explicit terms, the Liberty of the Press; but it is well understood that there is one exception to its otherwise unbounded license—Property in human flesh is too sacred to be assailed by the press. The attributes of the Deity may be discussed, but not the rights of the master. The characters of public, and even of private men, may be vilified at pleasure, provided no reproach is flung upon theslaveholder. Every abuse in Church or State may be ferreted out and exposed, except the cruelties practiced upon the slaves, unless when they happen to exceed the ordinary standard of cruelty established by general usage. Every measure of policy may be advocated, except that of free labor; every question of right may be examined, except that of a man to himself; every dogma in theology may be propagated, except that of the sinfulness of the slave code. The very instant the press ventures beyond its prescribed limits, the constitutional barriers erected for its protection sink into the dust, and a censorship, the more stern and vindictive from being illegal, crushes it into submission. The midnight burglary perpetrated upon the Charleston Post-office, and the conflagration of the anti-slavery papers found in it, are well known. These papers had been sent to distinguished citizens, but it was deemed inexpedient topermitthem to read facts and arguments against slavery. Pains will be taken to preventyoufrom reading this address, and vast pains have been taken to keep slaveholders as well as others ignorant of every fact and argument that militates against the system. Hence Mr. Calhoun's famous bill, authorizing every Southern post-master to abstract from the mails every paper relating to slavery. Hence the insane efforts constantly made to expurgate the literature of the world of all recognition of the rights ofblackmen. Novels, annuals, poems, and histories, containing sentiments hostile to human bondage, are proscribed at the South, and Northern publishers have had the extreme baseness to publish mutilated editions for the Southern market.[11]
[11]The Harpers, of New York, in reply to a letter from the South, complaining of the anti-slavery sentiments in a book they had recently published, stated, "since the receipt of your letter we have published an edition of the 'Woods and Fields,'in which the offensive matter has been omitted."
[11]The Harpers, of New York, in reply to a letter from the South, complaining of the anti-slavery sentiments in a book they had recently published, stated, "since the receipt of your letter we have published an edition of the 'Woods and Fields,'in which the offensive matter has been omitted."
[11]The Harpers, of New York, in reply to a letter from the South, complaining of the anti-slavery sentiments in a book they had recently published, stated, "since the receipt of your letter we have published an edition of the 'Woods and Fields,'in which the offensive matter has been omitted."
In some of the slave States laws have been passed establishing a censorship of the press, for the exclusive and special benefit of the slaveholders. Some time since an anti-slavery pamphlet was mailed at New York, directed to a gentleman in Virginia. Presently a letter was received from William Wilson, post-master at Lexington, Va., saying—
"I have to advise you that a law passed at the last session of the Legislature of this State, which took effect on the first day of this month, makes it the duty of the post-masters or their assistants to report to some magistrate (under penalty of from $50 to $200), the receipt of allsuchpublications at his office; and if, on examination, the magistrate is of opinion they come under the provision of the law, it is his duty to have themburntin his presence—which operation was performed on the above mentioned pamphlet this morning."
"I have to advise you that a law passed at the last session of the Legislature of this State, which took effect on the first day of this month, makes it the duty of the post-masters or their assistants to report to some magistrate (under penalty of from $50 to $200), the receipt of allsuchpublications at his office; and if, on examination, the magistrate is of opinion they come under the provision of the law, it is his duty to have themburntin his presence—which operation was performed on the above mentioned pamphlet this morning."
The Rev. Robert J. Breckenridge, a well-known zealous opponent of abolition, edited, in 1835, "The Baltimore Religious Magazine." A number of this magazine contained an article from a correspondent, entitled "Bible-Slavery." The tone of this article not suiting the slave-breeders of Petersburg (Virg.), the subscribers were deprived of the numbers forwarded to them through the post-office of that town. The magazines were taken from the Office, and on the 8th May, 1838, were burnt in the street, before the door of the public reading-room, in thepresence and by the direction of the Mayor and Recorder!!
It is surely unnecessary to remark, that this Virginia law is incontemptuous violation of the Constitution of Virginia, and of the authority of the Federal Government. The act of Congress requires each post-master to deliver the papers which come to his office to the persons to whom they are directed, and they require him to take an oath to fulfil his duty. The Virginia law imposes duties on an officer over whom they have no control, utterly at variance with his oath, and the obligations under which he assumed the office. If the postmaster must select, under a heavy penalty, for a public bonfire, all papers bearing on slavery, why may he not be hereafter required to select, for the same fate, all papers hostile to Popery? Yet similar laws are now in force in various slave States.
Not only is this espionage exercised over the mail, but measures are taken to keep the community in ignorance of what is passing abroad in relation to slavery, and what opinions are elsewhere held respecting it.
On the 1st of August, 1842, an interesting address was delivered in Massachusetts, by the late Dr. Channing, in relation to West India emancipation, embracing, as was natural and proper, reflections on American slavery. This address was copied into a New York weekly paper, and the number containing it was offered for sale, as usual, by the agent of the periodical at Charleston. Instantly the agent was prosecuted by the South Carolina Association, and was held to bail in the sum of $1,000, to answer for hiscrime. Presently after, this same agent received for sale a supply of "Dickens' Notes on the United States," but having before his eyes the fear of the slaveholders, he gave notice in the newspapers, that the book would "be submitted to highly intelligent members of the South Carolina Association forinspection, and IF the sale is approved by them, it will be for sale—if not, not." And so the population of one of the largest cities of the slave region were not permitted to read a book they were all burning with impatience to see, till the volume had been firstinspectedby a self-constituted board of censors! The slaveholders, however, were in this instance afraid to put their power to the test—the people might have rebelled if forbidden to read the "Notes," and hence one of the most powerful, effective anti-slavery tracts yet issued from the press was permitted to be circulated, because peoplewouldread what Dickens had written. Surely, fellow-citizens, you will not accuse us of slander, when we say that the slaveholders have abolished among you the liberty of the press. Remember the assertion of the editor of the Missouri Argus: "Abolition editors in the slave States will not dare to avow their opinions: it would beinstant deathto them."
A distinguished foreigner, after travelling in the Southern States, remarked that the very aspect of the country bore testimony to the temerity of the nullifiers, who, defenceless and exposed as they are, could not dare to hazard a civil war; and surely no people in the world have more cause to shrink from an appeal to arms. We find at the South no one element of military strength. Slavery, as we have seen, checks the progress of population, of the arts, of enterprise, and of industry. But above all, the laboring class, which in other countries affords the materials of which armies are composed, is regarded among you as your most deadly foe; and the sight of a thousand negroes with arms in their hands, would send a thrill of terror through the stoutest hearts, and excite a panic which no number of the veteran troops of Europe could produce. Even now, laws are in force to keep arms out of the hands of a population which ought to be your reliance in danger, but which is your dread by day and night, in peace and war.
During our revolutionary war, when the idea of negro emancipation had scarcely entered the imagination of any of our citizens—when there were no "fanatic abolitionists," no "incendiary publications," no "treasonable" anti-slavery associations; in those palmy days of slavery, no small portion of the Southern militia were withdrawn from the defence of the country to protect the slaveholders from the vengeance of their own bondmen! This you would be assured was abolition slander, were not the fact recorded in the national archives.The Secret Journal of Congress(Vol. I., p. 105) contains the following remarkable and instructive record:—
"March 29th, 1779.—The Committee appointed to take into consideration thecircumstances of the Southern States, and the ways and means fortheirsafety and defence, report, That the State of South Carolina (as represented by the delegates of the said State, and by Mr. Huger, who has come hither at the request of the Governor of said State, on purpose to explain the particular circumstances thereof,) isunableto make any effectual efforts with militia, by reason of the great proportion of citizensnecessary to remain at home, to prevent insurrection among the negroes, and to prevent the desertion of them to the enemy. That the state of the country, and the great number of these people among them, expose the inhabitants togreat danger, from the endeavors of the enemy to excite them to revolt or desert."
"March 29th, 1779.—The Committee appointed to take into consideration thecircumstances of the Southern States, and the ways and means fortheirsafety and defence, report, That the State of South Carolina (as represented by the delegates of the said State, and by Mr. Huger, who has come hither at the request of the Governor of said State, on purpose to explain the particular circumstances thereof,) isunableto make any effectual efforts with militia, by reason of the great proportion of citizensnecessary to remain at home, to prevent insurrection among the negroes, and to prevent the desertion of them to the enemy. That the state of the country, and the great number of these people among them, expose the inhabitants togreat danger, from the endeavors of the enemy to excite them to revolt or desert."
At the first census, in 1790, eleven years after this report, andwhen the slaves had unquestionably greatly increased their numbers, they were only 107,094fewerthan the whites. If, then, these slaves exposed their masters "to great danger," and the militia of South Carolina were obliged tostay at hometo protect their families, not from the foreign invaders, but the domestic enemies, what would be the condition of the little blustering nullifying State, with a foreign army on her shores, and 335,000 slaves ready to aid it, while her own white population,militiaand all, is but as two whites to three blacks?
You well know that slaveholders, in answer to the abolitionists, are wont to boast of the fidelity and attachment of their slaves; and you also well know, that among themselves they freely avow their dread of these same faithful and attached slaves, and are fertile in expedients to guard against their vengeance.
It is natural that we should fear those whom we are conscious of having deeply injured, and all history and experience testify that fear is a cruel passion. Hence the shocking severity with which, in all slave countries, attempts to shake off an unrighteous yoke are punished. So late even as 1822, certain slaves in Charleston weresuspectedof anintentionto rise and assert their freedom. No overt act was committed, but certain blacks were found who professed to testify against their fellows, and some, it is said, confessed their intentions.
On this ensued one of the most horrible judicial butcheries on record. It is not deemed necessary, in the chivalrous Palmetto State, to give grand and petit juries the trouble of indicting and trying slaves, even when their lives are at stake. A court, consisting of two Justices of the Peace and five freeholders, was convened for the trial of the accused, and the following were the results of their labors:—
Now, let it be remembered, that this sacrifice of human life was made by one of the lowest tribunals in the State; a tribunal consisting of two petty magistrates and five freeholders, appointed for the occasion, not possessing a judicial rank, nor professing to be learned in the law; in short, a tribunal which would not be trusted to decide the title to an acre of ground—we refer not to the individuals composing the court, but to the court itself;—acourt which has not power to take away the land of a white man, hangs black men by dozens!
Listen to the confessions of the slaveholders with regard to their happy dependents; the men who are so contented under the patriarchal system, and whose condition might well excite the envy of northern laborers, "the great democratic rabble."
Governor Hayne, in his message of 1833, warned the South Carolina Legislature, that "a state ofmilitary preparationmust always be with us a state of perfectdomesticsecurity. A profound peace, and consequent apathy, may expose us to the danger ofdomestic insurrection." So it seems the happy slaves are to be kept from insurrection by a state of military preparation. We have seen that, during the revolutionarywar, the Carolina militia were kept at home watching the slaves, instead of meeting the British in the field; but now it seems the same task awaits the militia in a season of profound peace. Another South Carolinian[12]admonishes his countrymen thus: "Let it never be forgotten that our negroes are truly the Jacobins of the country; that they are the anarchists, and the domestic enemy,the common enemy of civilized society, and the barbarians who would, if they could, become the destroyers of our race."
[12]The author of "A Refutation of the Calumnies inculcated against the Southern and Western States."
[12]The author of "A Refutation of the Calumnies inculcated against the Southern and Western States."
[12]The author of "A Refutation of the Calumnies inculcated against the Southern and Western States."
Again, "Hatred to the whites, with the exception, in some cases, of attachment to the person and family of the master, is nearly universal among the black population. We have then afoe, cherished in our very bosoms—a foewilling to draw our life-bloodwhenever the opportunity is offered; in the mean time intent on doing us all the mischief in his power."—Southern Religious Telegraph.
Again, "Hatred to the whites, with the exception, in some cases, of attachment to the person and family of the master, is nearly universal among the black population. We have then afoe, cherished in our very bosoms—a foewilling to draw our life-bloodwhenever the opportunity is offered; in the mean time intent on doing us all the mischief in his power."—Southern Religious Telegraph.
In a debate in the Kentucky Legislature, in 1841, Mr. Harding, opposing the repeal of the law prohibiting the importation of slaves from other States, and looking forward to the time when the blacks would greatly out-number the whites, exclaimed:
"In such a state of things, suppose an insurrection of the slaves to take place. The master has become timid and fearful, the slave bold and daring—the white men, overpowered with a sense of superior numbers on the part of the slaves, cannot be embodied together;every man must guard his own hearth and fireside. No man would even dare for an hour to leave his own habitation; if he did, he would expect on his return to find his wife and children massacred. But the slaves, with but little more thanthe shadow of opposition before them, armed with the consciousness of superior force and superior numbers on their side, animated with the hope of liberty, and maddened with the spirit of revenge, embody themselves in every neighborhood, and furiously march over the country, visiting every neighborhood with all the horrors of civil war and bloodshed. And thus the yoke would be transferred from the black to the white man, and the master fall a bleeding victim to his own slave."
"In such a state of things, suppose an insurrection of the slaves to take place. The master has become timid and fearful, the slave bold and daring—the white men, overpowered with a sense of superior numbers on the part of the slaves, cannot be embodied together;every man must guard his own hearth and fireside. No man would even dare for an hour to leave his own habitation; if he did, he would expect on his return to find his wife and children massacred. But the slaves, with but little more thanthe shadow of opposition before them, armed with the consciousness of superior force and superior numbers on their side, animated with the hope of liberty, and maddened with the spirit of revenge, embody themselves in every neighborhood, and furiously march over the country, visiting every neighborhood with all the horrors of civil war and bloodshed. And thus the yoke would be transferred from the black to the white man, and the master fall a bleeding victim to his own slave."
Such are the terrific visions which are constantly presenting themselves to the affrighted imaginations of the slaveholders; such the character which,among themselves, they attribute to their own domestics.
Attend to one more, and that one an extraordinary confession:
"We, of the South, are emphatically surrounded by a dangerous class of beings—degraded and stupid savages, who, if they could but once entertain the idea, that immediate and unconditional death would not be their portion, would re-act the St. Domingo tragedy. But a consciousness, with all their stupidity, that a ten-fold force, superior in discipline,if not in barbarity, would gather from thefour corners of the United States, and slaughter them, keeps them in subjection. But to thenon-slaveholding Statesparticularly, are we indebted for a permanent safeguard against insurrection. Without their assistance, the white population of the South would betoo weakto quiet the innate desire for liberty, which is ever ready to act itself out with every rational creature."—Maysville Intelligencer.
"We, of the South, are emphatically surrounded by a dangerous class of beings—degraded and stupid savages, who, if they could but once entertain the idea, that immediate and unconditional death would not be their portion, would re-act the St. Domingo tragedy. But a consciousness, with all their stupidity, that a ten-fold force, superior in discipline,if not in barbarity, would gather from thefour corners of the United States, and slaughter them, keeps them in subjection. But to thenon-slaveholding Statesparticularly, are we indebted for a permanent safeguard against insurrection. Without their assistance, the white population of the South would betoo weakto quiet the innate desire for liberty, which is ever ready to act itself out with every rational creature."—Maysville Intelligencer.
And now we ask you, fellow-citizens, if all these declarations and confessions be true—and who can doubt it—what must be your inevitable condition, should your soil be invaded by a foreign foe, bearing the standard ofemancipation?
In perfect accordance with the above confession, that to the non-slaveholding States the South is indebted for a permanent safeguard against insurrection, Mr. Underwood, of Kentucky, uttered these pregnant words in a debate, in 1842, in Congress, "The dissolution of the Union will be the dissolution of slavery."
The action of the Federal Government is, we know, controlled by the slave interest; and what testimony does that action bear to the military weakness of the South? Let the reports of its high functionaries answer.
The Secretary of War, in his report for 1842, remarked, "The works intended for the more remote Southern portion of our territory, particularly require attention. Indications are already made ofdesigns of the worst character against that region, in the event of hostilities from acertain quarter, to which we cannot be insensible." The Secretary's fears had been evidently excited by the organization ofblackregiments in the British West Indies, and the threats of certain English writers, that a war between the two countries would result in the liberation of the slaves. The report from the Quarter-Master, General Jessup, a Southern man, betrays the same anxiety, and in less ambiguous terms: "In the event of a war," says he, "with either of the great European powers possessing colonies in the West Indies, there will be danger of the peninsula of Florida being occupied by BLACKS from the Islands. A proper regard for the security of ourSouthern Statesrequires, that prompt and efficient measures be adopted to prevent such a state of things." The Secretary of the Navy, a slaveholder,hintshis fears in cautious circumlocution. Speaking of the event of a war with any considerable maritime power, he says, "It would be a war of incursions aimed atrevolution. The first blow would be struck at us through ourinstitutions;" he means, of course, "the peculiar institution." He then proceeds to show that the enemy would seek success "in arraying, what are supposed to be, the hostile elements of oursocial systemagainst each other;" and he admits, that "even in the best event, war on our own soil would be the more expensive, the more embarrassing, and the morehorriblein its effects, by compelling us at the same time to oppose an enemy in the field, andto guardagainst all attempts tosubvert our social system." In plain language, an invading enemy would strike the first blow at the slave system, and thus aim at revolution,—a revolution that would give liberty to two and a half millions of human beings; and that such a war would be very embarrassing to the slaveholders, and the more horrible, because, as formerly in South Carolina, a large share of their military force would necessarily be employed, not in fighting the enemy, but in guarding thesocial, that is, the "patriarchal system."
No persons are more sensible of their hazardous situation than the slaveholders themselves, and hence, as is common with people who are secretly conscious of their own weakness, they attempt to supply the want of strength by a bullying insolence, hoping to effect by intimidation what they well know can be effected in no other way. This game has long been played, and with great success, in Congress. It has been attempted in our negotiations with Great Britain, and has signally failed.
Your aristocracy, whatever may be their vaunts, are conscious of their military weakness, and shrink from any contest which may cause a foreign army to plant the standard of emancipationupon their soil. The very idea of an armed negro startles their fearful imaginations. This is disclosed on innumerable occasions, but was conspicuously manifested in a debate in the Senate. In July, 1842, a Bill to regulate enlistments in the naval service being under consideration, Mr.Calhounproposed an amendment, that negroes should be enlisted only ascooksandstewards. He thought it a matter ofgreat consequencenot to admit blacks into our vessels of national defence. Mr.Bentonthoughtall arms, whether on land or sea, ought to be borne by the white race.
Mr.Bagby. "In the Southern portion of the Union, the great object was tokeep arms and a knowledge of armsout of the hands of the blacks. The subject addressed itself to every Southern heart. Self-preservation was the first law of nature, and the South must look to that."
On the motion of Mr.Preston, the bill was so amended as to include the army.
And think you that men, thus in awe of their own dependents, shuddering at a musket in the hands of a black, and with a population of two millions and a half of these dreaded slaves, will expose themselves to the tremendous consequences of a union between their domestic and foreign enemies? Of the four who voted against the British treaty, probably not one would have given the vote he did, had he not known to a certainty that the treaty would be ratified.
Think not we are disposed to ridicule the fears of the slaveholders, or to question their personal courage. God knows their perils are real, and not imaginary: and who can question, that with a hostileBritisharmy in the heart of Virginia or Alabama, the whole slave region would presently become one vast scene of horror and desolation? Heretofore the invaders of our soil were themselves interested in slave property:nowthey would be zealous emancipationists, and they would be accompanied by the most terrific vision which could meet the eye of a slaveholder, regiments ofblack troops, fully equipped and disciplined. Surely such a state of things might well appal the bravest heart, and palsy the stoutest arm. But, fellow-citizens, what, in such a catastrophe, would be your condition? Your fate and that of your wives and children would then be linked to that of your lordly neighbors. One indiscriminate ruin would await you all. Butyoumay avert these accumulated horrors. You may change two and a half millions of domestic and implacable enemies into faithful friends and generous protectors. No sooner shall the negroes cease to be oppressed, than they will cease to hate. The planters of Jamaica were formerly as much afraid of their slaves, as your planters now are of theirs. But the Jamaica slaves, nowfreemen, are no long dreaded; on the contrary, they form the chief military force of the island; and should a foreign foe attack it, would be found its willing and devoted defenders. It rests withyouto relieve your country of its most dangerous enemy, to render it invulnerable to foreign assaults, and to dissipate that fearful anticipation of wrath and tribulation, which now broods over and oppresses the mind of every white who resides in a slave country.
We have called your attention to the practical influence of slavery on various points deeply affecting your prosperity and happiness. These are:
1. Increase of population.2. State of education.3. Industry and enterprise.4. Feeling toward the laboring classes.5. State of religion.6. State of morals.7. Disregard for human life.8. Disregard for constitutional obligations.9. Liberty of speech.10. Liberty of the press.11. Military weakness.
1. Increase of population.2. State of education.3. Industry and enterprise.4. Feeling toward the laboring classes.5. State of religion.6. State of morals.7. Disregard for human life.8. Disregard for constitutional obligations.9. Liberty of speech.10. Liberty of the press.11. Military weakness.
You will surely agree with us, that in many of these particulars, the States to which you belong are sunk far below the ordinary condition of civilized nations. The slaveholders, in their listlessness and idleness, in their contempt for the laws, in their submission to illegal and ferocious violence, in their voluntary surrender of their constitutional rights, and above all in their disregard for human life, and their cruelty in taking it, are, as a civilized and professedly a Christian community, without a parallel, unless possibly among some of the anarchical States of South America.
When compelled to acknowledge the superior prosperity of the free States, the slaveholders are fond of imputing the difference to tariffs, or to government patronage, or to any other than the true cause.
Let us then inquire, whether the inferior and unhappy condition of the slave States can indeed be ascribed to any natural disadvantage under which they are laboring, or to any partial or unjust legislation by the Federal Government?
In the first place, the slave States cannot pretend that they have not received their full share of the national domain, and that the narrowness of their territorial limits have retarded the development of their enterprise and resources. The area of the slaveStates is nearlydoublethat of the free. New York has acquired the title of theEmpireState; yet she is inferior in size to Virginia, Missouri, Georgia, Louisiana, or North Carolina.
Nor can it be maintained that the free States are in advance of the slave States, because from an earlier settlement they had the start in the race of improvement. Virginia is not only the largest, but theoldestsettled State in the confederacy. She, together with Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina, were all settled before Pennsylvania.
Nor will any slaveholder admit, for a moment, that Providence has scattered his gifts with a more sparing hand at the South than at the North. The richness of their soil, the salubrity of their climate, the number and magnitude of their rivers, are themes on which they delight to dwell; and not unfrequent is the contrast they draw between their own fair and sunny land, and the ungenial climate and sterile soil of the Northern and Eastern States. Hence the moral difference between the two sections of our republic must arise from other than natural causes. It appears also that this difference is becoming wider and wider. Of this fact we could give various proofs; but let one suffice.
Thus it appears that in 1790 the free population of the South was 72 per cent. of that of the North, and that in 1840 it was only 49 per cent.; while the difference in 1840 is more thanninetimes as great as it was in 1790.
Thus you perceive how unequal is the race in which you are contending. Fifty years have given the North an increased preponderance of about four and a half millions of free citizens. Another fifty years will increase this preponderance in a vastly augmented ratio. And now we ask you, why this downward course? Why this continually increasing disparity between you and your Northern brethren? Is it because the interests of the slaveholders are not represented in the national councils? Let us see. We have already shown you that yourfreepopulation is only 49 per cent. of that of the Northern States; that is, the inhabitantsof the free States are more thandoublethe free inhabitants of the slave States. Now, what is the proportion of members of Congress from the two sections?
In the Senate, the slave States have precisely as many as the free; and in the lower House, their members are 65 per cent. of those from the free States.[13]
[13]135 from the free and 88 members from the slave States. According tofreepopulation, the South would have only 66 members.
[13]135 from the free and 88 members from the slave States. According tofreepopulation, the South would have only 66 members.
[13]135 from the free and 88 members from the slave States. According tofreepopulation, the South would have only 66 members.
The Senate has a veto on every law; and as one half of that body are slaveholders, it follows, of course, that no law can be passed without their consent. Nor has any bill passed the Senate, since the organization of the government, but by the votes of slaveholders. It is idle, therefore, for them to impute their depressed condition to unjust and partial legislation, since they have from the very first controlled the action of Congress. Not a law has been passed, not a treaty ratified, but by their votes.
Nor is this all. Appointments under the federal government are made by the President, with the consent of the Senate, and of course the slaveholders have, and always have had, a veto on every appointment. There is not an officer of the federal government to whose appointment slaveholding members of the Senate have not consented. Yet all this gives but an inadequate idea of the political influence exercised by thepeopleof the slave States in the election of President, and consequently over the policy of his administration. In consequence of the peculiar apportionment of Presidential Electors among the States, and the operation of the rule offederal numbers—whereby, for the purpose of estimating the representative population, five slaves are counted as three white men—most extraordinary results are exhibited at every election of President. In the election of 1848, the Electors chosen were 290: of these 169 were from the free, and 121 from the slave States.
The popular vote in the free States was 2,029,551or one elector to 12,007 voters.The popular vote in the slave States was 845,050or one elector to 7,545 voters.[14]
The popular vote in the free States was 2,029,551or one elector to 12,007 voters.
The popular vote in the slave States was 845,050or one elector to 7,545 voters.[14]
Even this disproportion, enormous as it is, is greatly aggravated in regard to particular States.
[14]South Carolina had 9 electors, chosen by the Legislature. These are deducted in the calculation.
[14]South Carolina had 9 electors, chosen by the Legislature. These are deducted in the calculation.
[14]South Carolina had 9 electors, chosen by the Legislature. These are deducted in the calculation.
These facts address themselves to the understanding of all, and prove, beyond cavil, that the slave States have a most unfair and unreasonable representation in Congress, and a very disproportionate share in the election of President.
Nor can these States complain that they are stinted in the distribution of thepatronageof the national government. The rule offederal numbers, confined by the Constitution to the apportionment of representatives, has been extended, by the influence of the slaveholders, to other and very different subjects. Thus, the distribution among the States of the surplus revenue, and of the proceeds of the public lands, was made according to this same iniquitous rule.
It is not to be supposed that the slaveholders have failed to avail themselves of their influence in the federal government. A very brief statement will convince you, that if they are now feeble and emaciated, it is not because they have been deprived of their share of the loaves and fishes.
By law, midshipmen and cadets, at West Point, are appointed according to the Federal ratio; thus have the slaveholders secured to themselves an additional number of officers in the Army and Navy, on account of their slaves.
Reflect for a moment on the vast patronage wielded by the President of the United States, and then recollect, that should the present incumbent (General Taylor) serve his full term, the office will have been filled no less thanfifty-twoyears out of sixty-four by slaveholders![15]
[15]Except one month by General Harrison.
[15]Except one month by General Harrison.
[15]Except one month by General Harrison.
Of 21 Secretaries of State, appointed up to 5th March, 1849, only six have been taken from the free States.
For 37 years out of 60, the chair of the House of Representatives has been filled and its Committees appointed by slaveholders.
Of the Judges of the Supreme Court, 18 have been taken from the slave, and but 14 from the free States.
In 1842, the United States were represented at foreign Courts by 19 Ministers and Charges d'Affaires. Of these fat Offices, no less than 13 were assigned to slaveholders!
Surely, surely, if the South be wanting in every element of prosperity—if ignorance, barbarity and poverty be her characteristics, it is not because she has not exercised her due influence in the general government, or received her share of its honors and emoluments.
If, fellow-citizens, with all the natural and political advantages we have enumerated, your progress is still downward, and has been so, compared with the other sections of the country, since the first organization of the Government, what are the anticipations of the distant future, which sober reflection authorizes you to form? The causes which now retard the increase of your population must continue to operate, so long as slavery lasts. Emigrants from the North, and from foreign countries, will, as at present, avoid your borders, within which no attractions will be found for virtue and industry. On the other hand, many of the young and enterprising among you will flee from the lassitude, the anarchy, the wretchedness engendered by slavery, and seek their fortunes in lands where law affords protection, and where labor is honored and rewarded.
In the meantime, especially in the cotton States, the slaves will continue to increase in a ratio far beyond the whites, and will at length acquire a fearful preponderance.
At the first census, in every slave State there was a very large majority of whites—now, the slaves out-number the whites in South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana, and the next census will unquestionably add Florida and Alabama, and probably Georgia, to the number of negro States.
And think you that this is the country, and this the age, in which the republican maxim that themajoritymust govern, can be long and barbarously reversed? Think you that the majority of thePeoplein the cotton States, cheered and encouraged as they will be by the sympathy of the world, and the example of the West Indies, will forever tamely submit to be beasts of burden for a few lordly planters? And remember, we pray you, that the number and physical strength of the negroes will increase in a much greater ratio than that of their masters.
In 1790 the whites in N. Carolina were to the slaves as
Maryland and Virginia, the great breeding States, have reduced their stock within the last few years, having been tempted, by high prices, to ship off thousands and tens of thousands to the markets of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. But these markets are already glutted, and human flesh has fallen in value from 50 to 75 per cent. Nor is it probable that the great staple of Virginia and Maryland will hereafter afford a bounty on its production. In these States slave labor is unprofitable, and the bondman is of but little value, save as an article of exportation. The cotton cultivation in the East Indies, by cheapening the article, will close the markets in the South, and thus it guarantees the abolition of slavery in the breeding States. When it shall be found no longer profitable to raise slaves for the market, the stock on hand will be driven South and sold for what it may fetch, and free labor substituted in its place. This process will be attended with results disastrous to the cotton States. To Virginia and Maryland, it will open a new era of industry, prosperity and wealth; and the industrious poor, the "mean whites" of the South, will remove within their borders, thus leaving the slaveholders more defenceless than ever. But while the white population of the South will be thus diminished, its number of slaves will be increased by the addition of the stock from the breeding States.
And what, fellow-citizens, will be the condition of such ofyouas shall then remain in the slave States? The change to which we have referred will necessarily aggravate every present evil. Ignorance, vice, idleness, lawless violence, dread of insurrection, anarchy, and a haughty and vindictive aristocracy will all combine with augmented energy in crushingyouto the earth. And from what quarter do you look for redemption? Think you your planting nobility will ever grant freedom to their serfs, from sentiments of piety or patriotism? Remember that your clergy of all sects and ranks, many of them "Christian brokers in the trade of blood," unite in bestowing their benediction on the system as aChristianinstitution, and in teaching the slaveholders that they wield the whip as European monarchs the sceptre, "by the grace of God." Do you trust to their patriotism? Remember that the beautifuland affecting contrast between the prosperity of the North and the desolation of the South, already presented to you, was drawn by W. G. Preston, ofhangingnotoriety. No, fellow-citizens, your great slaveholders have no idea of surrendering the personal importance and the political influence they derive from their slaves. Your Calhouns, Footes, and Prestons, all go for everlasting slavery.
Unquestionably there are many of the smaller slaveholders who would embrace abolition sentiments, were they permitted to examine the subject; but at present they are kept in ignorance. If then the fetters of the slave are not to be broken by the master, by whom is he to be liberated? In the course of time, a hostile army, invited by the weakness or the arrogance of the South, may land on your shores. Then, indeed, emancipation will be given, but the gift may be bathed in the blood of yourselves and of your children. Or the People—for they will bethe People—may resolve to be free, and you and all you hold dear may be sacrificed in the contest.
Suffer us, fellow-citizens, to show you "a more excellent way." We seek the welfare of all, the rich and the poor, the bond and the free. While we repudiate all acknowledgment of property in human beings, we rejoice in the honest, lawful prosperity of the planter. Let not, we beseech you, the freedom of the slave proceed from the armed invader of your soil, nor from his own torch and dagger—but fromyourpeaceful and constitutional interference in his behalf.
In breaking the chains which bind the slave, be assured you will be delivering yourselves from a grievous thraldom. Ponder well, we implore you, the following suggestions.
Without your co-operation, the slaveholders, much as they despise you, are powerless. To you they look for agents, and stewards, for overseers, and drivers, and patrols. To you they look for votes to elevate them to office, and to you they too often look for aid to enforce their Lynch laws. Feel then your own power; claim your rights, and exert them for the deliverance of the slave, and consequently for your own happiness and prosperity.
Let then your first demand be forliberty of speech. Your Constitution and laws guarantee to you this right in the most solemn and explicit terms; and yet you have permitted a few slaveholders to rob you of it. Resume it at once. Be not afraid to speak openly of your wrongs, and of the true cause of them. Dread not the Lynch clubs. Their power depends wholly on opinion. The slaveholders are not strong enough to execute theirown sentences, ifyouresist them. They shrank, in Charleston, from prohibiting the sale of Dickens' Notes, because they believed the people were determined to read them. Had the same curiosity been felt in Petersburg, to read the article on Bible Slavery in Breckenridge's Magazine, the slaveholders there would not have dared to purloin them from the post-office and burn them in the street. In the one place they strained at a gnat, in the other they swallowed a camel. Be assured, your bullies are timid bullies; not that they are wanting in individual courage, but because they are aware that their authority rests, not on their physical strength, but onyourhabits of deference and obedience. Speak then boldly, and without disguise; and be assured that no sooner will your tongues be loosed on the forbidden subject, than you will be surprised to find what a coincidence of thought exists in relation to it. Discussion once commenced, the enemies of slavery will multiply faster with you than they do elsewhere for the obvious reason, that with you there is no dispute aboutfacts. You all know and daily witness the blighting influence of the curse which overspreads your land; and believe us, that just in proportion as your courage rises, will the arrogance of your oppressors sink.
By conversing freely among yourselves, and proclaiming your hostility to slavery in public meetings, you will create an influence that will soon reach thePress. The bands with which the slaveholders have bound this Leviathan will then be snapped asunder. Once establish afree press, and the fate of slavery is sealed. Such a press will advocate your rights, will encourage education and industry, will point out the true cause of the depravation of morals, the prevalence of violence, and the depression of the public welfare.
Having gained the liberty of speech and of the press, you will go on, conquering and to conquer. Political action on your part will lead to new triumphs. The State legislatures and the public offices will no longer be the exclusive patrimony of the holders of slaves. Having once obtained a footing in your legislative halls, you will have secured in a quiet, peaceable, constitutional mode, the downfall of slavery, the recovery of your rights, and the prosperity and happiness of your country.
Think us not extravagantly sanguine. The very horror manifested by the slaveholders of the means we recommend, is evidence of their efficacy. We advise you to exercise freedom of speech. Have they not endeavored to bully you into silence by the threat, that "the question of slavery is not and shall not be open to discussion;" and that the moment any private individual talksabout the means of terminating slavery, "that moment his tongue shall be cut out and cast upon a dunghill?"
Promote a free press. Is not the wisdom of the recommendation verified by the proclamation made of "instant death" to the abolition editors in the slave States, if "they avow their opinions?"
Your Constitutions have indeed been rendered by the slaveholders "blurred and obliterated parchments;" be it your care to restore them to their pristine beauty, and to make them fair and legible charters of the rights of man.
But we doubt not, fellow-citizens, that although you give your cordial assent to all we have said respecting the practical influence of slavery, you have, nevertheless, some misgivings about the effect ofimmediateemancipation. Shut up as you are in darkness on this subject, threatened with death if you talk or write about it; while the utmost pains are taken to prevent books or papers, which might enlighten you, from falling into your hands, it would be wonderful indeed, were you at once prepared to admit the safety and policy of instant and unconditional emancipation. You are assured, and probably believe, that massacre, and conflagration, and universal ruin would ensue on "letting loose the negroes;" but you are kept in ignorance of the fact, that in various parts of the world, negroes have been let loose, and in no one instance have such consequences followed; and you are not permitted to learn, in discussion, thereasonswhy such consequences never have followed, and never will follow the immediate abolition of slavery. What think you would be the fate of the man who should attempt to deliver a lecture in Charleston or Mobile on the safety of emancipation? Yet such a lecture might be delivered with perfect safety, were the lecturer to be accompanied by one or two hundred ofyournumber, declaring their determination to maintain freedom of speech and to protect the lecturer. From such a lecture you would learn, with astonishment, that the atrocities in St. Domingo, so constantly used by the slaveholders to intimidate the refractory, arose from a civil war, which the planters, by their own folly and wickedness, kindled between themselves and thefreeblacks, and were wholly independent of the subsequent act of the French Government manumitting the slaves. You would also hear, perhaps for the first time, of the peaceful abolition of slavery in Mexico and South America. You would listen, with a surprise almost bordering on incredulity, to accounts of the glorious, wonderful success, attending the emancipation of 800,000 slaves in the British Colonies, without the loss of a single life. You would learn that in thesecolonies, among the liberated slaves, ten, twenty, thirty times as numerous as the whites, a degree of tranquility and good order and security is enjoyed, utterly unknown in any Southern or Western slave State. The complaints (grossly exaggerated, if they reach you through the medium of a pro-slavery press) of the want of labor and the diminution of production, arise not from the idleness, but theindustryof the enfranchised slaves. Their wives and children, no longer toiling under the lash, are now engaged in the occupations of the family and of the school; while many of the fathers and husbands have become landholders, and raise their own food, and also articles for the market. Substantial and honest prosperity is gradually taking the place of that wealth, which, as in all other slave countries, was concentrated in the hands of a few, and was extorted from the labor of a wretched, degraded and dangerous population.
If you admit the greatest happiness of the greatest number to be the true test of national prosperity, then, beyond all controversy, the British West Indies are now infinitely more prosperous than at any previous period of their history.
Despots and aristocrats have, in all ages, been afraid of "turning loose" thepeople, no matter of what hue was their complexion. You have seen that your own McDuffie does not scruple to intimate, that, were not the Southern laborers already shackled, an order of nobility would be required to keep them in subjection; and a shudder seizes Chancellor Harper, when he reflects that the Northern allies of the slaveholders are democrats and agrarians.
A glorious career opens before you. In the place of your present contempt, and degradation, and misery, honor, and wealth, and happiness court your acceptance. By abolishing slavery you will become the architects of your own fortune, and of your country's greatness. The times are propitious for the great achievement. You will be cheered by the approbation of your own consciences, and by the plaudits of mankind. The institution which oppresses you is suffering from the decrepitude of age, and is the scorn and loathing of the world. Out of the slave region, patriots and philanthropists, and Christians of every name and sect abhor and execrate it. Do you pant for liberty and equality, more substantial than such as is now found only in your obliterated and tattered bills of right? Do you ask that your children may be rescued from the ignorance and irreligion to which they are now doomed, and that avenues may be opened for you and for them to honest and profitable employment? Unite then, we beseech you, with one heart and one mind, for the legal,constitutional abolition of slavery. The enemy is waxing faint and losing his courage. He is terrified by the echo of his own threats, and the very proposal to dissolve the Union and leave him to his fate, throws him into paroxysms. The North, so long submissive to his mandates, and awed by his insolence, laughs at his impotent rage; and all his hopes now rest upon a few profligate politicians whom he purchases with his votes, while their baseness excites his contempt, and their principles his fears. Now is the time, fellow-citizens, to assail the foe. Up—quit yourselves like men: and may Almighty God direct and bless your efforts!