Barbarity committed on a free African, who was found on the ensuing morning, by the side of the road, dead!Paragraph 50.Barbarity committed on a free African, who was found on the ensuing morning, by the side of the road, dead!
Paragraph 50.
50. As two persons were returning from thehorse races, a few miles north of the city of Washington, eight or ten years ago, they met on the road a free man of colour, who resided in the vicinity. They seized him, and bound him with ropes. His protestations that he was free, and his entreaties that they would accompany him to the house, (but about half a mile distant,) where his wife resided, and where he could satisfy them of his freedom, were in vain. Having fastened him by a rope, to the tail of one of their horses, they were seen, by a citizen, who met them on the road dragging him in this manner, and beating him to make him keep pace with the horses. He cautioned them, and begged of them not to kill the black man;—but one of the ruffians plucking a stake from the fence, and threatening with horrid oaths to knock him down, he found it necessary to retire for his own safety:—a few miles farther along, on the following morning, this poor African was found by the side of the road, dreadfully bruised, and his eyes bloodshotten,—dead![15]This distressingcatastrophe strongly exemplifies the defect of the laws of the state in which it occurred, concerning free Africans, which authorise their seizure, without any specific judicial authority, if found without certificates of freedom, by the most vicious and abandoned members of the community. These two ill-starred wretches, just sallying forth from a notorious school of intemperance, were undoubtedly intoxicated, and of course, in a state of insanity at the time they committed this outrage;—and had probably been reared in thewildernessof ignorance and vice. I was assured, that one of them had long been accustomed, in company with hisown father, to the business of apprehending runaway slaves, and such free Africans as they could catch without certificates.
51. In the vicinity of the place where the above transaction occurred, a young black boy, living at a house in which there are just grounds for believing that the lives of several slaves had been destroyed, by whipping, and other severities, yet entertained such horror at the thoughts of transportation to Georgia,(with which he had often been threatened, by way of reprimand,[16]) that on seeing a stranger coming towards the house, (on a cold day,) whom he suspected to be aGeorgia-man, he fled into the fields with the greatest precipitation, and secreted himself so effectually, that he was not discovered until the expiration of a fortnight,—when he was dead!—frozen!—and the pupils of his eyes picked out!
52. With these mournful spectra, flitting in succession before me, and the black procession still in view, the pleasant anticipations which I had been indulging but fifteen minutes previous, became totally reversed. Returning pensive towards my lodgings, and passing by the Capitol, I thought—Alas! poor Africa,—thy cupis theessenceof bitterness!—Thissolitary, magnificent temple,dedicated to liberty,—opens its portals toallother nations butthee, and bids their sons drinkfreelyof the cup offreedomand happiness:——but whenthyunoffending, enslaved sons, clank their blood-smearedchainsunder its towers, it sneers at their calamity, and mocks their lamentations with the echo of contempt!—
53. Blessed, infatuated Columbia! the eyes and the hopes of weeping admiring nations are upon thee! Suffer not the lamp of public liberty to be smothered and extinguished by the gloomy shroud of private slavery! Dost not thou assume a pre-eminent distinction among the nations for magnanimity and honour? Does any high-minded christian nation chain her prisoners of war, and subject them and their posterity to perpetual ignorance, and the oppressive toil of involuntary servitude without reward? In thy late contest with a powerful sister state, many of herpolitical slaves, who sought the lives of thy sons, and the conflagration of their dwellings, fell into thy custody by the chances of war—I have seen fourteen hundred of these at a single depôt—Fourteen hundred large loaves of good bread, and fourteen hundred pounds of excellent beef, were daily spread before them. As many as could meet with opportunities, were permitted to labor for the neighbouring farmers and manufacturers, for which they received a pecuniary equivalent in monthly stipends.—Fourteen hundredthousandsof the sons and daughters of thy neighbourAfrica,breathe and mournon thy expanded bosom. The privileges of a vast proportion of these forlorn victims of sorrow and woe, are reduced below the privileges of the ox, the horse, the hound, and various other domestic animals;—in respect to sustenance, toil, and severity of chastisement, if not quarters and raiment!—As an aggregate people, they, nor their ancestors, never disturbed thy repose, with fire or sword, or the cannon's deathly roar.They are, nevertheless, virtually prisoners of war:—not by a war in defence of human life, but generally, bya hideous sacrilegious war, waged (among the African kings) for the plunder of human souls, human flesh,blood and bones, to be exchanged as articles of merchandize, for contemptible gewgaws, implements of war, distilled spirits, tobacco, &c. The booty thus gained by the savage despots and man-hunters of Africa, had its assumed sale and exportation been impracticable, might possibly have been consigned to the same purposes there as it is now here (slavery) or annihilated by massacre; but most probably would have been sought with much less avidity. If these commodities wereobtainedat the sacrifice of justice, and the natural rights of man, upon no other terms can our laws permit them to be indefinitelyretained, by their presentpossessors, who are the substantialsuccessorsand assigns of the original captors.[17]
54. To return from this lengthy excursion, I must acknowledge, (however ludicrous it may seem to those who arehardenedto such things by repetition,) that the tragedy of a company of men, women and children, pinioned and bound together with chains and ropes, without accusation of crime, and drivenas beasts of the harness, through the metropolis of that country, of which I had hitherto indulged both pleasure and pride, in the consciousness of being anative citizen, and, of having commenced my life coevally with its constitutional organization; occurring at the precise hour of the convocation of the guardians of its liberties; produced a new era in my sensations. Disinclination, as well as the delay incurred, prevented my visit to the congressional hall on that day.—And I devoted several succeeding days to the purpose of delineating on paper, a faithful copy of the impressions and sentiments which involuntarily pervaded myfullheart and agitated mind. Those memoirs have furnished some materials for this essay.
55. One evening while writing notes concerning the occurrence just mentioned, a lad, sitting in the same room with me, was studying his lessons in Goldsmith's Abridgment of Geography; in which I noticed he read these words:—"The United States are celebrated for the excellence of their constitution, which provides for political liberty and individual security.The inhabitants are justly famed for their ardent love of freedom." Immediately after reading those paragraphs, he addressed me, without knowing on what subject I was occupied, thus: "Why, how can it be said that theinhabitants of the United States loveliberty,while they hold almost a whole nation of people in a state of bondage and ignorance?" I endeavoured to explain to him this puzzling problem, by replying, that "bythe inhabitantswas meant thewhitepopulation of the United States, and the liberty which they ardently love is probably theirownliberty, which they appear to care more about than they do about the liberty ofblackmen."
56. I mention this minute circumstance more particularly, because it forms one of the links to a chain of incidents which conducted to the development of some very important facts; such as I then had no conception or suspicion of the existence of, on this side the Atlantic ocean. I then supposed the instances of the streets of the city consecrated to freedom, being paraded with people led in captivity, were rare. But I soon ascertained that they were quite frequent, that several hundred people, including not legal slaves only, but many kidnapped freemen and youth bound to service for a term of years, and unlawfully sold as slaves for life, are annually collected at Washington (as if it were an emporium of slavery,) for transportation to the slave regions. The United States' jail is frequently occupied as a storehouse for the slave merchants, andsome of the rooms in a tavern devoted chiefly to that use, are occasionally so crowded that the occupants hardly have sufficient space to extend themselves upon the floor to sleep.[18]
But I did not want to go, and I jump'd out of the window."Paragraph 46."... But I did not want to go, and I jump'd out of the window."
Paragraph 46.
57. A short time after having completed the memorandums above alluded to, the youth just mentioned, having learned the subject on which I had been occupied, and being prompt to communicate whatever he might meet with relative to it, informed me on returning from school, in the evening of the 19th December 1815, that a black woman, destined for transportation to Georgia with a coffle, which was about to start, attempted to escape, by jumping out of the window of the garret of a three story brick tavern in F. street, about day-break in the morning; and that in the fall she had her back and both arms broken! I remarked, that I did not wonder that she did so; and inquired, whether it had not killed her? To which he replied, that he understood that she was dead, and that theGeorgia-menhad gone off with the others. The relation of this shocking disaster excited considerable agitation in my mind, and fully confirmed the sentiments which I had already adopted and recorded, of the multiplied horrors added to slavery, when its victims are bought and sold, frequently for distant destinations, with as much indifference as fourfooted beasts. Supposing this to have been a recent occurrence, and being desirous of seeing the mangled slave before she should be buried, I proceeded with some haste early on the following morning, in search of the house already mentioned. Calling at a house near the one at which the catastrophe occurred, I was informed, that it had been three weeks since it took place, and that the woman was still living. Having found the house, I desired permission of the landlord to see the wounded woman; to which he assented, and directed a lad to conduct me to her room, which was in the garret over the third story of the house. On entering the room I observed her lying upon a bed on the floor, and covered with a white woollen blanket, on which were several spots of blood (from her wounds,) which I perceived wasred, notwithstandingtheopacityof her skin. Her countenance, though very pale from the shock she had received, and dejected with grief, appeared complacent and sympathetic. Both her arms were broken between the elbows and wrists, and had undoubtedly been well set and dressed; but from her restlessness she had displaced the bones again, so that they were perceptibly crooked. I have since been informed by the Mayor of the city, who is a physician, and resides not far distant from the place, that he was called to visit her immediately after her fall, and found, besides her arms being broken, that the lower part of the spine was badly shattered, so that it was doubtful whether she would ever be capable of walking again, if she should survive. The lady of the Mayor said she was awakened from sleep by the fall of the woman, and heard her heavy struggling groans.
58. I inquired of her, whether she was asleep when she sprang from the window. She replied, "No, no more than I am now." Asking her what was the cause of her doing such a frantic act as that, she replied, "They brought me away with two of my children, and wouldn't let me see my husband—they didn't sell my husband, and I didn't want to go';—I was so confused and 'istracted, that Ididn't know hardly what I was about—but I didn't want to go, and I jumped out of the window;—but I am sorry now that I did it;—they have carried my children off with 'em to Carolina." I was informed that the Slave Trader, who had purchased her near Bladensburgh, (she being alegalslave,) gave her to the landlord, as a compensation for taking care of her. Thus her family was dispersed from north to south, and herselfnearlytorn in pieces, without the shadow of a hope of ever seeing or hearing from herchildrenagain! He that can behold this "poor woman," (as a respectable citizen of Washington afterwards expressed himself, on requesting of her landlord the privilege of seeing her,) and listen to herunvarnished story; and then delineate it with the mental pencil, (quill) and then view the picture from hisown hand, without ahumid eye, I will confess possesses astouter heartthan I do.
59. The sympathy of the whole American white population, (and it is presumed of the black also, for they know how to estimate such matters by dear experience,) has recently been very justly excited towards young King Prather and his "confus'd and 'istracted" mother roaming in search of him, along half the extent of the coast of the United States. As hewas kidnapped by a son of Africa, (though not for the detestable purpose of cupidity or enslavement, but for a ladder to his own liberty,) it is presumed if Africa's Genius were permitted to offer her sentiments on the subject, she would pronounce it aretort courteous apropos, from Africa to her sister Columbia.
60. I have since learned many recent instances of the tragical consequences of the usurped trade in the souls and bodies of men.[19]I have been informed by several different persons in the district of Columbia, that a woman who had been sold in Georgetown, for the southern slave market, cut her own throat, ineffectually, while on the way, in a hack, to the same depository above mentioned; and that on the road to Alexandria she completed her design of destroying her life, by cutting it again mortally. A statement was published in the Baltimore Telegraph, a few monthsago, that a female slave, who had been sold in Maryland, with her child, on the way from Bladensburgh to Washington, heroically cut the throats of both her child and herself, with mortal effect. This narrative has been since confirmed by a relative of the person who sold them. An African youth, in the city of Philadelphia, lately cut his throat almost mortally, merely from the apprehension, as he said, of being sold. This information was obtained from several respectable citizens of Philadelphia, who had personal knowledge of the fact.
The Author noting down the Narratives of several free-born People of Colour who had been kidnapped.Paragraphs 61. 63. 65. 66.The Author noting down the Narratives of several free-born People of Colour who had been kidnapped.
Paragraphs 61. 63. 65. 66.
61. Believing the facts already recited are sufficient to satisfy every candid reader, of the unreasonableness, injustice, and inhumanity of the prevailing interior slave trade, and of the necessity of legislative control; I will now commence a delineation of the still more outrageous and abominable practice of seizing, and selling into exile,men,women,and children, whose freedom andmoralrights are guaranteed by our national and state constitutions. In the same recess with that mangled woman, while interrogating her, I discovered (without having the least previous intimation, or even suspicion, of any thing of the kind) three persons of colour, who were born free, and had been forcibly seized in the time of night, bound and transported in the night, out oftheir native state, (Delaware) and sold as slaves for life to itinerantMan-Dealers[20]in Maryland, who generally range themselves along near the line of division between the two states. One of these was a mulatto man, about 21 years of age. I found him thoroughly secured in irons. His arms were manacled with strong loops round his wrists, resembling aclevis, connected by a strong iron bolt. On the shelf over the fireplace, lay a pair of heavy rough hopples (or hobbles,) with which he said his legs had been fettered until a short time previous, but were then secured by a pair of polished gripes, (perhaps manufactured for the purpose, resembling the patent horse fetters with locks,) connected by a strong new tug chain, with a loose end of two or three feet in length, lying upon the floor.[21]Hestated, that a journeyman to the man with whom he resided, and to whom he had been bound to service for a term of years, having decoyed him into the fields, some distance from the house, late in the evening, on pretence of hunting oppossums, two strangers rushed upon him with ropes in their hands, and with the assistance of the person[22]just mentioned, bound his hands, and led him with a pistol held each side of him (with which he said they threatened to shoot him if he made any alarm,) 15 or 20 miles, where he was secreted till the next evening; when another person came with a chaise and conveyed him to a tavern in Maryland, a little over the line;[23]from whence one of the Man-Dealers, (who has since been advertised as a man-stealer, in a different case,) brought him to Washington in manacles, and sold him to another, as a slave for life. He said hisDriveroverhearing him tell a coloured woman near Annapolis, that his parents (both of whom are light coloured mulattos) were free-born, threatened to shoot him, if he should catch him talking to any body again about his being free. He said the trader did strike him on the head with his fist, after his arrival at Washington, for telling a person to whom he was offered for sale, thathe was lawfully free, and threatened to flog him if he should fail of selling him in the city on that account. He also stated, that another boy, about sixteen, was brought off with him at the same time, and sold for a slave in Washington, who was lawfully free, and had been sold to the traders, by a person to whom the boy's father had let him to service.
62. This statement has been since confirmed by corroborative information; and I am in possession of memorandums, by which the boy might probably be traced and found.
KIDNAPPING.Paragraph 63.KIDNAPPING.
Paragraph 63.
63. The others, whom I found in the same garret, and at the same time, were a young black widow woman, with an infant at the breast, both of whom were born free. Her husband had died but a few days previous to her seizure, and she was in a state of pregnancy at the time. She stated, that the man in whose house she resided, together with his brother, and three other persons, came into the room (a kitchen,) where she was in bed, seized and dragged her out;—fastened a noose round her neck, to prevent her from screaming, and attempted to blindfold her, which she resisted with such violence, that she prevented them from succeeding. She said, while one of them was endeavouring to fix the bandage over her eyes, that she seized his cheek withher teeth, and tore a piece of it entirely off. She said one of them struck her head several times with a stick of wood, from the wounds of which she was almost covered with blood. She shewed me a large scar upon her forehead, occasioned by one of the blows, which a gentleman, who saw her the day previous to her seizure, has since informed me was not there before. She said, while she was struggling against them, and screaming, the man in whose house she livedbawled out, "Choke the d——d b——h! don't let her halloo—she'll scare my wife!" Having conquered her by superior force, she said they placed her with the child in a chaise, (her description of which, with the horse and the driver, who was one of the victors, corresponds precisely with that given by the mulatto man of the carriage, &c. by which he also was conveyed,) and refusing to dress herself, three of them, leaving the two who belonged to the house, carried her off in the condition that she was dragged from bed, to a certain tavern in Maryland, and sold them both to the Man-Dealer, who brought them to the city of Washington. She stated, that one of her captors drove the carriage, and held the rope which was fixed to her neck, and that one rode each side, on horseback.—That, while one of them was negociating a bargainwith her purchaser, he asked her who her master was; and, replying that she had none, her seller beckoned to him to go into another room, where the business was adjusted without troubling her with any farther inquiries. She stated, that her purchaser confessed, while on the way to Annapolis, that he believed she might have had some claim to freedom, and intimated that he would have taken her back, if the man[24]of whom he bought her had not ran away; but requested her, notwithstanding, to say nothing to any body about her being free, which she refused to comply with. She affirmed, that he offered her for sale to several persons,who refused to purchase, on account of her asserting that she was free. She stated, that her purchaser had left her in Washington for a few weeks, and gone to theEastern Shore, in search of more black people, in order to make up a drove for Georgia.
64. These facts clearly exemplify the safety with which the free born inhabitants of the United States may be offered for sale and sold, even in the metropolis of Liberty,[25]as oxen;even to those who are notified of the fact, and are perhaps convinced of it, that they are free![26]
65. The discovery of these captives, on their road to the dismalgulf[27]of (perhaps) interminable slavery to themselves, and their multiplying progeny; in this very accidental, unless providential manner, filled me with a mixture of astonishment, compassion and joy.With a view to commence immediate legal measures, for restoring them to their liberty, I took my pencil and noted down their narratives circumstantially.
66. I had not quite finished, before the purchaser of the mulatto man came into the room. He seemed a little surprised to find me writing, but made no inquiries about it, and having obtained all the information that I wished, I continued noting it down, notwithstanding his being present, until my memorandums were completed; when I left him in the room, without having had any conversation with him, except answering some questions, which he asked me relative to the wounded slave. Without hesitation, I commenced a suit in the circuit court of the United States, for the District of Columbia, for the restitution of their liberty. The first attempt to secure the persons of the captives, by a writ of habeas corpus, was ineffectual. I accompanied the deputy marshal myself, to the house in which I found them. The landlord declared, that "if he had known I was writing so long in the room where the Negroes were, he should have been very angry with me; and that if I had no other evidence of their freedom, but their stories, we should not see them." He said he believed "Negroes were made to serve the Whites, and that they had no more sense than horses." He stated, that the person who saw me writing, suspected some difficulty, and had directed him to conceal the Negroes, and that he had done it. He told me, in a sneering manner, that if I wished to take the part of the negroes, he could find me plenty of such business. He informed me that he had been in the way of keeping Negroes for the Traders many years, and took better care of them than they received in the jail.[28]
67. Notwithstanding the writ of habeas corpus was returned to the magistrate unexecuted, I still persevered, and obtained a process of injunction, in order to prevent the removal of the captives from the District, until the commencement of the session of thecourt; by which it was ascertained that they still remained in the same house. A second writ of habeas corpus having been issued from the court while sitting, they were at length produced, which, fortunately, was accomplished on the very day that the purchaser of the woman and child left Washington, with a coffle of ten or twelve coloured persons, with whom he had just returned from Maryland.[29]The court having examined them, placed them in safe custody for further examination at the ensuing summer session, so that time could be had for procuring the requisite testimony from Delaware. For defraying the expense of accomplishing this purpose, and of prosecuting the suits, a subscription was drawn up by Francis T. Key, esq. who volunteered his own services as attorney, gratis, as did also J. B. Caldwell, and J. B. Lear, Esqs. The subscription was commenced by generalVan Ness; the heads of the executive departments of the government, with but rare exception; several gentlemen of the senate and house of representatives, and the mayor and citizens of Washington generally, (possessors of slaves as well as others,) to whom application was made, joined in the contribution. I was highly gratified to meet with this practical evidence, that the disposition to extend the hand of relief to abusedAfricanstrangers, is not at the present period, by any means confined exclusively to the limits of a solitary religious society. Between one and two hundred dollars having been collected,[30]I proceeded myself to the state of Delaware; and having travelled from Wilmington to Lewestown and Georgetown, returned with unequivocal proof of the legal right of the captives to their liberty, which was accordingly restored to them by the court at the ensuing June session.
68. One of the attornies having addressed letters to several respectable citizens of Delaware, for the purpose of obtaining information respecting the correctness of the statements of the captives, an answer was received relative to the female, of which the following is an extract:—
69. "Your letter of the 30th ult. I received by yesterday's mail, and am happy to find the unfortunate negro woman is once more rescued from the fangs of the ——s and others, as vile a banditti as ever were permitted to disturb the peace of society. The statement by —— [the woman] is no doubt true. This poor creature was rescued from the ——s some time last winter, and seems in the case which occurred then, as well as that which you relate, to have been saved by an almost miraculous intervention. The ----s stand now indicted for taking her off last winter.—Their gang is numerous, daring—full of money, &c."
70. Understanding that several of the persons concerned in the cases had been arrested, and having been informed by one of the representatives to congress, from Delaware, that the laws of that state inflict corporeal punishment for offences of this kind, such as whipping, cropping the ears, and exposure in the pillory, I wrote a reply to the above letter, of which the following is an extract:
71. "Not for vengeance, but for the sake of humanity, I hope this fell banditti, with which the free (or ought to be free) soil of America is polluted, may be routed. But,for Heaven's sake, and for the sake of their wives and children, andfor my sake, let the wrath of justice and law be so managed, that theiranimalbodies shall not be tormented, in consequence of my exertions to arrest the progress of their outrageous and unpardonable conduct, equal to the scratch of a pin. Yet I cannot help charging that state jurisprudence, which permits the easy repetition of the crimes of which they have been guilty, with being exceedingly defective. It seems to me, that where there is no work-house in a state, such persons should be limited under sufficient securities and penalties, to their own farms, or some prescribed boundaries;—and, in case they transgress these, to be declared to be outlawed, and liable to be estimated and treated no other than as wolves and tygers, to which they have already assimilated themselves of their own accord."
72. Governor Miller of North-Carolina, says in his speech already alluded to, "The principle will be conceded, that the end of punishment is the prevention of crimes." Lacerations and mutilations of the human frame, exasperate its occupant in the highest degree, and are very likely to excite an obstinate perseverance in crimes, by way of retaliation and spite. Imprisonment, with labour, if it doesnot reform the disturber of the public peace, by the opportunity of reflection and salutary instruction, it certainly restrains his career for a specific time, effectually.
73. The satisfaction of beholding the yellow man, and the black woman, with her two female infants, (one of them having been born but a short time previous to their release,) seated in the stage, under the care of one of the senators of the legislature of Delaware, who had attended the court as a witness in behalf of the woman; afforded me a rich reward for thus having performed an indispensableduty, which I owed to their Creator, to them as theirneighbour, to the principles of our social and political system, and to myself.
74. The specimen here given ofman-stealing, forms but a mere speck in an extensive system of this nefarious profession, which for many years has been, and continues to be pursued, with increasing vigor andpecuniaryprofit, in all the middle states. Even the city of Philadelphia is not exempt from this moral pestilence.
75. To enumerate all the horrid and aggravating instances of men-stealing, which are known to have occurred in the state of Delaware, within the recollection of many ofthe citizens of that state, would require a heavy volume. In many cases, whole families of free coloured people have been attacked in the night, beatennearlyto death with clubs, gagged and bound, and dragged into distant and hopeless captivity and slavery, leaving no traces behind, except the blood from their wounds.
76. During the last winter, since the seizure of the woman and infant, as related above, the house of a free black family was broken open, and its defenceless inhabitants treated in the manner just mentioned, except, that the mother escaped from their merciless grasp, while on their way to the state of Maryland. The plunderers, of whom there were nearly half a dozen, conveyed their prey upon horses; and the woman being placed on one of the horses, behind, improved an opportunity, as they were passing a house, and sprang off; and not daring to pursue her, they proceeded on, leaving her youngest child a little farther along by the side of the road, in expectation, it is supposed, that its cries would attract the mother, but she prudently waited until morning, and recovered it again in safety.
77. I consider myself more fully warranted in particularising this fact, from the circumstances of having been at New-Castle at thetime that the woman was brought with her child, before the grand jury, for examination; and of having seen several of the persons against whom bills of indictment were found, on the charge of being engaged in the perpetration of the outrage; and also that one or two of them were the same who were accused of assisting in seizing and carrying off the woman and child whom I discovered at Washington. The ingenuity and stratagems employed by kidnappers, in effecting their designs, are such as to prove, that the most consummate cunning is no evidence of wisdom or moral purity, nor incompatible with the most consummate villainy. A monster, in human shape, was detected in the city of Philadelphia, pursuing the occupation of courting and marrying mulatto women, and selling them as slaves. In his last attempt of this kind, the fact having come to the knowledge of the African population of this city, a mob was immediately collected, and he was only saved from being torn in atoms, by being deposited in the city prison. They have lately invented a method of attaining their objects, through the instrumentality of the laws:—Having selected a suitable free coloured person, to make apitchupon, theconjuringkidnapper employs a confederate, to ascertainthe distinguishing marks of his body and then claims and obtains him as a slave, before a magistrate, by describing those marks, and proving the truth of his assertions, by his well-instructed accomplice.
78. From the best information that I have had opportunities to collect, in travelling by various routes through the states of Delaware and Maryland, and from statements of an ingenuous trader exclusively, (as I believe,) in lawful slaves, I am fully convinced that there are, at this time, within the jurisdiction of the United States, several thousands of legally free people of colour, toiling under the yoke of involuntary servitude, and transmitting the same fate to their posterity! If the probability of this fact could be authenticated to the recognition of the congress of the United States, it is presumed that its members, as agents of the constitution, and guardians of the public liberty, would, without hesitation, devise means for the restoration of those unhappy victims of violence and avarice, to their freedom and constitutional personal rights. This is a work, both from its nature and magnitude, impracticable to individuals or benevolent societies to accomplish; besides, it is perfectly a national business, and claims national interference, equally with the captivity of our sailors inAlgiers. The most successful, economical, politic, and just method of effecting this object would, perhaps, be to institute a board of commissioners, with authority to redeem every individual satisfactorily ascertained to be legally free, at a fair appraisal of the common value of a similar slave. Inquiries might be made in those districts where many coloured persons are known to have been kidnapped, and all possessors of slaves might be required to report the names, ages, and origin of their possession, of all the coloured persons in their custody, under legal affirmation, to the clerk of such county, to be transmitted by them to some department designated for the purpose in each state. The most of the present holders of thesestolen men, probably acquired possession of them as innocently as they do of legal slaves, and an attempt by coercion, although justifiable with respect to the captive, would render the enterprise abortive, through evasion, and probably would be more expensive if successful.
79. It is my impression, that the introduction of slaves for sale into almost every state in the union, is prohibited by specific statutes, and if an annual inspection and registering of all slaves were enforced, it would guarantee acompliance with such laws in a most effectual manner, and dissolve the man-hunting fraternity at once.
80. I shall close this subject, which indeed "is almost too deep and awful to look into," by declaring my solemn and decided conviction, that the abstract relative principles of moral and political justice; the sacred axioms of our Declaration of Independence, and of our Constitution, as well as sound policy and prudence, obligate this nation, most unequivocally, to ransom every human creature held inlawfulbondage for life, against his will, without accusation of crime; at an equitable valuation of his worth to the possessor under existing laws, within the jurisdiction of the republic; and to place him so nearly in a state ofpersonalliberty, and the enjoyment of his natural and moral rights, as to secure to him the fruits or reward of his own labour, the benefits of mental improvement, and exemption from corporeal laceration. I do not consider it to be our duty to grant them a participation in thecivilprivileges of citizenship;[31]—but, they have an incontestable claimto the protection of the laws, and to the common privileges of aliens and strangers, or at least of prisoners of war, so far as is compatible with the public peace and welfare. They are created a distinct race of people, and the designs of the Author of Nature ought not to be thwarted, by permitting their conjugal commixture with a race physically different. Without examining the problematical question of the inherent physical or moral superiority of either in the scale of being, (which is not relevant to the present subject,)[32]I must affirm, that in my humble view there is both a moral and political propriety in prohibiting by energetic laws, the sexual commerce between the descendants of Europe and Africa, either by marriage,slavery, or otherwise. The extinction of slavery would promote this purpose far more than its toleration. Uncontrolled slavery, as facts have manifested, in the United States as well as the West Indies, facilitates and protects licentiousness, and a species ofbrutal debauchery, the consequences of which are deplorable and afflicting beyond description.[33]
81. It was a wise sentiment of the late Dr. Benjamin Rush, that "Nothing can be politically right that is morally wrong; and that no necessity can sanctify a law that is contrary to equity." It is morally and politically wrong both, (and without necessity too,) that an innocent, "feeble and untutored people"[34]should be detained by a powerful and enlightened people, professing superior honourand justice, in a state of beastly, unwilling, unrequited servitude, and indescribable moral and physical degradation! But let not the fell stigma be attached entirely to the present retainers of the slaves. Every citizen of the republic, entitled to the right of suffrage, is responsible for his proportionable quota of the miseries inflicted on the defenceless Africans, in our privileged country. Human nature is such, that a large proportion of men, will improve every means within their reach, for advancing their fortunes, indulged by political laws. In this country the laws emanate primitively from the people. The outrage upon the rights of our present slave population originated in Africa. Our laws have, from their infancy, until recently, sanctioned the perpetration of that outrage, in Africa, by permitting its principles and products to be transferred to, and adopted in, our own country; and they still sanction their continuance. Laws ought to be responsible for their own operations and results. If a law were enacted authorizing the sale of all the debtors now in prison in the United States, for unconditional and perpetual servitude, with their posterity, and they should be accordingly sold, it would be morally unjust, with respect to the purchasers, but not the slaves, to proclaim an immediate emancipation, without restoring the purchase money: that is, it would be unjust not to restore it. Hence the people of the United States, considered collectively as a nation, having confirmed andlegalizedthe transfer, (or abdication) of the assumed power of African despots and banditti, to their assigns in America, and now holding the sovereignty over the laws in their own hands, are themaster aggressorsupon the victims of those savage tyrants, and are bound to make them appropriate reparation. While justice is rendered to the slave, remuneration is due to the holder, for the loss he sustains in consequence of his prior confidence of the continuation of his legal power over him. It would be necessary and right, probably, until several successive rising generations shall have been moralized by education, that the government should retain, or leave with their present possessors a rational and definite civil guardianship over the persons of these national prisoners. The redemption of the existing population of slaves would preclude the necessity of purchasing any of their descendants; and thus the blessings of freedom and moral improvement might be guaranteed to unknown millions of unbornmembers of the human family. As the interests of the southern white population would be vitally benefited by the accomplishment of this object, even if they were to consummate it without the co-operation of the northern states, the additional impulse of humanity cannot fail to influence their unanimous assent and a generous compromise. Such an act of national magnanimity, beneficence and justice, would diffuse joy and admiration amongst all colours and all nations. There would be no murmuring. It might be effected without making any man feel the poorer for it; and if it did, that is no excuse for injustice and oppression. A great proportion of the necessary sum might be raised from duties on the imported products of the labour of slaves, which are generally luxuries, as rum, sugar, coffee, &c.; and the amount of all the funds heretofore raised, or to be raised, from the taxation of slaves, is justly due to them, for this purpose; for they have resulted exclusively from the products of their toil and sweat. It is both the right and the duty of the citizens of the north to unite with their brethren in the south, in washing away this obnoxious stain upon the national character. Let the public will and honour be consulted; let the national voice be elicited by universal public meetings, andconcentrated, so as to vibrate with irresistible effect, in the sanctuaries of freedom and justice. Mr. Randolph, in the house of representatives, on the subject of constitutional compromise, said, (alluding to the words "three fourths of all other persons," made use of in the constitution, in order that the statute book should not be stained with the name slave,) "he wished to God our consciences were not stained."
Since the foregoing part was composed, a highly respectable meeting, consisting of a considerable number of the Members of our National Legislature, with many benevolent and intelligent citizens of the District of Columbia, has been held in the City of Washington (on the 21st Dec. ult.) for the purpose, as expressed by the gentleman who presided as chairman, (Mr. Clay,) "of considering the propriety and practicability of colonizing the free" people "of colour in the United States, and of forming an asylum in relation to that object."
As the proceedings of this Meeting indicate a flattering prospect of the consummation of a measure, on which I had recorded my sentiments, and hope[35]of its adoption, several weeks previous to the time that the meeting was announced, it is deemed useful and appropriate to annex a sketch of their deliberations, as published in the National Intelligencer.
Extracts from the speech of Mr.Clay, (on taking the chair.)
"That class of the mixt population of our country was peculiarly situated. They neither enjoyed the immunities of freemen, nor were they subject to the incapacities of slaves, but partook in some degree of the qualities of both. From their condition, and the unconquerable prejudices resulting from their colour, they never could amalgamate with the free whites of this country. It was desirable, therefore, as it respected them, and the residue of the population of the country, to drain themoff. Various schemes of colonization had been thought of, and a part of our own continent, it was supposed by some, might furnish a suitable establishment for them. But for his part, Mr. C. said, he had a decided preference for some part of the coast of Africa. There ample provision might be made for the colony itself, and it might be rendered instrumental to the introduction, into that extensive quarter of the globe, of the arts, civilization, and christianity. There was a peculiar, a moral fitness in restoring them to the land of their fathers. And if, instead of the evils and sufferings which we had been the innocent cause of inflicting upon the inhabitants of Africa, we can transmit to her the blessing of our arts, our civilization, and our religion, may we not hope that America will extinguish a great portion of that moral debt which she has contracted to that unfortunate continent? Can there be a nobler cause than that which, whilst it proposes, &c. contemplates the spreading of the arts of civilized life, and the possible redemption from ignorance and barbarism of a benighted quarter of the globe?
"It was proper and necessary distinctly to state, that he understood it constituted no part of the object of this Meeting to touch or agitate in the slightest degree, a delicate question connected with another portion of the coloured population of our country. It was not proposed to deliberate upon, or consider at all, any question of emancipation, or that was connected with the abolition of slavery. It was upon that condition alone, he was sure, that many gentlemen from the south and the west, whom he saw present, had attended, or could be expected to co-operate. It was upon that condition, only, that he had himself attended."
Extracts from the speech ofElias B. Caldwell, Esq. of the District of Columbia.
"The more you improve the condition of these people, the more you cultivate their minds, the more miserable you make them, in their present state. You give them a higher relish for those privileges which they can never attain, and turn what we intend for a blessing into a curse. No, if they must remain in their present situation, keep them in the lowest state of degradation and ignorance. The nearer you bring them to the condition of brutes, the better chance do you give them of possessing their apathy. Surely, Americans ought to be the last people on earth, to advocate such slavish doctrines, to cry peace and contentment to those who are deprived of the privileges ofcivil liberty. They who have so largely partaken of its blessings—who know so well how to estimate its value, ought to be among the foremost to extend it to others."
These sentiments, it will be readily perceived, clash diametrically with those which I had previously advanced in paragraph 30, on the subject of extending mental cultivation to the African race in this country. And notwithstanding I have no inclination to retract the sentiments which I have heretofore had occasion to express, concerning the practical benevolence and ardent zeal of Mr. Caldwell in the cause of religion and human happiness; yet, it is out of my power to unite with him in his opinion, of the utility of subjectingmenof any colour, or any situation whatever, to "the lowest state of degradation and ignorance," and, as near as possible, "to the condition of brutes." Right education and knowledge should teach the legitimate slave fortitude, and the advantages of submission, duty, and fidelity; and should elevate the free man, of whatever colour, above the unhallowed crime of despising himself for its having been ordained this or that tint, or for its being obnoxious to those who have been created with a different colour, or with none at all. Ask Capt. Paul Cuffee, Prince Saunders, and many other well educated and worthy persons of African extraction, whether they hate themselves, or whether any body else possessing common sense, hates them, because they cannotrepealthe laws of nature; or because there is a political and physical propriety in their being considered as foreigners and aliens inourcountry.
Mr. Caldwell, having considered the various positions in which it had been respectively proposed to establish the colony, and expressing his preference of Africa, enlarged upon the greater importance of selecting that quarter of the globe, "in the belief and hope of thereby introducing civilization and the christian religion, &c." correspondent to the sentiments of Mr. Clay. "The great movements (said he) and mighty efforts in the moral and religious world, seem to indicate some great design of Providence on the eve of accomplishment. The unexampled and astonishing success attending the various and numerous plans which have been devised and which are now in operation in different parts of the world, and the union and harmony with which christians of different denominations unite in promoting these plans, clearly indicate a Divine Hand in their direction. Nay, sir, the subject on which we are now deliberating has been brought to public view, nearly about the sametime in different parts of our country. In New Jersey, New York, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, and perhaps other places not known to me, the public attention seems to have been awakened, as from slumber, to this subject."
Mr. Caldwell remarked, that "it is a great national object, and ought to be supported by the public purse. And that, as had been justly observed by the honourable gentleman in the chair, there ought to be a national atonement for the wrongs and injuries which Africa had suffered." He said that "as a nation, we cannot rid ourselves entirely from the disgrace attending the iniquitous slave traffic formerly pursued by this country, until we, as a nation, have made every reparation in our power." He observed, that the example of our own ancestors, braving the various dangers and hardships of their early emigration and settlement upon these shores; and the prospect of the enjoyment of civil rights and a state of equality, ought to encourage and influence these people to comply cheerfully with the proposed plan of colonization.
The question being stated by the Chairman, on agreeing to the preamble and resolutions offered by Mr. Caldwell, for forming an association to accomplish the object of the meeting:
"Mr.John Randolph(of Roanoke) rose and said, that it had been properly observed, by the chairman as well as by the gentleman from this district, that there was nothing in the proposition submitted to consideration which in the smallest degree touches another very important and delicate question, which ought to be left as much out of view as possible, (Negro Slavery.)
"There was no fear, Mr. R. said, that this proposition would alarm the slave holders; they had been accustomed to think seriously of the subject. There was a popular work on agriculture, by John Taylor of Caroline, which was widely circulated, and much confided in, in Virginia. In that book, much read because coming from a practical man, this description of people were pointed out as a great evil. They had indeed been held up as the greater bug-bear to every man who feels an inclination to emancipate his slaves, not to create in the bosom of his country so great a nuisance. If a place could be provided for their reception, and a mode of sending them hence, there were hundreds, nay thousands of citizens, who would, by manumitting their slaves, relieve themselves from the cares attendant on their possession. The great slave holder, Mr. R. said, was frequently a meresentry at his own door—bound to stay on his plantation to see that his slaves were properly treated, &c. Mr. R. concluded by saying, that he had thought it necessary to make these remarks, being a slave holder himself, to shew that, so far from being connected with abolition of slavery, the measure proposed would prove one of the greatest securities, to enable the master to keep in possession his own property."
Extracts from the Speech of Mr.Wright.
"Mr. Robert Wright (of Md.) said he could not withhold his approbation of a measure that had for its object the amelioration of the lot of any portion of the human race, particularly of the free people of colour, whose degraded state robs them of the happiness of self-government, so dear to the American people. And, said he, as I discover the most delicate regard to the rights of property, I shall with great pleasure lend my aid to restore this unfortunate people to the enjoyment of their liberty; but I fear gentlemen are too sanguine in their expectation, that they would be willing to abandon the land of their nativity, so dear to man. However, I have no indisposition to give them that election by furnishing all the means contemplated by the honourable andbenevolent propositions submitted to our consideration."
"Nothing would have a stronger tendency to effect the contemplated relief of the free people of colour, than some efficient laws to secure the restoration of those not entitled to liberty, to their masters, whose rights ought to be protected by law, and who, without such law, would be certainly sacrificed by the transportation of the free blacks with whom they would most certainly mix for that purpose. However, I feel no hesitation in saying, I should be happy to see some plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, that would prepare the rising generation for that state, and remunerate the master out of the funds of the nation, amply abundant for that purpose, without being felt by the people of America."
It is a strong presumptive evidence in favour of the rationality of a moral proposition, when it emanates from several sources perfectly distinct and remote from each other. The sentiments of Mr. Wright on the propriety of adopting some plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, &c. and to remunerate the master out of the funds of the nation, &c. are so perfectly analogous to those which I had adopted and recorded, (precisely as expressed in paragraphs 80 & 81,) fifteen days previous to the Meeting atWashington, that my confidence in their correctness, and hope of their favourable reception by the citizens in general of the United States, is greatly strengthened; particularly as Mr. Wright is one of the representatives of a large state in which slavery prevails, and is himself probably a possessor of slaves.
The Preamble and Resolutions having been unanimously adopted by the Meeting, committees were appointed to draught articles of association, &c.
The Preamble and Resolutions having been unanimously adopted by the Meeting, committees were appointed to draught articles of association, &c.
The following are the two first articles of the Constitution:—
"Article I.—The Society shall be called 'The American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States.'"Article II.—The object to which its attention is to be exclusively directed, is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with their consent) the free people of colour residing in our country, in Africa, or such other places as Congress shall deem most expedient."
"Article I.—The Society shall be called 'The American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States.'
"Article II.—The object to which its attention is to be exclusively directed, is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with their consent) the free people of colour residing in our country, in Africa, or such other places as Congress shall deem most expedient."
In pursuance of this object, a Board of Managers have been organized; of which Bushrod Washington, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, has been appointed president. This body have submitted their views to the Congress, by a Memorial.—And as this Memorial embraces subjects whichconcern, more or less, every description of population in the United States, its circulation cannot, perhaps, be too widely extended.
In the House of Representatives, Jan. 14.Read, and ordered to lie on the Table.To the honourable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled:The Memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the "American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States,"Respectfully shews—Thatyour Memorialists are delegated by a numerous and highly respectable association of their fellow citizens, recently organized at the seat of government, to solicit Congress to aid, with the power, the patronage, and the resources of the country, the great and beneficial object of their institution; an object deemed worthy of the earnest attention, and of the strenuous and persevering exertions, as well of every patriot, in whatever condition of life, as of every enlightened, philanthropic, and practical statesman.It is now reduced to be a maxim, equally approved in philosophy and politics, that the existence of distinct and separate casts or classes, forming exceptions to the general system of polity adapted to the community, is an inherent vice in the composition of society; pregnant with baneful consequences, both moral and political, and demanding the utmost exertions of human energy and foresight to remedy or remove it. If this maxim be true inthe general, it applies with peculiar force to the relative condition of the free people of colour in the United States; between whom and the rest of the community, a combination of causes, political, physical and moral, has created distinctions, unavoidable in their origin, and most unfortunate in their consequences. The actual and prospective condition of that class of people; their anomalous and indefinite relations to the political institutions and social ties of the community; their deprivation of most of those independent, political, and social rights, so indispensable to the progressive melioration of our nature, rendered, by systematic exclusion from all the higher rewards of excellence, dead to all the elevating hopes that might prompt a generous ambition to excel; all these considerations demonstrate, that it equally imports the public good, as the individual and social happiness of the persons more immediately concerned, that it is equally a debt of patriotism and of humanity, to provide some adequate and effectual remedy. The evil has become so apparent, and the necessity for a remedy so palpable, that some of the most considerable of the slave-holding states have been induced to impose restraints upon the practice of emancipation, by annexing conditions, which have the effect to transfer the evil from one state to another; or, by inducing other states to adopt countervailing regulations, and in the total abrogation of a right, which benevolent or conscientious proprietors had long enjoyed under all the sanctions of positive law and of ancient usage. Your Memorialists beg leave, with all deference, to suggest, that the fairest and most inviting opportunities are now presented to the general government, for repairing a great evil in oursocial and political institutions, and at the same time for elevating, from a low and hopeless condition, a numerous and rapidly increasing race of men, who want nothing but a proper theatre, to enter upon the pursuit of happiness and independence, in the ordinary paths which a benign Providence has left open to the human race. Those great ends, it is conceived, may be accomplished by making adequate provision for planting, in some salubrious and fertile region, a colony, to be composed of such of the above description of persons as may choose to emigrate; and for extending to it the authority and protection of the United States, until it shall have attained sufficient strength and consistency to be left in a state of independence.Independently of the motives derived from political foresight and civil prudence on the one hand, and from moral justice and philanthropy on the other; there are additional considerations, and more expanded views to engage the sympathies and excite the ardour of a liberal and enlightened people. It may be resolved for our government (the first to denounce an inhuman and abominable traffic, in the guilt and disgrace of which most of the civilized nations of the world were partakers) to become the honourable instrument, under Divine Providence, of conferring a still higher blessing upon the large and interesting portion of mankind, benefited by that deed of justice; by demonstrating that a race of men, composing numerous tribes, spread over a continent of vast and unexplored extent, fertility and riches; known to the enlightened nations of antiquity; and who had yet made no progress in the refinements of civilization; for whom history has preserved no monumentsof arts or arms; that even this hitherto ill-fated face may cherish the hope of beholding, at last, the orient star revealing the best and highest aims and attributes of man. Out of such materials, to rear the glorious edifices of well ordered and polished society, upon the deep and sure foundations of equal laws and diffusive education, would give a sufficient title to be enrolled among the illustrious benefactors of mankind; whilst it afforded a precious and consolatory evidence of the all-prevailing power of liberty, enlightened by knowledge and corrected by religion. If the experiment, in its remote consequences, should ultimately tend to the diffusion of similar blessings through those vast regions and unnumbered tribes yet obscured in primeval darkness; reclaim the rude wanderer, from a life of wretchedness, to civilization and humanity; and convert the blind idolater, from gross and abject superstitions, to the holy charities, the sublime morality and humanizing discipline of the gospel; the nation, or the individual, that shall have taken the most conspicuous lead in achieving the benignant enterprise, will have raised a monument of that true and imperishable glory, founded in the approbation and gratitude of the human race; unapproachable to all but the elected instruments of divine beneficence: a glory with which the most splendid achievements of human force or power must sink in the competition, and appear insignificant and vulgar in the comparison. And above all, should it be considered, that the nation or the individual, whose energies have been faithfully given to this august work, will have secured, by this exalted beneficence the favour of that Being, "whose compassion is over all his works," and whose unspeakable rewards willnever fail to bless the humblest effort to do good to his creatures.Your Memorialists do not presume to determine that the views of Congress will be necessarily directed to the country to which they have just alluded. They hope to be excused for intimating some of the reasons which would bring that portion of the world before us, when engaged in discovering a place the most proper to be selected, leaving it with confidence, to the better information and better judgment of your honourable body to make the choice.Your Memorialists, without presuming to mark out, in detail, the measures which it may be proper to adopt in furtherance of the object in view; but implicitly relying upon the wisdom of Congress to devise the most effectual measures; will only pray, that the subject may be recommended to their serious consideration, and that, as an humble auxiliary in this great work, the Association, represented by your Memorialists, may be permitted to aspire to the hope of contributing its labours and resources.Bush. Washington,President.
In the House of Representatives, Jan. 14.
Read, and ordered to lie on the Table.
To the honourable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled:
The Memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the "American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States,"
Respectfully shews—
Thatyour Memorialists are delegated by a numerous and highly respectable association of their fellow citizens, recently organized at the seat of government, to solicit Congress to aid, with the power, the patronage, and the resources of the country, the great and beneficial object of their institution; an object deemed worthy of the earnest attention, and of the strenuous and persevering exertions, as well of every patriot, in whatever condition of life, as of every enlightened, philanthropic, and practical statesman.
It is now reduced to be a maxim, equally approved in philosophy and politics, that the existence of distinct and separate casts or classes, forming exceptions to the general system of polity adapted to the community, is an inherent vice in the composition of society; pregnant with baneful consequences, both moral and political, and demanding the utmost exertions of human energy and foresight to remedy or remove it. If this maxim be true inthe general, it applies with peculiar force to the relative condition of the free people of colour in the United States; between whom and the rest of the community, a combination of causes, political, physical and moral, has created distinctions, unavoidable in their origin, and most unfortunate in their consequences. The actual and prospective condition of that class of people; their anomalous and indefinite relations to the political institutions and social ties of the community; their deprivation of most of those independent, political, and social rights, so indispensable to the progressive melioration of our nature, rendered, by systematic exclusion from all the higher rewards of excellence, dead to all the elevating hopes that might prompt a generous ambition to excel; all these considerations demonstrate, that it equally imports the public good, as the individual and social happiness of the persons more immediately concerned, that it is equally a debt of patriotism and of humanity, to provide some adequate and effectual remedy. The evil has become so apparent, and the necessity for a remedy so palpable, that some of the most considerable of the slave-holding states have been induced to impose restraints upon the practice of emancipation, by annexing conditions, which have the effect to transfer the evil from one state to another; or, by inducing other states to adopt countervailing regulations, and in the total abrogation of a right, which benevolent or conscientious proprietors had long enjoyed under all the sanctions of positive law and of ancient usage. Your Memorialists beg leave, with all deference, to suggest, that the fairest and most inviting opportunities are now presented to the general government, for repairing a great evil in oursocial and political institutions, and at the same time for elevating, from a low and hopeless condition, a numerous and rapidly increasing race of men, who want nothing but a proper theatre, to enter upon the pursuit of happiness and independence, in the ordinary paths which a benign Providence has left open to the human race. Those great ends, it is conceived, may be accomplished by making adequate provision for planting, in some salubrious and fertile region, a colony, to be composed of such of the above description of persons as may choose to emigrate; and for extending to it the authority and protection of the United States, until it shall have attained sufficient strength and consistency to be left in a state of independence.
Independently of the motives derived from political foresight and civil prudence on the one hand, and from moral justice and philanthropy on the other; there are additional considerations, and more expanded views to engage the sympathies and excite the ardour of a liberal and enlightened people. It may be resolved for our government (the first to denounce an inhuman and abominable traffic, in the guilt and disgrace of which most of the civilized nations of the world were partakers) to become the honourable instrument, under Divine Providence, of conferring a still higher blessing upon the large and interesting portion of mankind, benefited by that deed of justice; by demonstrating that a race of men, composing numerous tribes, spread over a continent of vast and unexplored extent, fertility and riches; known to the enlightened nations of antiquity; and who had yet made no progress in the refinements of civilization; for whom history has preserved no monumentsof arts or arms; that even this hitherto ill-fated face may cherish the hope of beholding, at last, the orient star revealing the best and highest aims and attributes of man. Out of such materials, to rear the glorious edifices of well ordered and polished society, upon the deep and sure foundations of equal laws and diffusive education, would give a sufficient title to be enrolled among the illustrious benefactors of mankind; whilst it afforded a precious and consolatory evidence of the all-prevailing power of liberty, enlightened by knowledge and corrected by religion. If the experiment, in its remote consequences, should ultimately tend to the diffusion of similar blessings through those vast regions and unnumbered tribes yet obscured in primeval darkness; reclaim the rude wanderer, from a life of wretchedness, to civilization and humanity; and convert the blind idolater, from gross and abject superstitions, to the holy charities, the sublime morality and humanizing discipline of the gospel; the nation, or the individual, that shall have taken the most conspicuous lead in achieving the benignant enterprise, will have raised a monument of that true and imperishable glory, founded in the approbation and gratitude of the human race; unapproachable to all but the elected instruments of divine beneficence: a glory with which the most splendid achievements of human force or power must sink in the competition, and appear insignificant and vulgar in the comparison. And above all, should it be considered, that the nation or the individual, whose energies have been faithfully given to this august work, will have secured, by this exalted beneficence the favour of that Being, "whose compassion is over all his works," and whose unspeakable rewards willnever fail to bless the humblest effort to do good to his creatures.
Your Memorialists do not presume to determine that the views of Congress will be necessarily directed to the country to which they have just alluded. They hope to be excused for intimating some of the reasons which would bring that portion of the world before us, when engaged in discovering a place the most proper to be selected, leaving it with confidence, to the better information and better judgment of your honourable body to make the choice.
Your Memorialists, without presuming to mark out, in detail, the measures which it may be proper to adopt in furtherance of the object in view; but implicitly relying upon the wisdom of Congress to devise the most effectual measures; will only pray, that the subject may be recommended to their serious consideration, and that, as an humble auxiliary in this great work, the Association, represented by your Memorialists, may be permitted to aspire to the hope of contributing its labours and resources.
Bush. Washington,President.
With respect to the most eligible situation for the establishment of the proposed colony, I shall probably more certainly avoid the imputation of unbecoming assurance, by omitting, for the present, to add any thing more specific to what I had already expressed (Par. 38, 39, 40) before the least intimation of the design offorming this Association had come to my knowledge.
I cannot forbear, however, to remark, that although it would give me inexpressible pleasure to see the banners of knowledge and rational religion triumphing over ignorance and superstition, in Africa, as well as in the many other vast regions of the earth, yet it impresses me that it will absorb all the benevolence, all the delegated authority, and all the resources, for a century to come, of both our national and state legislatures, to reclaim from the awful abyss of ignorance, vice, and consequential misery, in which thousands and hundreds of thousands of human beings, of all colours and all extractions, are involved on our own continent:—That moral contamination on this continent cannot produce religion and moral purification by a transfer to the continent of Africa:—And that the great moral debt which this continent has incurred, is due more specifically to the immense population of the sons of Africa, who still remain in the shackles of slavery, than to those who are now enjoying personal liberty, or to the continent of Africa.
I have been assured by citizens of Philadelphia, who were active in aiding Capt. Cuffee in collecting emigrants for Sierra Leone, that theinjunctions of the British authorities were very positive not to admit any without testimonials of an irreproachable moral character from respectable magistrates. After a proper system of African education has become matured in this country, the seeds of much future good might be gradually disseminated in Africa, by frequent exportations to that country of well instructed virtuous school-masters, artisans and farmers; as the Society of Friends have done, with encouraging prospects of success, amongst the aboriginal natives of this country.
I will conclude for the present, with a transcript of the Proceedings of a Meeting of the free Coloured People at Richmond, (Virg.) which have come to hand (through the "Freeman's Journal,") just in time for insertion, before this Work is dismissed from the press.—They are similar to those of a similar Meeting at Georgetown several weeks ago.
Richmond, Jan. 28.Meeting of Free People of Colour.At a Meeting of a respectable portion of the Free People of Colour, of the City of Richmond, onFriday the 24th of January 1817, William Bowler was appointed Chairman, Ephraim Speed, Moderator, and Lantey Crow, Secretary.
Richmond, Jan. 28.Meeting of Free People of Colour.
At a Meeting of a respectable portion of the Free People of Colour, of the City of Richmond, on
Friday the 24th of January 1817, William Bowler was appointed Chairman, Ephraim Speed, Moderator, and Lantey Crow, Secretary.
The following Preamble and Resolution was read, unanimously adopted, and ordered to be printed:
Whereas a Society has been formed at the seat of Government, for the purpose of "colonizing (with their own consent) the Free People of Colour of the United States;" Therefore, we the Free People of Colour of the city of Richmond, have thought it adviseable to assemble together, under the sanction of authority, for the purpose of making a public expression of our sentiments on a question in which we are so deeply interested. We perfectly agree with the Society, that it is not only proper, but would ultimately tend to the benefit and advantage of a great portion of our suffering fellow-creatures, to be colonized: but while we thus express our entire approbation of a measure, laudable in its purposes and beneficent in its designs, it may not be improper in us to say, we prefer being colonized in the most remote corner of the land of our nativity, to being exiled to a foreign country.[36]And whereas the President and Board of Managers of the said Society, have been pleased to leave it to the entire discretion of Congress to provide a suitable place for carrying their laudable intentions into effect;—Be it therefore resolved, That we respectfully submit to the wisdom of Congress, whether it would not be an act of charity to grant us a small portion of their territory, either on the Missouri river, or any place that may seem to them most conducive to the public good, and our future welfare: subject, however, to such rules and regulations as the Government of the United States may think proper to adopt.W. Bowler, Chairman.Ephraim Speed, Moderator.Lantey Crow, Secretary.
Whereas a Society has been formed at the seat of Government, for the purpose of "colonizing (with their own consent) the Free People of Colour of the United States;" Therefore, we the Free People of Colour of the city of Richmond, have thought it adviseable to assemble together, under the sanction of authority, for the purpose of making a public expression of our sentiments on a question in which we are so deeply interested. We perfectly agree with the Society, that it is not only proper, but would ultimately tend to the benefit and advantage of a great portion of our suffering fellow-creatures, to be colonized: but while we thus express our entire approbation of a measure, laudable in its purposes and beneficent in its designs, it may not be improper in us to say, we prefer being colonized in the most remote corner of the land of our nativity, to being exiled to a foreign country.[36]
And whereas the President and Board of Managers of the said Society, have been pleased to leave it to the entire discretion of Congress to provide a suitable place for carrying their laudable intentions into effect;—Be it therefore resolved, That we respectfully submit to the wisdom of Congress, whether it would not be an act of charity to grant us a small portion of their territory, either on the Missouri river, or any place that may seem to them most conducive to the public good, and our future welfare: subject, however, to such rules and regulations as the Government of the United States may think proper to adopt.
W. Bowler, Chairman.
Ephraim Speed, Moderator.Lantey Crow, Secretary.