Discussion on American Slavery Part 10

Judge Workman's will contains the following clause in relation to her, viz:--"I request my statu liber, Kitty, a quarteroon girl, to be set free as soon as convenient. And I request my executors may send her, as she shall prefer, and they think best, either to the Colonization Society at Norfolk, to be sent to Liberia or to Hayti; and if she prefer remaining in Louisiana, that they may endeavor to have an act pa.s.sed for her emanc.i.p.ation; if the same cannot be attained otherwise; and it is my will that the sum of three hundred dollars be paid to her after she shall be capable of receiving the same. I request my executors to hold in their hands money for this purpose. I particularly request my friend John G. Greene to take charge of this girl, and do the best for her that he can." Mr. Greene provided her with a handsome outfit, carefully attended to her embarkation, and the s.h.i.+pment of her freight, and placed her under the care of the Rev. Gloster Simpson.

The next case, alluded to above, is that of a family of eleven slaves emanc.i.p.ated for faithful and meritorious services, by the will of of the late Mrs. Bullock, of Claiborne county, Miss. Mrs. Moore, the sister and executrix of Mrs. Bullock's estate, gave them 700 dollars to furnish an outfit and give them a start in the colony.

The third and last case alluded to above, consisted of several families, amounting in the whole to 26 individual slaves belonging to the estate of the late James Green, of Adams county, Mississipi. The following interesting circ.u.mstances concerning their liberation, were communicated to me by James Railey, Esq., the brother-in-law and acting executor of Mr. Green's Estate. Mr. Green died on the 15th of May, 1832, the proprietor of about 130 slaves, and left Mr.

Railey, his brother-in-law, and his sisters, Mrs. Railey and Mrs. Wood, executors of his last will and testament. Mr.

Green's will provides for the unconditional emanc.i.p.ation of but one of his slaves--a faithful and intelligent man named Granger, whom Mr. Green had raised and taught to read, write, and keep accounts. He acted as foreman for his master for about five years previous to his death. Mr. Green, by his will, left him 3000 dollars, on condition that he went to Liberia, otherwise, 2000 dollars. Provision was also made in the will for securing to him his wife. Granger has been employed since the death of Mr. Green, until recently, as overseer for Mr. Railey, at a salary of 600 dollars per annum. Granger declines going to Liberia at present on account of the unwillingness of his mother to go there. She is very aged and infirm, and he is very much attached to her.

She was a favorite slave of Mr. Green's mother, who emanc.i.p.ated her and left her a legacy of 1000 dollars.

Granger came to this city with Mr. Railey to see his friends and former fellow-servants embark: and when he bade them farewell, he said, with a very emphatic tone and manner, "I will follow you in about 18 months."

The executors of Mr. Green's estate were by no means slack in meeting the testator's wishes concerning these people. Mr.

Railey accompanied them to New-Orleans, and both he and Mrs.

Wood, who also was in New-Orleans while they were preparing to embark, took a lively and active interest in providing them with everything necessary for their comfort on the voyage, and their welfare after their arrival in the Colony, and placed in my hand 7000 dollars for their benefit, one thousand dollars of which were appropriated towards the charter of a vessel to convey them to the Colony, with the privilege of 140 barrels freight--sixteen hundred dollars towards the purchase of an outfit, consisting of mechanics'

tools, implements of agriculture, household furniture, medicines, clothing, &c., and the remaining four thousand four hundred dollars, partly invested in trade, goods, and partly in specia, were s.h.i.+pped and consigned to the Governor of Liberia, for their benefit, with an accompanying memorandum made out by Mr. Railey, showing how much was each one's portion.

I will close this communication by relating one additional circ.u.mstance communicated to me by Mr. Railey, to show the interest felt by Mr. Green in the success of the scheme of African Colonization. The day previous to his death, he requested Mr. Railey to write a memorandum of several things which he wished done after his death, which memorandum contains the following clause, viz:--"After executing all my wishes as expressed by Will, by this memorandum, and by verbal communications, I sincerely hope there will be a handsome sum left for benefitting the emanc.i.p.ated negroes emigrating from this State to Liberia; and to that end I have more concern than you are aware of."

I am authorized by the Executors to state that there will be a residuum to Mr. Green's estate of twenty or thirty-five thousand dollars, which they intend to appropriate in conformity with the views of Mr. Green expressed above.

Yours, &c., ROBERT S. FINLEY.

And now I rest the case, and commit the result to an enlightened public. Here are my proofs and arguments showing as I believe conclusively, that the slanderous accusations against my country and my brethren which I have come to this city to repel,--are not only false, but incredible. Here are my testimonials, few and casually gathered up, but yet, as it seems to me, irresistibly convincing, that the people and churches of America--in the very thing charged,--have been and are acting, a wise, self-denying and humane part. That they should move onward in it as rapidly as the happiness of all the parties will allow, must be the wish of all good men. That obstacles should be interposed through the error, the imprudence, or the violence of well meaning but ill-judging persons, is truly deplorable.

But that we should be traduced before the whole world, when we are innocent; that we should first be forced into most difficult circ.u.mstances, and then forced to manage those circ.u.mstances in such a way as to cause our certain ruin, by the very same people; or in default of submitting to both requirments, be forced first into war, and afterwards into a state of bitter mutual contention, only less dreadful than war itself, is outrageous and intolerable. While we justly complain of these things, we discharge ourselves of the guilt attributed to us, and acquit ourselves to G.o.d and our consciences, of all the fatal consequences likely to follow such conduct.

MR. THOMPSON rose, and spoke in nearly the following words:

_Mr. Chairman_,

If I were to say that I rose on the present occasion without a feeling of anxiety regarding the issue of the discussion now drawing to a close, I should say what is not the truth. I cannot remember that I ever stood before an auditory in a more interesting or responsible position. The question before us is one of momentous magnitude; and that branch of it which to-night claims our special attention, is of all others, the most solemn and delicate. I am, therefore, anxious, deeply anxious, respecting the impression which shall rest upon the minds of this a.s.sembly, when I have occupied the attention of yourself and of it, for a portion of time equal to that which has been expended by my opponent. If, however, I were to say that I rose with any feeling of alarm in the contemplation of the result of that ordeal through which I am about to pa.s.s, I should speak that which would be equally at variance with the truth. So far from indulging any fear, or wis.h.i.+ng to propitiate this audience, I pray that for the sake of truth, humanity, and the country represented by my opponent; for the sake of our character in the sight of G.o.d at the audit of the great day; there may be a severe, jealous and impartial judgment formed, according to the evidence which shall be submitted. Or, if it be impossible to hold the balance strictly even, I ask that the bias for the present, may be in favor of my opponent. It is true, I am not an American. It is true, I was in the United States but fourteen months.

It is true, I never crossed the Potomac; never saw a slave, unless that slave had been brought to the North by some temporary resident.

Receive, therefore, with caution and suspicion my statements. Let there be every discount upon my a.s.sertions which my youth and rashness, my want of observation and experience demand. At the same time I ask that every proper degree of respect shall be paid to the witnesses I shall bring before you; and that however my testimony may be doubted, theirs at least may have the weight which their character, and station, and opportunities shall appear to ent.i.tle them to.

I am accused of monstrous injustice towards America, when I say that in that country slavery wears its most horrid forms. In saying this, I must not be understood as speaking according to the actual physical condition of the slave, or even of his legal and political condition, apart from the religion and inst.i.tutions of the land in which he lives. I judge not by the number of links in his chain; the number of lashes inflicted on his back; the nature of his toil, or the quality or quant.i.ty of his food. It is, when irrespective of the treatment of the body, I find two millions of human beings regarded as merchandise; ranked with the beasts of the field, and reduced by the neglect of their immortal minds to the condition of heathens; it is when I find this awful system in full operation, surrounded by the barriers and safeguards of the Law and the Const.i.tution, in the United States of North America; the land of Republicanism, and Christianity, and Revivals, that I say, Slavery in America wears a form more horrid than in any other part of the world. Yes, Sir; when I am told that in that land, liberty is enjoyed to a greater extent than in any other country; that the principles on which this liberty and independence rest are these: "G.o.d created all men free and equal." "Resistance to Tyrants is obedience to G.o.d;" and see also two millions of captives; their dungeon barred and watched by proud Republicans, and boasting Christians; I turn with horror and indignation away, exclaiming as I quit the sickening scene, Slavery wears its most loathsome form in the United States of America!

Before I come to that portion of my Address which I shall present as a reply to Mr. Breckinridge, I beg to say one word in vindication of the character and temper of American Abolitionists; and I am glad on this occasion to be able to cite the testimony of a gentleman, whom Mr.

Breckinridge has not declined to call his friend; I mean James G.

Birney, Esq., formerly residing in the same State with Mr. B., and now in Cincinnati. Mr. Birney made a visit to the North last year, for the purpose of ascertaining for himself, by actual observation and intercourse, the real character of the Abolitionists, and the manner in which they prosecuted their work. Having done this, he thus writes:

Last spring I attended the Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention; was present at the several meetings of the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York, and at the Anti-Slavery Convention held in Boston. On these several occasions, I became acquainted, and deliberated with, it may be, not less than one thousand persons, who may be fairly set down as among the most intelligent of the abolitionists. Subjects on which the most diverse opinions were entertained, and which to ambitious and untrained minds would be agitating and dissensious in the extreme, were discussed with the most calm and unruffled composure. And while some of the leading journals were teeming with the foulest and the falsest charges of moral and political turpitude; while there were produced in their a.s.semblies placards, calling on the mob for appropriate deeds, and designating the time and place of holding their meetings, that its violence might know at what point it might most effectually spend itself; yet, never elsewhere have I seen so much of sedate deliberation of sober conclusion, of dignified moderation, sanctified by earnest prayer to G.o.d, not only for the oppressed, but for the oppressor of his fellow; not only for such as they loved, but for their slanderers, and persecutors, and enemies.

The above is a fair account, so far as my knowledge enables me to speak, of the character of those whom you are pleased to describe "a band of fanatical abolitionists." Light and rash minds, unaccustomed to penetrate to the real causes of great revolutions in public sentiment, will, of course, think and speak contemptuously of them, while the philosophic observer clearly sees, that such antagonists of error, armed with so powerful a weapon as the Truth, must, at all times, be invincible; and that in the end they will be triumphant.

A word, too, before I come to the state of the churches, with regard to Mr. Breckinridge's concluding topic last evening; to which I had not, of course, any opportunity to reply; and, as the time allotted for this discussion is now determined, I shall be permitted to dwell a few moments on the subject. Mr. Breckinridge did, I am ready to acknowledge, with tolerable fairness, state the views of the abolitionists with regard to prejudice against color; that it was sinful, that it ought to be abandoned, and that the colored man should be raised to the enjoyment of equal civil and religious privileges with the whites. But after he had laid down, generally speaking correctly, the views of the abolitionists, he proceeded to put the most _unfair_ interpretation upon those views, and strangely contended that they were directly aiming to accomplish the amalgamation of the races in the fullest sense of that word. Once again, I _deny_ this.

Once again I appeal to all that the abolitionists have ever written or spoken: to their published, official, solemn, authoritative disclaimers; and I say on my behalf and on theirs, that with the intermixture of "the races," as they are called, (a phrase I do not like,) the abolitionists have nothing to do. What they have ever contended for is this, that the colored man should now be delivered from the condition of a beast; that he should cease to be regarded as the property of his fellow man; and that according to the laws of the state regulating the qualifications of citizens, he should be admitted to a partic.i.p.ation of the privileges that are enjoyed by other cla.s.ses of the community. We have never asked for more. We have left the doctrine of amalgamation to be settled by our opponents. The slave holders are the amalgamationists whose licentiousness has gone far to put an end to the existence of a black race in the South, and who are still carrying on, to use their own expression, "a bleaching system,"

whitening the population of the South, so that you may now discover all shades of colored persons; from those who are so fair that they are scarcely distinguishable from the whites, to the pure black of the unmixed negro. But my opponent defeated himself. While attempting to expose the folly and wickedness of amalgamation, he at the same time contended that the thing was physically impossible; that even a partial amalgamation could only be brought about by polygamy or prost.i.tution, but that general amalgamation was hopeless, because physically impossible. If the thing be utterly beyond the reach of the abolitionists, why dread it as an evil? Why not let the abolitionists pursue their foolish and impracticable schemes? Why so much wrath against them for aiming at that which nature has rendered unattainable. I leave Mr. Breckinridge to find his way out of this difficulty in the best manner he is able.

Again, we are told, that in attempting to bring about amalgamation, and in preventing Colonization, we are interfering with the _purposes_ of G.o.d; fighting against His ordinances, and exposing Africa to the horrors of extermination, should the descendants of Shem or j.a.phet colonize her sh.o.r.es, and not the black man who has sprung from her tribes. I confess I am somewhat surprised, when told by a Presbyterian clergyman of Calvinistic sentiments, that I am to regulate my conduct towards my fellow-men by the _purposes_ of G.o.d, rather than by the _law_ of G.o.d. This is surely a new doctrine! What, I ask, have I to do with the decrees of the Almighty? Has he not given me a law by which to walk? Has he not told me to love my neighbor as myself? to "honor all men?" Am I not told that G.o.d hath made of _one_ blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth? Where is the prohibition to marry with Shem or Ham. I know of no directions in the Old Testament respecting marriages, save such as were founded on religious differences, and I have yet to learn that there are any in the New Testament. That blessed Book declares, that in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, circ.u.mcision nor uncirc.u.mcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but all are _one_. The only injunction I am aware of is this, "be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers."

Mr. Breckinridge made a considerable parade of his knowledge of Universal History, and pretended to build his theory upon the most correct historical data. While upon this subject of _amalgamation_ and _extermination_, I will take the liberty of submitting one or two inquiries to Mr. Breckinridge.

Is there any law in America forbidding ministers to celebrate marriages between j.a.phethite American Christians and Jewesses, (by birth, even if Christians by faith,) and Jews, (even if Christians.) to marry j.a.phethite, American females? If there be not, then, why may Shem and j.a.phet intermarry, but Ham with neither? Again: If there be no such law, then the doctrine about Noah's three sons, is not a principle on which the American people act, but Mr. B.'s individual dogma, got up to defend a line of conduct really proceeding without reference to any such principle. If it be said that Jewish and j.a.phethite Americans are very nearly, if not altogether, of the same color; and that there are no political evils to be dreaded from the intermixture of Jews with j.a.phethites; I reply, that, admitting the truth of both these representations, is not the sin of mixing Noah's sons, and counter-working the designs of G.o.d, the same in the case of Shem and j.a.phet as it would be in the case of j.a.phet or Shem with the tribes of Ham? Again,

Did the Romans, (j.a.phethites,) exterminate the Jews, (Shemites?)

Did the Arab Shemite conquerors of Egypt exterminate the ancient inhabitants (Hamites,) who still exist, and are known by the name of Copts or Cophti?

Did not the Tartars, now Turks, a (j.a.phethite tribe,) when they conquered the Caliphs, embrace the religion of the conquered, who were Mohamedans and Shemites?

Did not the Shemite Mohamedans conquer the Persians, (j.a.phethites,) a part of whom, who would not embrace the Mohamedan religion, and could not be tolerated by the Mohamedans in theirs, (viz. fire wors.h.i.+p,) flee to India, where they still exist, known by the name of Guebers, while the rest of the people, embracing Mohamedanism, amalgamated with their conquerors; and is not the modern Persian language a proof of this, in which all the terms of religion and science are Arabic, (Shemite,) the rest of the language being a colluvies of the Deri, Zend, and Pehlavi dialects, which the most eminent phylologists consider as all resolvable into Sanscrit, the most ancient j.a.phethite speech existing?

The cases of the Romans and Jews, and of the Arab conquerors of Egypt and the Copts, are instances of conquest _without extermination_; the parties remaining dissevered by religious differences. The cases of the Tartar-Turks, and the Arabs, and of the Arabs and the Persians, are cases of conquest without extermination, and _with amalgamation_; the conquerors in the first case having adopted the religion of the conquered, and the conquered in the second case, that of the conquerors.

Instead of the Americans proceeding in their conduct towards the colored people with any reference either to the divine laws or the divine decrees, they act solely under the influence of their pride and prejudice. How their prejudice was in the first place produced, it is not necessary at this time to inquire. I may just remark that color has long been the badge of slavery. Long have the negroes been an enslaved and degraded cla.s.s. The child is tutored to look upon a colored man as an inferior, and this feeling of superiority, implanted early in the mind of the child, growing with his growth, and strengthening with his strength, becomes at last a confirmed and almost invincible principle, disposing him with eagerness to adopt any views of revelation which will permit him to cherish and gratify his pride and hatred towards the colored man. Hence has arisen the aristocracy of the skin. Hence the many lamentable departures from the spirit and precepts of the gospel, every day witnessed in the United Slates. Two ill.u.s.trations of the force of prejudice are now before me.

The first is a short article from the New York Evangelist, copied into the Scottish Guardian of this city. I will read it entire. It is as follows:

A HARD CASE. A native born American applied to our authorities this morning for a license to drive a cart. He has been for years employed as a porter in Pearl Street, princ.i.p.ally among the booksellers, who were his pet.i.tioners to the number of forty firms. He is an honest, temperate, and in every respect a worthy man; of an amiable disposition, muscular frame, and of good address, and every way calculated for the situation he seeks; besides being a member of the Society of Friends, a sufficient recommendation of itself; for the office is now filled in part by swearing, drunken, quarrelling foreigners, who are daily disturbing the quiet of our streets by their broils; and endangering the lives of our citizens by their infuriate conduct.

Wm. S. Hewlett was refused by our Mayor, on the ground of public opinion! because

"----guilty of a skin Not colored like his own."

Hewlett owns property in William Street, to the amount of 20,000 dollars; but prefers, unlike many of no more income, a life of industry and economy, to seeking "otium c.u.m dignitate."

"What man seeing this, And having human feelings, does not blush, And hang his head to own himself a man."

The next is found in a letter written by a Professor Smith, of the Wesleyan University, Connecticut, who, while vindicating the University from the charge of having expelled a young man "for the crime of color," makes the following admission:

"That it would be difficult, in the present state of public feeling, to preserve a colored individual from inquietude in any of our collegiate schools, and to render his connection with them tolerable, is not denied."

I come now, (continued Mr. T.) to the state of the American Churches, in regard to Slavery; and to attempt a justification of the heavy charges I have brought against them. If at the close of this address it shall appear that I have misrepresented the Christians of America; that I have stated as facts, things which are untrue, I solemnly call upon those who have hitherto vindicated my reputation, and sustained me as the truthful advocate of the cause of human rights, to discard me as utterly disqualified to be their representative in so sacred a work, because, capable of pleading for JUSTICE at the expense of TRUTH.

Of slaveholding ministers in America, Mr. Breckinridge has a.s.serted, that they are as ONE IN A THOUSAND, or at most, as ONE IN FIVE HUNDRED. The first doc.u.ment I shall quote to disprove this a.s.sertion, will be a letter in the "Southern Religious Telegraph," of October 31, 1835, addressed to the Presbyterian Clergy of Virginia; written to warn those ministers against pursuits calculated to injure their spirituality, destroy their usefulness, and prevent those revivals of religion with which other portions of the Church of Christ had been favored; also to account for an apparent declension in piety in the State generally. It is proper to remark, that the letter from which I make the present extract, was not written to promote the cause of abolition; that the writer never imagined it would be used on such an occasion; and that the newspaper in which it appears is _pro_-slavery to the very core.

"In one region of country, where I am acquainted, of rather more than THIRTY Presbyterian ministers, including missionaries, TWENTY are farmers, viz. (planters and SLAVEHOLDERS,) ON A PRETTY EXTENSIVE SCALE; three are school teachers; one is a farmer and a teacher; one, a farmer and a merchant, and joint proprietor of iron works, which must be in operation on the Sabbath; and one is a farmer and editor of a political newspaper. These farmers generally superintend their own business. THEY OVERSEE THEIR NEGROES, attend to their stock, make purchases, and visit the markets to make sale of their crops. They necessarily have much intercourse with their neighbors on worldly business, and not unfrequently come into unpleasant collision with the merchants."

O, Sir, what a revelation of things is here! These are not the calumnies of George Thompson, but the confessions of one, striving earnestly to awaken the attention of the Virginia clergy to a sense of the degradation and barrenness of the church, and to direct their attention to the main causes of such lamentable effects.

Next, permit me to request your attention to an extract from "An Address to the Presbyterians of Kentucky, proposing a plan for the instruction and emanc.i.p.ation of their slaves; by a Committee of the SYNOD OF KENTUCKY. Cincinnati: published by Eli Taylor, 1835." We shall, in this doc.u.ment, get at the opinion of men, sensitively jealous for the honor, purity, and usefulness of the Presbyterian churches, from which Mr. Breckinridge is A DELEGATE. What say they of slavery in general, and the practice of THEIR CHURCH in particular:

"Brutal stripes, and all the various kinds of personal indignities, are not the only species of cruelty, which slavery licenses. The law does not recognize the family relations of a slave; and extends to him no protection in the enjoyment of domestic endearments. The members of a slave family may be forcibly separated, so that they shall never more meet until the final judgment. And cupidity often induces the masters to practise what the law allows. Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are torn asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. These acts are daily occurring in the midst of us. The shrieks and the agony, often witnessed on such occasions, proclaim with a trumpet-tongue, the iniquity and cruelty of our system. The cry of these sufferers goes up to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. There is not a neighborhood, where these heart-rending scenes are not displayed. There is not a village or road that does not behold the sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose chains and mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by force from all that their hearts held dear. Our church, years ago, raised its voice by solemn warning against this flagrant violation of every principle of mercy, justice, and humanity. Yet WE BLUSH TO ANNOUNCE TO YOU AND TO THE WORLD, THAT, THIS WARNING HAS BEEN OFTEN DISREGARDED, EVEN BY THOSE WHO HOLD TO OUR COMMUNION. CASES HAVE OCCURRED, IN OUR OWN DENOMINATION, WHERE PROFESSORS OF THE RELIGION OF MERCY HAVE TORN THE MOTHER FROM HER CHILDREN, AND SENT HER INTO A MERCILESS AND RETURNLESS EXILE. YET ACTS OF DISCIPLINE HAVE RARELY FOLLOWED SUCH CONDUCT."

Follow me now into the GENERAL a.s.sEMBLY of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, convened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in May, 1835, and let the individual who addresses you be forgotten, while you listen to the things uttered in the midst of that solemn convocation.

At the time when the pa.s.sages I am about to read, were spoken, there were sitting in that a.s.sembly, men from all parts of the country. The Southern Churches fully represented by row upon row of ministers and elders from every region of the slaveholding States. In that a.s.sembly, one year from this time, did the Rev. J. H. d.i.c.key, of the Chilicothe Presbytery, Ohio, (a clergyman who had pa.s.sed thirty years of his life in a slave State.) and Mr. Stewart, a ruling elder from the Presbytery of Schuyler, Illinois, make the following statements, which have remained, I believe, uncontradicted to this hour:

"He (Mr. d.i.c.key,) believed there were many, and great evils in the Presbyterian Church; but the doctrine of slaveholding, he was fully persuaded, was the worst heresy now found in the Church."

"MR. STEWART--I hope this a.s.sembly are prepared to come out fully, and declare their sentiments, that slaveholding is a most flagrant and heinous SIN. Let us not pa.s.s it by in this indirect way, while so many thousands and thousands of our fellow-creatures are writhing under the lash, often inflicted too by MINISTERS AND ELDERS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH."