Cotton is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments Part 14

CHAPTER XVII.

Failure of free colored people in attaining an equality with the whites--Their failure also in checking Slavery--Have they not aided in its extension? Yes--Facts in proof of this view--Abolitionists bad Philosophers--Colored men's influence destructive of their hopes--Summary manner in which England acts in their removal--Lord Mansfield's decision--Granville Sharp's labors and their results--Colored immigration into Canada--Information supplied by Major Lachlan--Demoralized condition of the blacks as indicated by the crimes they committed--Elgin a.s.sociation--Public meeting protesting against its organization--Negro meeting at Toronto--Memorial of munic.i.p.al council--Negro riot at St.

Catherines--Col. Prince and the Negroes--Later cases of presentation by Grand Jury--Opinion of the Judge--Darkening prospects of the colored race--Views of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher--Their accuracy--The lesson they teach.

BUT little progress, it will be seen, has been made, by the free colored people, toward an approximation of equality with the whites. Have they succeeded better in aiding in the abolition of slavery? They have not, as is abundantly demonstrated by the triumph of the inst.i.tution. This is an important point for consideration, as the princ.i.p.al object influencing them to remain in the country, was, that they might a.s.sist in the liberation of their brethren from bondage. But their agency in the attempts made to abolish the inst.i.tution having failed, a more important question arises, as to whether the free colored people, by refusing to emigrate, may not have contributed to the advancement of slavery? An affirmative answer must be given to this inquiry. Nor is a protracted discussion necessary to prove the a.s.sertion.

One of the objections urged with the greatest force against colonization, is, its tendency, as is alleged, to increase the value of slaves by diminis.h.i.+ng their numbers. "Jay's Inquiry," 1835, presents this objection at length; and the Report of the "Anti-Slavery Society of Canada," 1853, sums it up in a single proposition thus:

"The first effect of beginning to reduce the number of slaves, by colonization, would be to increase the market value of those left behind, and thereby increase the difficulty of setting them free."

The practical effect of this doctrine, is to discourage all emanc.i.p.ations; to render eternal the bondage of each individual slave, unless all can be liberated; to prevent the benevolence of one master from freeing his slaves, lest his more selfish neighbor should be thereby enriched; and to leave the whole system intact, until its total abolition can be effected. Such philanthropy would leave every individual, of suffering millions, to groan out a miserable existence, because it could not at once effect the deliverance of the whole. This objection to colonization can be founded only in prejudice, or is designed to mislead the ignorant. The advocates of this doctrine do not practice it, or they would not promote the escape of fugitives to Canada.

But abolitionists object not only to the colonization of liberated slaves, as tending to perpetuate slavery; they are equally hostile to the colonization of the free colored people, for the same reason. The "American Reform Tract and Book Society," the organ of the abolitionists, for the publication of anti-slavery works, has issued a Tract on "Colonization," in which this objection is stated as follows:

"The Society perpetuates slavery, by removing the free laborer, and thereby increasing the demand for, and the value of, slave labor."

The projectors and advocates of such views may be good philanthropists, but they are bad philosophers. We have seen that the power of American slavery lies in the demand for its products; and that the whole country, North of the sugar and cotton States, is actively employed in the production of provisions for the support of the planter and his slaves, and in consuming the products of slave labor. This is the constant vocation of the whites. And how is it with the blacks? Are they competing with the slaves, in the cultivation of sugar and cotton, or are they also supporting the system, by consuming its products? The lat.i.tudes in which they reside, and the pursuits in which they are engaged, will answer this question.

The census of 1850, shows but 40,900 free colored persons in the nine sugar and cotton States, including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, while 393,500 are living in the other States. North Carolina is omitted, because it is more of a tobacco and wool-growing, than cotton-producing State.

Of the free colored persons in the first-named States, 19,260 are in the cities and larger towns; while, of the remainder, a considerable number may be in the villages, or in the families of the whites. From these facts it is apparent, that less than 20,000 of the entire free colored population (omitting those of North Carolina,) are in a position to compete with slave labor, while all the remainder, numbering over 412,800, are engaged, either directly or indirectly, in supporting the inst.i.tution. Even the fugitives escaping to Canada, from having been producers necessarily become consumers of slave-grown products; and, worse still, under the Reciprocity Treaty, they must also become growers of provisions for the planters who continue to hold their brothers, sisters, wives and children, in bondage.

These are the practical results of the policy of the abolitionists.

Verily, they, also, have dug their ditches on the wrong side of their breastworks, and afforded the enemy an easy entrance into their fortress. But, "Let them alone; they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."[84]

But we are not yet prepared to estimate the full extent of the influence, for ill, exerted by the free colored people upon public sentiment. The picture of their degraded moral condition, drawn by the abolitionists, is a dark one indeed, and calculated to do but little toward promoting emanc.i.p.ation, or in placing themselves in a position of equality with the whites. According to their testimony, the condition of the slave, under the restraints of Christian masters, must be vastly more favorable to moral progress, than that of the majority of those who have received their freedom. While they have all the animal appet.i.tes and pa.s.sions fully developed, they seem to remain, intellectually, child-like, with neither the courage nor the foresight enabling them to seize upon fields of enterprise that would lead to wealth and fame. Look at the facts upon this point. They were offered a home and government of their own in Africa, with the control of extensive tropical cultivation; but they rejected the boon, and refused to leave the land of their birth, in the vain belief that they could, by remaining here, a.s.sist in wrenching the chains from the slaves of the South. They expected great aid, too, in their work, from the moral effect of West Indian emanc.i.p.ation; but that has failed in the results antic.i.p.ated, and the free colored laborer is about to be superseded there by imported coolie labor from abroad. They expected, also, that the emigrants and fugitives to Canada, rising into respectability under British laws, would do the race much honor, and show the value of emanc.i.p.ation; but even there the hope has not been realized, and it will be no uncommon thing should the Government set its face against them as most unwelcome visitors. A few sc.r.a.ps of history will be of service, in ill.u.s.trating the feeling of the subjects of the British North American colonies, in relation to the inroads made upon them by the free colored people.

In 1833, an English military officer, thus wrote:

"There is a settlement of negroes a few miles from Halifax, Nova Scotia, at Hammond's Plains. Any one would have imagined that the Government would have taken warning from the trouble and expense it incurred by granting protection to those who emigrated from the States during the Revolution; 1200 of whom were removed to Sierra Leone in 1792 by their own request. Again when 600 of the insurgent negroes--the Maroons of Jamaica--were transported to Nova Scotia in 1796, and received every possible encouragement to become good subjects, by being granted a settlement at Preston, and being employed upon the fortifications at Halifax; yet they, too, soon became discontented, and being unwilling to earn a livelihood by labor, were, in 1800, removed to the same colony, after costing the island of Jamaica more than $225,000, and a large additional expense to the Province, _i. e._ Nova Scotia. Notwithstanding which, when the runaway slaves were received on board the fleet, off the Chesapeake, during the late war, permission was granted to them to form a settlement at Hammond's Plains, where the same system of discontent arose--many of the settlers professing that they would prefer their former well-fed life of slavery, in a more congenial climate, and earnestly pet.i.tioning to be removed, were sent to Trinidad in 1821. Some few of those who remained are good servants and farmers, disposing of the produce of their lands in the Halifax market; but the majority are idle, roving, and dirty vagabonds."[85]

Thus it appears, that as late as 1821, the policy of the British colonies of North America, was to remove the fugitive negroes from their territories. The 1200 exported from Halifax, in 1792, were fugitive slaves who had joined the English during the American Revolutionary war, and had been promised lands in Nova Scotia; but the Government having failed to meet its pledge, and the climate proving unfavorable, they sought refuge in Africa. These s.h.i.+pments of the colored people, from the British colonies at the North to those of the Tropics, was in accordance with the plan that England had adopted at home, in reference to the same cla.s.s of persons--that of removing a people who were a public burden, to where they could be self-supporting. This is a matter of some interest, and is deserving of notice in this connection. On the 22d of May, 1772, Lord Mansfield decided the memorable Somerset case, and p.r.o.nounced it unlawful to hold a slave in Great Britain. The close of that decision reads thus:

"Immemorial usage preserves a positive law, after the occasion or accident which gave rise to it, has been forgotten; and tracing the subject to natural principles, the claim of slavery never can be supported. The power claimed was never in use here, or acknowledged by the law. Upon the whole, we can not say the cause returned is sufficient by the law; therefore the man must be discharged."

Previous to this date, many slaves had been introduced into English families, and, on running away, the fugitives had been delivered up to their masters, by order of the Court of King's Bench, under Lord Mansfield; but now the poor African, no longer hunted as a beast of prey, in the streets of London, slept under his roof, miserable as it might be, in perfect security.[86]

To Granville Sharp belonged the honor of this achievement. By the decision, about 400 negroes were thrown upon their own resources. They flocked to Mr. Sharp as their patron; but considering their numbers, and his limited means, it was impossible for him to afford them adequate relief. To those thus emanc.i.p.ated, others, discharged from the army and navy, were afterward added, who, by their improvidence, were reduced to extreme distress. After much reflection, Mr. Sharp determined to colonize them in Africa; but this benevolent scheme could not be executed at once, and the blacks--indigent, unemployed, despised, forlorn, vicious--became such nuisances, as to make it necessary they should be sent somewhere, and no longer suffered to infest the streets of London.[87] Private benevolence could not be sufficiently enlisted in their behalf, and fifteen years pa.s.sed away, when Government, anxious to remove what it regarded as injurious, at last came to the aid of Mr.

Sharp, and supplied the means of their transportation and support. In April, 1787, these colored people, numbering over 400, were put on s.h.i.+pboard for Africa, and in the following month were landed in Sierra Leone.[88]

But to return to Canada. We have at hand a flood of information, to enable us to present a true picture of the colored population of that Province, and to discern the feelings entertained toward them by the white inhabitants. On the 27th April, 1841, the a.s.sistant Secretary to Government, addressed MAJOR ROBERT LACHLAN, Chairman of the Quarter Sessions for the Western District, requesting information relating to the colored immigrants in that quarter. Major Lachlan replied at length to the inquiries made, and kept a record of his Report. This volume he has had the goodness to place in our hands, from which to make such extracts as may be necessary to a true understanding of this question.

The Major entered the public service of the British Government in 1805, and was connected with the army in India for twenty years. Having retired from that service, he settled in Canada in 1835, with the intention of devoting himself to agriculture; but he was again called into public life, as sheriff, magistrate, colonel of militia, Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, and a.s.sociate Judge at the a.s.sizes. In 1857 he removed to Cincinnati, where he now resides. A true Briton, he is an enemy of the system of slavery; but having been a close observer of the workings of society, under various circ.u.mstances, systems of law, degrees of intelligence, and moral conditions, he is opposed to placing two races, so widely diverse as the blacks and whites, upon terms of legal equality; not that he is opposed to the elevation of the colored man, but because he is convinced that, in his present state of ignorance and degradation, the two races cannot dwell together in peace and harmony. This opinion, it will be seen, was the outgrowth of his experience and observation in Canada, and not the result of a prejudice against the African race. The Western District, the field of his official labors, is the main point toward which nearly all the emigration from the States is directed; and the Major had, thus, the best of opportunities for studying this question. Besides the facts of an official nature, in the volume from which we quote, it has a large amount of doc.u.mentary testimony, from other sources, from which liberal extracts have also been made.

_To the Honorable S. B. Harrison, Secretary, etc., etc._ COLCHESTER, 28th _May_, 1841.

"SIR:--I have to apologize for being thus late in acknowledging the receipt of Mr. a.s.sistant Secretary Hopkirk's letter of the 27th ult., requesting me to furnish Government with such information as I might be able to afford, 'respecting the colored people settled in the Western District;'[89] and beg to a.s.sure you that the delay has neither arisen from indifference to the task, nor indisposition to comply with the wishes of Government upon the subject--being one upon which I have long and anxiously bent my most serious reflections,--but owing to bad health, and want of leisure, coupled with the difficulty I have experienced, (without entering into an extended correspondence,) in arriving at any thing like a correct account of the gradual _increase_ of these people, or even a fair estimate of their present numbers. I trust, therefore, that should the particulars furnished by me upon these heads, be found more meager and defective than might be expected, it will either be a.s.signed to these causes, or to others which may be given in the course of the following remarks: and if these remarks, themselves, be found to be drawn up with more of loose unmethodical freedom than official conciseness, I trust that that feature will rather be regarded in their favor than otherwise.

"The exact period at which the colored people began to make their appearance in the Western District, _as settlers_, I have not been able to ascertain to my satisfaction; but it is generally believed to have been about the time of the War with the Americans, in 1812. Before then, however, there had been a few scattered about, who, generally speaking, had, prior to the pa.s.sing of the Emanc.i.p.ation Bill, been slaves to different individuals in the District. From 1813 to 1821, the increase was very trifling; and they were generally content to hire themselves out as domestic or farm servants; but about the latter period the desire of several gentlemen residing near Sandwich and Amherstburgh to place settlers on their lands, induced them, in the absence of better, to resort to the unfortunate, impolitic expedient of leasing out or selling small portions of land to colored people on such inviting conditions as not only speedily allowed many of those who had already settled in the country to undertake 'farming on their own account,' but encouraged many more to escape from their American masters, to try their fortunes in this now far-famed 'land of liberty and promise.' The stream having thus begun to flow, the secret workings of the humane, but not unexceptionable abolitionist societies, existing in the American States, speedily widened and deepened the channel of approach, until a flood of colored immigrants, of the very worst cla.s.ses, has been progressively introduced into the District, which had, last year, reached an aggregate of about 1500 souls, and which threatens to be doubled in the course of a very short time, unless it be within the power of the Government to counteract it;--but which, _if suffered to roll on unchecked_, will sooner or later lead to the most serious, if not most lamentable consequences.

"From my making so strong an observation at the very threshold of my remarks, it will be readily perceived that my opinion of these unfortunate people is unfavorable. I am therefore anxious, before proceeding further, to s.h.i.+eld myself from the imputation of either groundless antipathy or pre-indisposition toward men of color, and to have it thoroughly understood that, as far as I can judge of my own feelings, _they_ are the very reverse, having not only been warmly in favor of the poor enslaved negro, but having for near twenty years of my life been surrounded by free colored people, and retained my favorable leaning toward even the African race, till some time after my arrival in this Province. Unfortunately, however, for this pre-disposition, as well as for the character of this ill-fated race, my attention was shortly after directed by particular circ.u.mstances to the quiet study of their disposition and habits, and ended in a thorough conviction that without a radical change they would ere long, like the snake in the bosom of the husbandman, prove a curse, instead of a benefit to the country which fosters and protects them.

"The first time that I had occasion to express myself thus strongly on the subject, in an official way, was less than two years after my arrival in the District, while holding the office of sheriff,--when, in corresponding with Mr.

Secretary Joseph, during the troubles in January, 1838, I, in a postscript to a letter in which I expressed unwillingness to call in aid from other quarters, while our own population were allowed to remain inactive, was led to add the following remarkable words: 'My vote has been equally decided against employing the colored people, except on a similar emergency;--in fact, though a cordial friend to the emanc.i.p.ation of the poor African, I regard the rapidly increasing population rising round us, as destined to be a bitter curse to the District; and do not think our employing them as our _defenders_ at all likely to r.e.t.a.r.d the progress of such an event;'--an opinion which all my subsequent observation and experience, whether as a private individual, as Sheriff of the District, as a local Magistrate, as Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, or as an anxious friend to pure British immigration, have only the more strongly confirmed."

After these preliminary remarks, the Records of Major Lachlan, proceed to the details of the various points upon which he was required by Government to report. Much of this, though the whole is interesting, must be omitted in our extracts. In speaking of the several towns.h.i.+ps to which the colored immigration was directed, he says of Amherstburgh:

"That place may now be regarded as the Western rendezvous of the colored race,--being the point to which all the idle and worthless, as well as the well disposed, first direct their steps, before dispersing over other parts of the District,--a distinction of which it unfortunately bears too evident marks in the great number of petty crimes committed by or brought home to these people,--to the great trouble of the investigating local magistrates, and the still greater annoyance of the inhabitants generally,--arising from the constant nightly depredations committed on their orchards, barns, granaries, sheep-folds, fowl-yards, and even cellars." . . . . "In Gosfield, I am given to understand their general character is rather above par; . . . . while in the next adjoining towns.h.i.+p of Mersea, so much are they disliked by the inhabitants, that they are, in a manner, proscribed by general consent--a colored man being there scarcely suffered to travel along the highroads unmolested.

"The first thing that forcibly struck me, in these people, was a total absence of that modest and unpresuming demeanor which I had been some how led to expect, and the a.s.sumption, instead, of a 'free and easy' independence of manner as well as language toward all white inhabitants, except their immediate employers, together with an apparent utter indifference to being hired on reasonable average wages, though, as already stated, seemingly without any visible means of a livelihood, and their also, at all times, estimating the value of their labor on a par, if not above that of the white man. And I had scarcely recovered from my surprise, at such conduct, as a private individual, when, as a magistrate, I was still more astonished at the great amount of not only petty offenses, but of crime of the most atrocious dye, perpetrated by so small a body of strangers compared with the great bulk of the white population: and such still continuing to be the unabating case, Session after Session, a.s.size after a.s.size, it at length became so appalling to my feelings, that on being placed in the chair of the Quarter Sessions, I could not refrain from more than once pointing to it in strong language in my charges to the Grand Juries.

In July last year, for instance, I was led, in connection with a particular case of larceny, to observe . . . . 'The case itself will, I trust, involve no difficulty so far as the Grand Jury is concerned; but it affords the magistrates another opportunity of lamenting that there should so speedily be furnished no less than five additional instances of the rapid increase of crime in this (hitherto in that respect highly fortunate) District, arising solely from the recent great influx of colored people into it from the neighboring United States,--and who unfortunately not only furnish the major part of the crime perpetrated in the District, but also thereby a very great portion of its rapidly increasing debt,--from the expense attending their maintenance in jail before trial, as well as after conviction! . . . .

"In spite of these solemn admonitions, a large proportion of the criminals tried at the ensuing September a.s.sizes were colored people; and among them were two aggravated cases of rape and arson; the former wantonly perpetrated on a respectable farmer's wife, in this towns.h.i.+p, to whom the wretch was a perfect stranger; the latter recklessly committed at a merchant's store in the vicinity of Sandwich, for the mere purpose of opening a hole through which to convey away his plunder. And, notwithstanding 'the general jail delivery' that then took place, the greater part of the crimes brought before the following mouth's Quarter Sessions (chiefly larceny and a.s.saults) were furnished by the same people!--a circ.u.mstance of so alarming and distressing a character, that I was again led to comment upon it in my charge to the Grand Jury in the following terms. 'Having disposed of the law relating to these offenses, I arrive at a very painful part of nay observations, in once more calling the particular attention of the Grand Jury, as well as the public at large, to the remarkable and appalling circ.u.mstance that among a population of near 20,000 souls, inhabiting this District, the greater portion of the crime perpetrated therein should be committed by less than 2,000 refugees from a life of _abject slavery_, to a land of _liberty, protection and comfort_,--and from whom, therefore, if there be such generous feelings as thankfulness and grat.i.tude, a far different line of conduct might reasonably be expected. I allude to the alarming increase of crime still perpetrated by the colored settlers, and who, in spite of the late numerous, harrowing, _convicted examples_, unhappily furnish _the whole of the offenses now likely to be brought before you_!'. . . . .

"But, sir, the wide spreading current of crime among this unfortunate race was not to be easily arrested;--and I had long become so persuaded that it must sooner or later force itself upon the notice of the Legislature, that on feeling it my duty to draw the attention of my brother magistrates to the embarra.s.sed state of the District finances, and to the greater portion of its expenses arising from this disreputable source, I was led, in framing the report of a special committee (of which I was chairman) appointed to investigate our pecuniary difficulties, to advert once more to the great undue proportion of our expenses arising from crime committed by so small a number of colored people, compared with the great body of the inhabitants, in the following strong but indisputable language: 'It is with pain and regret that your committee, in conclusion, feel bound to recur to the great additional burthen thrown upon the District, as well as the undeserved stigma cast upon the general character of its population, whether native or immigrant British, by the late great influx of colored people of the worst description from the neighboring States--a great portion of whom appear to have no visible means of gaining a livelihood,--and who, therefore, not only furnish a large proportion of the basest crimes perpetrated in the country, such as murder, rape, arson, burglary, and larceny, besides every other description of minor offense,--untraceable to the _color_ of the perpetrators in a miscellaneous published calendar; but also, besides the constant trouble they entail upon magistrates who happen to reside in their neighborhood, produce a large portion of the debt incurred by the District, from the great number committed to and subsisted in prison, etc.; and they would with all respect for the liberty of the subject, and the sincerest good will toward their African brethren generally,--whom they would wish to regard with every kindly feeling, venture to suggest, for the consideration of Government, whether any legislative check can possibly be placed upon the rapid importation of the most worthless of this unfortunate race, such, as the good among themselves candidly lament, has of late inundated this devoted section of the Province, to the great detriment of the claims of the poor emigrant from the mother country upon our consideration, the great additional and almost uncontrollable increase of crime, and the proportionate demoralization of principle among the inhabitants of the country.' . . . . . .

"Notwithstanding all these strenuous endeavors, added to the most serious and impressive admonitions to various criminals after conviction and sentence, no apparent change for the better occurred; for at the Quarter Sessions of last January, the usual preponderance of negro crime struck me so forcibly as again to draw from me, in my charge to the Grand Jury, the following observations: 'I am extremely sorry to be unable to congratulate you or the country on a light calendar, the matters to be brought before you embracing no less than three cases of larceny, and one of enticing soldiers to desert, besides several arising from that ever prolific source, a.s.saults, etc. I cannot, however, pa.s.s the former by altogether without once more emphatically remarking, that it is as much to the disgrace of the free colored settlers in our District, as it is creditable to the rest of our population, that the greater part of the culprits to be brought before us are still men of color: and I lament this the more, as I was somewhat in hopes that the earnest admonitions that I had more than once felt it my duty to address to that race, would have been attended with some good effect.'. . . . .

"In spite of all these reiterated, anxious endeavors, the amount of crime exhibited in the Calendar of the following Quarter Sessions, in April last, consisted solely (I think) of five cases of larceny, perpetrated by negroes; and at the late a.s.sizes, held on the 20th instant, out of five criminal cases, one of enticing soldiers to desert, and two of theft, were, as usual, committed by men of color!!!

"Having thus completed a painful retrospect of the appalling amount of crime committed by the colored population in the District at large, compared with the general ma.s.s of the white population, I now consider it my duty to advert more particularly to what has been pa.s.sing more immediately under my own observation in the towns.h.i.+p of Colchester."

The record from which we quote, has, under this head, the statement of the towns.h.i.+p collector, as to the moral and social condition of the colored people of the towns.h.i.+p, in which he says, "that, in addition to the black women there were fourteen yellow ones, and fifteen _white_ ones--that they run together like beasts, and that he did not suppose one third of them were married; and further, that they would be a curse to this part of Canada, unless there is something done to put a stop to their settling among the white people.'

In referring to the enlistment of the blacks as soldiers, to the prejudice of the legitimate prospects of the deserving European emigrants, the record says: "With regard to continuing to employ the colored race to discharge--in some instances exclusively, as is now the case at Chatham--the duties of regular soldiers, in such times as these, _in a country peopled by BRITONS_, I regard it as not only impolitic in the extreme, but even _dangerous_ also,--besides throwing a stigma of degradation on the honorable profession of which I was for twenty-four years of my life a devoted member. And I even put it to yourself, sir, what would have been your feelings, if, amid the great political excitement prevalent during the late Kent election,[90] there had been a serious disturbance and some unthinking magistrate had called in '_the aid of the military_' to quell it, and blood had been shed!--for the thing was within possibility, and for some time gave me much uneasiness.

Had such been the case,--what would have been the appalling, and probable, nay, almost _certain_ result,--if I may judge from the well known feelings of the white population generally,--_that that unfortunate company would have been instantly turned upon, by men of all parties, and ma.s.sacred on the spot with their own weapons!_" . . . . .

"Allow me, therefore, at all events briefly to remark, that before any thing can be accomplished connected with the moral and religious improvement of the negro settlers, they must be rescued from the hands of the utterly ignorant and uneducated, yet conceited c.o.xcombs of their own color, who a.s.sume to themselves the grave character and holy office of ministers and preachers of the gospel, and lead their still more ignorant followers into all the extravagancies of 'Love Feasts' and 'Camp Meetings,' without at all comprehending their import, and at the same time utterly neglecting all other essentials!--an object well deserving of the most serious and anxious consideration of an enlightened Government, as far as those who are already settled in the country are concerned; while it would be a most sound and politic measure to take every lawful step to discourage as much as possible, if we can not altogether _prevent_ the further introduction of so objectionable and deleterious a cla.s.s of settlers into a BRITISH _colony_." . . . . "Perhaps one of the wisest measures that could be devised--(since our friends, the American abolitionists, will insist on peopling Canada with run-away negro slaves)--will be to throw every possible obstacle in the way of the sadly deteriorating _amalgamation of color_ already in progress, by Government allotting, at least, a distinct and separate location to all negro settlers, except those who choose to occupy the humble but useful station of farm and domestic servants; and even, if possible, purchasing back at the public expense, on almost any terms, whatever scattered landed property they may have elsewhere acquired in different parts of the Province."

The Report of Major Lachlan is very extensive, and embraces many topics connected with the question of negro immigration into Canada. His response to Government led to further investigation, and to some legislative action in the Canadian Parliament. The latest recorded communications upon the subject, from his pen, are dated November 9th, 1849, and June 4th, 1850, from which it appears that up to that date, there had been no abatement of the hostile feeling of the whites toward the blacks, nor any improvement in the social and moral condition of the blacks themselves.

In 1849, the Elgin a.s.sociation went into operation. Its object was to concentrate the colored people at one point, and thus have them in a more favorable position for intellectual and moral culture. A large body of land was purchased in the Towns.h.i.+p of Raleigh, and offered for sale in small lots to colored settlers. The measure was strongly opposed, and called out expressions of sentiment adverse to it, from the people at large. A public meeting, held in Chatham, August 18, 1849, thus expressed itself:

"The Imperial Parliament of Great Britain has forever banished slavery from the Empire. In common with all good men, we rejoice at the consummation of this immortal act; and we hope, that all other nations may follow the example. Every member of the human family is ent.i.tled to certain rights and privileges, and no where on earth are they better secured, enjoyed, or more highly valued, than in Canada. Nature, however, has divided the same great family into distinct species, for good and wise purposes, and it is no less our interest, than it is our duty, to follow her dictates and obey her laws. Believing this to be a sound and correct principle, as well as a moral and a Christian duty, it is with alarm we witness the fast increasing emigration, and settlement among us of the African race; and with pain and regret, do we view the establishment of an a.s.sociation, the avowed object of which is to encourage the settlement in old, well-established communities, of a race of people which is destined by nature to be distinct and separate from us. It is also with a feeling of deep resentment that we look upon the selection of the Towns.h.i.+p of Raleigh, in this District, as the first portion of our beloved country, which is to be cursed, with a systematic organization for setting the laws of nature at defiance. Do communities in other portions of Canada, feel that the presence of the negro among them is an annoyance? Do they feel that the increase of the colored people among them, and amalgamation its necessary and hideous attendant, is an evil which requires to be checked? With what a feeling of horror, would the people of any of the old settled towns.h.i.+ps of the eastern portion of this Province, look upon a measure which had for its avowed object, the effect of introducing several hundreds of Africans, into the very heart of their neighborhood, their families interspersing themselves among them, upon every vacant lot of land, their children mingling in their schools, and all claiming to be admitted not only to political, but to social privileges? and when we reflect, too, that many of them must from necessity, be the very worst species of that neglected race; the fugitives from justice; how much more revolting must the scheme appear? How then can you adopt such a measure? We beseech our fellow subjects to pause before they embark in such an enterprise, and ask themselves, 'whether they are doing by us as they would wish us to do unto them.' . . . . Surely our natural position is irksome enough without submitting to a measure, which not only holds out a premium for filling up our district with a race of people, upon whom we can not look without a feeling of repulsion, and who, having been brought up in a state of bondage and servility, are totally ignorant both of their social and political duties; but at the same time makes it the common receptable into which all other portions of the Province are to void the devotees of misery and crime. Look at your prisons and your penitentiary, and behold the fearful preponderance of their black over their white inmates in proportion to the population of each. . . . . We have no desire to show hostility toward the colored people, no desire to banish them from the Province. On the contrary, we are willing to a.s.sist in any well-devised scheme for their moral and social advancement. Our only desire is, that they shall be separated from the whites, and that no encouragement shall hereafter be given to the migration of the colored man from the United States, or any where else. The idea that we have brought the curse upon ourselves, through the establishment of slavery by our ancestors, is false. As Canadians, we have yet to learn that we ought to be made a vicarious atonement for European sins.

"Canadians: The hour has arrived when we should arouse from our lethargy; when we should gather ourselves together in our might, and resist the onward progress of an evil which threatens to entail upon future generations a thousand curses. Now is the day. A few short years will put it beyond our power. Thousands and tens of thousands of American negroes, with the aid of the abolition societies in the States, and with the countenance given them by our philanthropic inst.i.tutions, will continue to pour into Canada, if resistance is not offered. Many of you who live at a distance from this frontier, have no conception either of the number or the character of these emigrants, or of their poisonous effect upon the moral and social habits of a community. You listen with active sympathy to every thing narrated of the sufferings of the poor African; your feelings are enlisted, and your purse strings unloosed, and this often by the hypocritical declamation of some self-styled philanthropist. Under such influences many of you, in our large cities and towns, form yourselves into societies, and, without reflection, you supply funds for the support of schemes prejudicial to the best interests of our country. Against such proceedings, and especially against any and every attempt to settle any towns.h.i.+p in this District with negroes, we solemnly protest, and we call upon our countrymen, in all parts of the Province, to a.s.sist in our opposition.

"Fellow Christians: Let us forever maintain the sacred dogma, that all men have equal, natural, and inalienable rights. Let us do every thing in our power, consistent with international polity and justice, to abolish the accursed system of slavery in the neighboring Republic. But let us not, through a mistaken zeal to abate the evil of another land, entail upon ourselves a misery which every enlightened lover of his country must mourn. Let the slaves of the United States be free, but let it be in their own country. Let us not countenance their further introduction among us; in a word, let the people of the United States bear the burthen of their own sins.

"What has already been done, can not now be avoided; but it is not too late to do justice to ourselves, and retrieve the errors of the past.

Let a suitable place be provided by the Government, to which the colored people may be removed, and separated from the whites, and in this scheme we will cordially join. We owe it to them, but how much more do we owe it to ourselves? But we implore you that you will not, either by your counsel, or your pecuniary aid, a.s.sist those who have projected the a.s.sociation for the settlement of a horde of ignorant slaves in the town of Raleigh. It is one of the oldest and most densely settled towns.h.i.+ps, in the very center of our new and promising District of Kent, and we feel that this scheme, if carried into operation, will have the effect of hanging like a dead weight upn our rising prosperity. What is our case to-day, to-morrow may be yours; join us then, in endeavoring to put a stop to what is not only a general evil, but in this case an act of unwarrantable injustice; and when the time may come when you shall be similarly situated to us, we have no doubt that, like us, you will cry out, and your appeal shall not be in vain."

On the 3d of September, 1849, the colored people of Toronto, Canada, held a meeting, in which they responded at length to the foregoing address. The spirit of the meeting can be divined from the following resolutions, which were unanimously pa.s.sed:

"1st. _Resolved_, That we, as a portion of the inhabitants of Canada, conceive it to be our imperative duty to give an expression of sentiment in reference to the proceedings of the late meeting held at Chatham, denying the right of the colored people to settle where they please.

"2d. _Resolved_, That we spurn with contempt and burning indignation, any attempt, on the part of any person, or persons, to thrust us from the general bulk of society, and place us in a separate and distinct cla.s.sification, such as is expressly implied in an address issued from the late meeting above alluded to.

"3d. _Resolved_, That the principle of selfishness, as exemplified in the originators of the resolutions and address, we detest, as we do similar ones emanating from a similar source; and we can clearly see the workings of a corrupt and depraved heart, arranged in hostility to the heaven-born principle of _liberty_, in its broadest and most unrestricted sense."