Discussion on American Slavery Part 4

Accept, brethren, our best wishes; and, praying that the Great Disposer of events will direct you to that course, which will tend to your happiness and the benefit of our race throughout the world,

We subscribe ourselves

Yours, most affectionately,

JACOB GROSS, WILLIAM POLK, CHARLES SCOTLAND, ANTHONY WOOD, THOMAS JACKSON.

The report having been read, it was then moved by James M.

Thompson and seconded, that the report be approved and accepted. The yeas and nays were presented as follows:--

Yeas--Jeremiah Stewart, James Martin, Samuel Wheeler, H.

Duncan, Daniel Banks, Joshua Stewart, John Bowen, James Stewart, Henry Dennis, Eden Harding, Robert Whitefield, Nathan Lee, Nathaniel Edmondson, Charles Scotland, Nathaniel Harmon, Bur. Minor, Anthony Howard, James M. Thompson, Anthony Wood, Jacob Gross, Wm. Polk, Thomas Jackson.

Nays--Nicholas Thomson, William Reynolds, William Ca.s.sel.

N. B. Those who voted in the negative, declared that the statements contained in the report were true, both in spirit and letter, but they preferred returning to America--whereupon the meeting adjourned, sine die.

A true copy of the record of the proceedings.

WM. POLK.

If any weight was due to human testimony, it was made probable, at least, if not certain, that the intentions of the promoters of the scheme were that it should be most kind to the black man, in all its direct action, and by its indirect influences, the precursor of the abolition of slavery; and if the society had fallen into a mistake, the colonists themselves had also fallen into the same; as in this address they say the scheme has proved successful. He would, therefore, conclude this second reason, by maintaining that he had sufficiently proved that the scheme had been productive of good, not only to the colored population, but also to the cause of universal freedom.

The reasons he would now offer would be more general. And in bringing forward the third head of argument, he observed, that the uniform method which G.o.d had selected to civilize and enlighten mankind, and to carry through the world a knowledge of the arts and laws, with all the kindred blessings of civilization, was colonization. Amongst the first commands given by G.o.d to man, was to replenish and subdue the earth; and there was a striking fulness of meaning in the expression.

While there seemed to exist in the whole human family an instinctive obedience to this command, G.o.d had so directed its manifestation, that he believed he might safely challenge any one to show him any one nation which had located the permanent seat of its empire in the native land of its inhabitants. Every nation had been a conquered nation; every people has been in turn enlightened from others, and in turn colonists again. This nation, which has reputed itself the most enlightened in the world, and far be it from him to controvert the opinion in their presence, might trace its superior enlightenment in part to the fact of its having been so much oftener conquered than any other, and the consequent greater mixture of nations among the inhabitants. Again, he observed, that G.o.d had kept several races of men distinct, from the time of Noah down to the present day; and in their mutual action upon each other, there was this extraordinary fact, that wherever the descendants of Shem had colonized a country occupied by the descendants of j.a.phet or Ham, they had extirpated those who were before them. When the descendants of j.a.phet conquered the descendants of Shem, they were extirpated before them; when the descendants of Shem conquered those of j.a.phet, the case was the same; and so of the descendants of Ham upon either. But when j.a.phet conquered j.a.phet there was no extirpation, and when Shem conquered Shem there was no extirpation, as also of Ham conquering Ham. Now as to the continent of Africa, if history taught any truth, they must roll back all its tide, or Africa was destined to be still farther colonized. As yet, the pestilence, like the flaming sword before the garden of the Lord, had kept the way hedged up, the white man and yellow man away from the spot,--reserved till the fit hour and people came. If we take the bodings of Providence all is well. But if we rely on the lessons of the past, the only means in our power to prevent the ultimate colonization of Africa by some strange race, and the consequent extirpation of its race of blacks, is to colonize it with blacks. If they let Shem colonize there, the blacks will be extirpated; if they let j.a.phet colonize, the blacks will be extirpated. Africa must be undone, or she must be colonized with blacks; or all history is but one prodigious lie. To Britain seems specially committed, by a good Providence, the destinies of Asia; and we say to her, kindly and faithfully, Enter and occupy, till Messiah come; enter at once, lest we enter before you. To America, in like manner, is Africa committed. To do our Master's work there, we must colonize it by blacks, we must enlighten it by blacks. And when Mr. T.

and his friends come to us with their quackery, scarcely four year's old, and require us to forego for it our clearest convictions, our most cherished plans, and our most enlightened views of truth and duty, we can only say to them, "We are much obliged to you, but pray excuse us, gentlemen; we have considered the matter before." Every benevolent and right thinking person must see that the scheme of colonizing Africa by black men, is necessary to enlighten Africa, and prevent the extirpation of the black men there. He would, in the fourth place, take up the question of christianizing Africa, separate from the other question of mere civilization and preservation. There were only three ways, as had been argued, in which the works of missions could be possibly conducted. In an admirable little treatise on the subject, published in this country, and he regretted he knew not the author, or he would name him in pure honor, these methods were ably defined and ill.u.s.trated. One method was, to send out missionaries, and do the work, as many are now attempting it, in so many lands. Another was, by bringing the people to be converted, to those whom G.o.d chose to make the means of their conversion. And when Britain thinks harshly of America about slavery, let her remember, and melt into kindness at the thought, of what we are doing to convert the tens of thousands of Irish Catholics she sends to us yearly. The third way was by colonization; and this, in past ages, has been the great and glorious plan. By this, Europe became what she is; by this, America was Christianized; and he would again refer them to the little book of which he had spoken--which, not being written by a slave owner, nor even an American, might possibly be true--to convince them, that it was, in all cases, a most efficient means to save the world.

But in this peculiar case, it seemed to be the chief, if not the only means. The climate suited the black man, while hundreds of whites had fallen victims to it. So peculiar does this appear to me, that I have never been able to comprehend how the pious and enlightened free blacks of America could so long, or at all, resist the manifest call of G.o.d, to go and labor for Him in their father land. There she is, "sitting in darkness and drinking blood,"--with a full capacity, and a perfect fitness on their parts, to enlighten, to comfort, and to save her--their mother, doubly requiring their care, that she knows not that she is blind and naked! And yet they linger on a distant sh.o.r.e; and fill the air with empty murmurs, of time and earth, and its poor vanities; and Christian men around them caress and applaud them for their heathen hard-heartedness; and Christian communities, in their strange infatuation, send missions to them, to prevent them from becoming the truest missionaries that the earth could furnis.h.!.+

Shadows that we are, shadows that we pursue! It was, in the fifth place, the only effectual and practical mode of putting an end to the slave trade. There was, indeed, another way--by stopping the demand.

But while they disputed the means of stopping the demand, there was another way--the stopping of the supply. This had long been an object dear to several nations. The government of Britain, the government of America, and the governments of several other states, had sent several cruisers to stop the supply; but would any slaves be taken from Africa, if there was even a single city on the western coast, with ten thousand inhabitants, and three vessels of war at their command? They would put an end to the trade the moment they were able to chastise the pirates, or make reprisals on the nations to which they belonged.

Why is it we never hear of the stealing of an Englishman, a German, or a Turk? Because the thief knows that reprisals would be made, or that he or some of his countrymen would be chastised or stolen in return.

So that all that was required, was to plant a city on the west coast of Africa, and this would give protection to the population of that country. Nothing is plainer, than that any nation which will make reprisals, will have none of the inhabitants stolen. If reprisals were made effective, the slave trade would be immediately stopped. It is the course pursued by Mr. Thompson and his friends, not the course pursued by us, which is likely to continue the slave trade. On one hundred leagues of African coast, it is already to a great degree suppressed; and if we had been aided as the importance of the cause demanded, instead of being resisted with untiring activity, this blessed object might now have been granted to the prayers of Christendom.

Mr. THOMPSON earnestly hoped that every word which Mr. Breckinridge had that night uttered respecting the principles of the Colonization Society, and what had been effected by that inst.i.tution, would be carefully preserved; that on other occasions, and by other persons, on both sides the Atlantic, Mr. Breckinridge's arguments might be canva.s.sed, his facts investigated, and his sentiments made known. I shall offer no apology (continued Mr. T.) for referring to a point discussed last evening, but not fairly disposed of. I am by no means satisfied, nor do I think the enlightened, and least of all the Christian world, will be satisfied with the doctrine which for two evenings has been laid down and maintained by Mr. Breckinridge, that America, as a nation, is not responsible before G.o.d for the sin of slavery. I cannot, sir, receive that doctrine. I cannot lightly pa.s.s it over. Much hinges upon this point, nor will I consent that America shall lay the flattering unction to her soul that she is not her brother's keeper; that any wretches within her precincts may commit soul-murder, and she be innocent, by reason of her wilful, self induced, and self continued impotency. I do not believe the doctrine of "the irresponsibleness of America as a nation" to be politically sound; still less do I believe it to be the doctrine of the Bible.

Sir, I fearlessly charge America, as a nation--as the United States of America--as a voluntary confederacy of free republics--as living under one common const.i.tution, and one common government--with being a nation of slave-holders, and the vilest and most culpable on the face of the earth.

I charge America with having a slave-holding president; with holding seven thousand slaves at the seat of government; with licensing the slave trade for four hundred dollars; with permitting the domestic slave trade to the awful extent of one hundred thousand souls per annum; with allowing prisons, built with the public money, to be made the receptacles of unoffending, home-born Americans, destined for the southern market; with permitting her legislators and the highest functionaries in the state to trample upon every dictate of humanity, and every principle sacred in American independence, by trafficking "in slaves and the souls of men."

I charge America, "as a nation," with permitting within her boundaries a wide spread system, which my opponent has himself described as one of clear robbery, universal concubinage, horrid cruelty, and unilluminated ignorance.

I charge America, before the world and G.o.d, with the awful crime of reducing more than two millions of her own children, born on her own soil, and ent.i.tled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,"

to the state of _beasts_; withholding from them every right, and privilege, and social or political blessing, and leaving them the prey of those who have legislated away the word of life, and the ordinances of religion, lest their victims should at any time see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and should a.s.sume the bearing, and the name, and the honors of humanity.

I charge America, "as a nation," with being wickedly, cruelly, and, in the highest sense, criminally indifferent to the happiness and elevation of the free colored man; with crus.h.i.+ng and persecuting him in every part of the country; with regarding him as belonging to a low, degraded, and irreclaimable _caste_, who ought not to call America his country or his home, but seek in Africa, on the soil of his ancestors, a refuge from persecution in the land which the English, and the Dutch, and the French, and the Irish, have wrested from the _red_ men, and which they now proudly and self complacently, but most falsely style the _white_ man's country.

I charge all this, and much more, upon the _government_ of America, upon the _church_ of America, and upon the _people_ of America.

It is idle, to say the least, to talk of rolling the guilt of the system upon the individual slave-holder, and the individual state.

This cannot fairly be done while the citizens throughout the land are banded, confederated, united. It is the sin of the entire church. The Presbyterians throughout the country are one body; the Baptists are one body; the Episcopalian Methodists are one body; they acknowledge one another; they cordially fellows.h.i.+p one another. They make the sin, if it be a sin, theirs, by owning as brethren in Christ Jesus, and ministers of Him, who was anointed to preach deliverance to the captives, men who shamelessly traffic in rational, blood-redeemed souls; nay, even barter away for accursed gold, their own church members. It is pre-eminently the sin of the church. It is the sin of the people at large. It is said the laws recognize slavery. I reply, the entire nation is answerable for those laws. We hear that the "Const.i.tution can do nothing," that "the Congress can do nothing," to which I reply, Woe, and shame, and guilt, and execration must be, and ought to be, the portion of that people calling themselves Christians and republicans, who can tolerate, through half a century, a Const.i.tution and a Congress that cannot prevent nor cure the buying and selling of sacred humanity; the sundering of every fibre that binds heart to heart, and the dehumanization and butchery of peaceful and patriotic citizens within the territories over which they extend.

In whatever aspect I view this question, the people, and the whole people, appear to be, before G.o.d and man, responsible, politically and morally, for the sin of slave-holding. They are responsible for the Const.i.tution, with any deficiencies and faults it may have, for they have the power, and it is therefore their duty, to amend it. They are responsible for the character and acts of Congress, for they make the senators and representatives that go there. In a word, they are properly and solemnly responsible for that "system" of which we have heard so much, and for "the workings of that system;" and I declare it little better than subterfuge to say, that the people of America, the source of power, the sovereign, the omnipotent people, are not responsible for the existence of slavery and all its kindred abominations, within the territorial limits of the United States.

The charges which he had here made were important, grave and awful. He made them under the full and solemn impression of his accountableness to mankind, and the G.o.d of nations. He believed them to be true; he was prepared to substantiate them. That not one t.i.ttle of them might be lost or misrepresented in Great Britain or America, he had penned them with his own hand, out of his own heart, and he was prepared to support them in England, or in Scotland, or in America itself: for he hoped yet again to visit that country, and there resume his advocacy of the cause of the slave.

He would now come to the colonization question, on which he felt completely at home. In adverting to this question, however, he experienced a difficulty, which he had felt on many former occasions, that of not being able to compress what he had to say within the compa.s.s of one address. He would not only have to reply to what Mr.

Breckinridge had advanced, but he would have to touch on topics which Mr. Breckinridge had overlooked--principles affecting the origin, character, and very existence of that society, which Mr. Breckinridge had taken under his special protection. He (Mr. T.) would show that the improvement of the black man's condition was not the chief object of the Colonization Society; that its operations sprung from that loathing of color which might be denominated the peculiar sin of America. Slavery might be found in many countries, but it was in America alone that there existed an aristocracy founded on the color of the skin. A race of pale-skinned patricians, resting their claims to peculiar rank and privileges upon the hue of the skin, the texture of the hair, the form of the nose, and the size of the calf! But for this abhorrence of color, Mr. B. would not have been contented with the means proposed by the Colonization Society for the amelioration of slavery; he would not have spoken a word of colonization, or of that Golgotha, Liberia.

Acquainted as he (Mr. T.) was with America, he had been able to come to no other conclusion, but that the prejudice of color was that on which the colonization of the free negro was founded. There had been a great deal said of the inferior intellect of the black race, and of a marked deficiency in their moral qualities; but these were not the grounds on which it was sought to expatriate them; the injustice practised towards them rested solely on the prejudice which had been excited against their external personal peculiarities. Every word spoken by Mr. Breckinridge in defence of colonization, went directly to prove this. The whole scheme rested on the dark color of those to be expatriated. Had the sufferers been white in the skin, Mr. B. would have advocated immediate, complete, and everlasting emanc.i.p.ation.

He would now turn to a matter, regarding which he considered Mr.

Breckinridge had treated the abolitionists of America with injustice--with unkindness--with something which he did not like even to name. Mr. B. had charged the abolitionists with having published a law as the law of the state of Maryland, which had never been adopted by the legislature of that state; and when he (Mr. T.) had required of Mr. B. evidence in support of his grave allegations, it was in this case precisely as in the case of Mr. Garrison and Mr. Wright,--the proofs were non est inventus. Now, he would ask, was this fair; was it magnanimous; was it generous; was it Christianlike?

The charge had been distinctly made, and then it had been asked of the parties accused to prove a negative. Mr. Breckinridge was not likely to be long in Glasgow, and it was therefore most easy, and most convenient, to prefer charges which could not, even on the testimony of the parties implicated, be answered until Mr. Breckinridge was far away, and the poison had had full time to work its effect. He (Mr. T.) would, however, give it as his opinion, that his fellow laborers on the other side of the Atlantic, would triumphantly clear themselves of this and every other imputation, and finally emerge from the ordeal, however fierce, pure, untarnished, and unscathed.

Such a charge, however, should not be brought against him (Mr. T.).

The laws of Maryland, he cited, were to be found in the pages of the Colonization Society's accredited organ, the African Repository, an entire set of which was on the platform, open to inspection.

Mr. Breckinridge had taken great pains to make out a case for the Maryland Colonization Society. This was not to be wondered at. That society was a protege of his own. It had been patronized and fostered by him. For it, it appeared, he had almost suffered martyrdom, when, in advocating its cause in Boston, he had been mistaken for an abolitionist,--in that same city of Boston, where a gentlemanly mob of 5000 individuals, fas.h.i.+onably attired, in black, and brown, and blue cloth, had joyfully engaged in a.s.saulting and dispersing a peaceful meeting of forty ladies.

He had not yet done with the Maryland Colonization Society. He was prepared to prove that it was, taken as a whole, a most oppressive and iniquitous scheme. The laws framed to support it prohibited manumission, except on condition of the removal of the freed slaves; thus submitting a choice of evils, both cruel to the last extent,--perpetual bondage, or banishment from the soil of their birth, and the scenes and a.s.sociations of infancy and youth. He could show, that free persons of color, coming into the state, were liable to be seized and sold; and white persons inviting them, and harboring them, liable to the infliction of heavy fines.

These, and similar provisions, all disgraceful and cruel, were the prominent features of the laws which had been framed to carry into effect the benevolent and patriotic designs of the Maryland Colonization Society!

That expulsion from the state was the thing intended, he would show from newspapers published in the state. What said the Baltimore Chronicle, a pro-slavery and colonization paper, at the time when the laws referred to were pa.s.sed? Let his auditory hear with attention.

"The intention of those laws was, and their effect must be, to EXPEL the free people of color from this state. They will find themselves so hemmed in by restrictions, that their situation cannot be otherwise than uncomfortable should they elect to remain in Maryland. These laws will no doubt be met by prohibitory laws in other states, which will greatly increase the embarra.s.sments of the people of color, and leave them no other alternative than to emigrate or remain in a very unenviable condition."

What said the Maryland Temperance Herald of May 3, 1835?

"We are indebted to the committee of publication for the first No. of the Maryland Colonization Journal, a new quarterly periodical, devoted to the cause of colonization in our state. Such a paper has long been necessary; we hope this will be useful.

"Every reflecting man must be convinced, that the time is not far distant when the safety of the country will require the EXPULSION of the blacks from its limits. It is perfect folly to suppose, that a foreign population, whose physical peculiarities must forever render them distinct from the owners of the soil, can be permitted to grow and strengthen among us with impunity. Let hair-brained enthusiasts speculate as they may, no abstract considerations of the natural rights of man, will ever elevate the negro population to an equality with the whites. As long as they remain in the land of their bondage, they will be morally, if not physically enslaved, and, indeed, so long as their distinct nationality is preserved, their enlightenment will be a measure of doubtful policy. Under such circ.u.mstances every philanthropist will wish to see them removed, but gradually, and with as little violence as possible. For effecting this purpose, no scheme is liable to so few objections, as that of African Colonization. It has been said, that this plan has effected but little--true, but no other has done any thing.

We do not expect that the exertions of benevolent individuals will be able to rid us of the millions of blacks who oppress and are oppressed by us. All they can accomplish, is to satisfy the public of the practicability of the scheme--they can make the experiment--they are making it and with success.

The state of Maryland has already adopted this plan, and before long every Southern state will have its colony. The whole African coast will be strewn with cities, and then, should some fearful convulsion render it necessary to the public safety TO BANISH THE MULt.i.tUDE AT ONCE, a house of refuge will have been provided for them in the land of their fathers."

Yet this was the plan of which the American Colonization Society, at its annual meeting in 1833, had spoken in the following terms:--

Resolved, That the Society view, with the highest gratification, the continued efforts of the State of Maryland to accomplish her patriotic and benevolent system in regard to her colored population; and that the last appropriation by that state of two hundred thousand dollars, in aid of African colonization, is hailed by the friends of the system, as a BRIGHT EXAMPLE to other states.

Mr. Breckinridge had lauded the Colonization Society as a scheme of benevolence and patriotism. He (Mr. T.) did not mean to deny that there had been many pious and excellent men found amongst its founders and subsequent supporters, but he was prepared to demonstrate that it had grown out of prejudice, was based upon prejudice, made its appeal to prejudice, and could not exist were the prejudice against the colored man conquered. It had, moreover, made an appeal to the fears and cupidity of the slaveholder, by setting forth, that, in its operations, it would remove from the southern states the most dangerous portion of the free population, and also enhance the value of the slaves left remaining in the country. The doctrines found pervading the publications of the society were of the most absurd and anti-christian character. He would mention three, viz., 1st, that _Africa_, and not _America_, was the true and appropriate home of the colored man; 2dly, that prejudice against color was _invincible_, and the elevation of the colored man, therefore, while in America, beyond the reach of humanity, legislation and religion; and, 3dly, that there should be no emanc.i.p.ation except for the purposes of colonization. How truly monstrous were these doctrines! How calculated to cripple exertion, to r.e.t.a.r.d freedom, and mark the colored man out as a foreigner and alien, to be driven out of the country as soon as the means for his removal were provided. Such had really been the effect of the society's views upon the public mind in America. If the colored man was to be expatriated because his ancestors were Africans, then let General Jackson be sent to Ireland, because his parents were Irish; and Mr. Van Buren be sent to Holland, because his ancestors were Dutch; and let the same rule be applied to all the other white inhabitants of the country. Then would Great Britain, and France, and Germany, and Switzerland recover their children; America be delivered of her conquerors, and the red man come forth from the wilds and the wildernesses of the back country, to enjoy, in undisturbed security, the soil from which his ancestors had been driven. Mr. Breckinridge had said much respecting his (Mr. T.'s) presumption in bringing forward a resolution in Boston, so strongly condemning the measures and principles of the Colonization Society. He (Mr. T.) might be permitted to say, that if he had acted presumptuously, he had also acted boldly and honestly; and that the auditory should know, that the resolution referred to had been debated for one entire evening, and from half past nine till half past one, the next day, with the Rev. R.

R. Gurley, the secretary and agent of the Colonization Society, who, for eight or nine years, had been the editor of the African Repository, and was, perhaps, better qualified than any other man in the United States, to discuss the subject--always, of course, excepting his Rev. opponent, then on the platform. He admitted, the resolution was strongly worded; that it repudiated the society as unrighteous, unnatural, and proscriptive; and declared the efforts then making to give strength and permanency to the inst.i.tution, were a fraud upon the ignorance, and an outrage upon the intelligence and humanity of the community. But this country should know that he had defended his propositions, face to face, with one of the ablest champions of the cause, before two American audiences, in the city of Boston. That the a.s.sembly then before him might judge of the character of the debate, and know its result, he would read a few short extracts, taken from a respectable daily paper, published in Boston, and entirely unconnected with the Abolitionists. The editor himself, B. F. Hallett, Esq., reported the proceedings, and thus remarked:--

"One of the most interesting, masterly, and honorable discussions ever listened to in this community, took place on Friday evening and Sat.u.r.day morning. The hall was as full as it could hold. * * * * * * The whole discussion was a model for courtesy and christian temper in like cases, and did great credit to all parties concerned. We question if a public debate was ever conducted in this city, in a better spirit, and with more ability. There was not a discourteous word pa.s.sed, through the whole, and no occurrence which for an instant marred the entire cordiality with which the dispute was conducted. It was not men but principles that were contending, and we venture to say that no public discussion was ever managed on higher grounds, or was more deeply interesting to an audience. The resolution was put, all present being invited to vote. It was carried in the affirmative with FOUR voices in the negative."

So said the Boston Daily Advocate.

The following extracts from the published addresses of some of the most eminent and gifted supporters of the Colonization Society, would show, that the _compulsory_ removal of the colored population, had from the first been contemplated. If it was replied, "You cannot find compulsion in the Const.i.tution," he (Mr. T.) would rejoin, No; but herein consists the wickedness and hypocrisy of the scheme; that while it puts forth a fair face in its const.i.tution, it does, really and in truth, contain the elements of all oppression. The written const.i.tution of the Society was but the robe of an angel, covering an implacable and devouring demon. He would make another remark, also, before submitting the extracts in his hand. Mr. Breckinridge had strenuously endeavored to lay the guilt of the oppressive laws in the south upon the Abolitionists, declaring that those laws had resulted from the spread of Anti-slavery principles. From the pa.s.sages about to be cited, and, more especially, from the words of Mr. Clay, it would be found, that long prior to the "quackery" of the Abolitionists, there had existed harsh and cruel laws, calling forth the regrets and censures of Slaveholders themselves. Even admitting the truth of what Mr. B. had said, did it follow that the truth should not therefore be published. By no means. The Israelites, in their bondage, murmured against the measures of him whom G.o.d had raised up to deliver them, and complained that their burdens had increased since Pharaoh had been remonstrated with. He would quote, for the benefit of Mr. B. a very laconic remark, by an old commentator, "When the bricks are doubled, Moses is near."