Anti-Slavery Opinions before the Year 1800 Part 8

For who is there, unless innured to savage cruelties, that hear of the inhuman punishments daily afflicted upon the unfortunate Blacks, without feeling for their situations?

Can a man who calls himself a Christian, coolly and deliberately tie up, thumb screw, torture with pincers, and beat unmercifully a poor slave, for perhaps a trifling neglect of duty? Or can any one be an eye witness to such enormities, without at the same time being deeply persuaded of its guilt?

I fear these questions may be answered in the affirmative, but I hope by none of this respectable audience; for such men must be monsters, not of the regular order of nature, and equally p.r.o.ne to murder, or to less cruelties.

But independent of these effects, which the existence of slavery in any country has over the moral faculty of man, it is highly injurious to its natural oeconomy; it debars the progress of agriculture, and gives origin to sloth and luxury.

View the fertile fields of Great Britain, where the hand of freedom conducts the plowshare, then look back upon your own, and see how mean will be the comparison.

Your labourers are slaves, and they have no inducement, no incentive to be industrious; they are cloathed and victualled, whether lazy or hard-working; and from the calculations that have been made, one freeman is worth almost two slaves in the field, which makes it in many instances cheaper to have hirelings; for they are incited to industry by the hopes of reputation and future employment, and are careful of their apparel and their instruments of husbandry, where they must provide them for themselves, whereas, the others have little or no temptation to attend to any of these circ.u.mstances.

But this, the prejudiced mind is scarce able to scan, the pride of holding men as property is too flattering to yield to the dictates of reason, and blindly pushes on man to his destruction.

What a pity is it, that darkness should so obscure us, that America with all her transcending glory, should be stigmatized with the infamous reproach of oppression, and her citizens be called Tyrants.

Fellow-countrymen, let the hand of persecution be no longer raised against you.--Act virtuously; do unto all men as you would they should do unto you, and exterminate the pest of slavery from your land.

Then will the tongues of slander be silenced, the shafts of criticism blunted, and America enter upon a new theatre of glory.

But unless these things shall be done, unless the calamitous situation of the slaves shall at least be alleviated, what is America to expect?

Can she think that the repeated insults to Divine Authority will pa.s.s off with impunity? Or can she suppose, that men, who are naturally born free, shall forever sweat under the yoke of ignominious slavery, without making one effort to regain their liberty?

No, my countrymen, these things are not to be expected.--Heaven will not overlook such enormities! She is bound to punish impenitent sinners, and her wrath is to be dreaded by all! Moreover, the number of slaves, that are harboured amongst you holds forth an alarm; in many parts of the continent they exceed the whites, and are capable of ransacking the country.

What then, if the fire of Liberty shall be kindled amongst them? What, if some enthusiast in their cause shall beat to arms, and call them to the standard of freedom? Would they fly in clouds, until their numbers became tremendous, and threaten the country with devastation and ruin?--It would not be the feeble efforts of an undisciplined people, that could quell their fury.

Led on by the hopes of freedom, and animated by the aspiring voice of their leader, they would soon find, that "a day, an hour of virtuous liberty, worth a whole eternity of bondage."

Hark! Methinks I hear the work begun, the Blacks have sought for Allies, and found them in the wilderness; they have called the rusty savages to their a.s.sistance, and are preparing to take revenge of their haughty masters.[38]

A revenge, which they consider as justly merited; for being no longer able to endure their unnatural and unlawful bondage, they are determined to seek Liberty or Death.

Why then is there not some step to be taken to ward off the dreadful catastrophe?

Fellow countrymen, will you stand and see your aged parents, your loving wives, your dutiful children butchered by the merciless hand of the enthusiast, when you have it in your power to prevent it?

In this enlightened period, when the Rights of Man is the topick of political controversy, and slavery is considered not only unnatural but unlawful, why do you not step forward and compleat the glorious work you have begun, and extend the merciful hand to the unfortunate Blacks? Why do you not form some wise plan to liberate them, and abolish slavery in your country?

If it should be deemed injudicious or impolitic to effect it at once, let it be done gradually; let the children for one or two generations be liberated at a certain age, and less than half a century will the plague be totally rooted out from amongst you--then will you begin to see your consequence--thousands of good citizens will be added to your number, and your arms will become invincible: Grat.i.tude will induce _them_ to become your friends; for the PROMISE alone of freedom to a slave ensures his loyalty; witness their conduct in the second Punic war which the Senate of Rome carried on against Hannibal; not a man disgraced himself, but all with an intrepidity peculiar to veterans met their foes, fought and conquered.

Witness also the valour of a few Blacks in South-Carolina, who under the promise of freedom, joined the great and good Colonel JOHN LAURENS; and in a sudden surprised the British, and distinguished themselves as heroes.

I remember it was said, they were foremost in the ranks, and n.o.bly contended for their promised reward.

At this critical juncture, when savage cruelties threatened to invade your peaceful territories, and murder your citizens, what great advantage might be derived from giving freedom to the Africans at once. Would they not all became your Allies; would they not turn out hardy for the wilderness, to drive the blood-thirsty savage to his den, and teach him it were better to live peaceably at home, than to come under the scourge of such newly liberated levies.

Americans arouse--It is time to hear the cause of the wretched sons of Africa, enslaved in your country; they plead not guilty to every charge of crime, and unmeritedly endure the sufferings you impose upon them.

Yet, like haughty Despots, or corrupt judges, you forbid a trial.

Justice however to yourselves and humanity toward your fellow mortals, loudly demand it of you, and you ought not to hesitate in obeying their sacred mandates.

A few years may be sufficient to make you repent of your unrelenting indifference, and give a stab to all your boasted honors; then may you, pitiable citizens, be taught wisdom, when it will be too late; then may you cry out, Abba Father, but mercy will not be found, where mercy was refused.

Let all the social feelings of the soul, let honour, philanthropy, pity, humanity, and justice, unite to effect their emanc.i.p.ation.

For eternal will be the disgrace of keeping them much longer in the iron fetters of slavery, but immortal the honour of accomplis.h.i.+ng their FREEDOM.

_To the_ SOCIETY.

Such were the sentiments, my friends, that first induced you to form yourselves into this Society.

For seeing human nature debased in the most vile manner, and seeing also that your country deeply suffered from the iniquitous custom of holding man in slavery, you have justly concluded "that at this particular crisis, when Europe and America appear to pay some attention to this evil, the united endeavours of a few, might greatly influence the public opinion, and produce from the transient sentiment of the times, effects, extensive, lasting and useful."--But however great have been your exertions; however much they have been guided by the precepts of humanity and religion, your public reward has been censure and criticism; but let not such airy weapons damp your ardour for doing good; your _just reward_ is in Heaven, not on earth.

Yours is the business of mercy and compa.s.sion, not of oppression. You forcibly rescue from the hands of no man his property, but by your examples and precepts you promote the Abolition of Slavery, and give relief to free Negroes, and others unlawfully held in bondage.

You have shown an anxiety to extend a portion of that freedom to others, which G.o.d in his Providence hath extended unto you, and a release from that thraldom to which yourselves and your country were so lately tyrannically doomed, and from which you have been but recently delivered. You have evinced to the world your inclination to remove as much as possible the sorrows of those who have lived in undeserved bondage, and that your hearts are expanded with kindness toward men of all colours, conditions and nations; and if you did not interest yourselves in their behalf, how long might their situations remain hard and distressing.

Numbers might pa.s.sively remain for life in abject slavery from an ignorance of the mode of acquiring their emanc.i.p.ation, notwithstanding they may be justly ent.i.tled to their freedom by birth and by the law.

If the hand of prosecution is now raised against you, for relieving your fellow mortals from the distresses of unlawful slavery, and restoring them to liberty, it is to be hoped it will not be of long duration; the principles of your inst.i.tutions will be daily made more known, and others will begin to think as you do; they will find upon reflection, that they have no just power or authority to hold men in slavery, and seeing that your actions are charitable and disinterested, will cordially inlist under your banners, and aid your benevolent exertions.

Already have you reason to suppose, that your good examples have been influential; you humbly began with a few, and you now see your numbers hourly encreasing.

It may be the effusions of a youthful fancy, solicitous of aggrandizing your merit, but I fear not to say, that the operations of similar inst.i.tutions will date one of the most splendid aeras of American greatness.

Go on then, my friends, pursue the dictates of an unsullied conscience, and cease not until you have finished your work--but let prudence guide you in all your undertakings, and let not an enthusiastic heat predominate over reason. Your cause is a just one, consistent with law and equity, and must finally be advocated by all men of Humanity and Religion.

"_For, 'tis Liberty alone which gives the flower of fleeting life its l.u.s.tre and perfume, And we are weeds without it._"

TASK.

FOOTNOTES:

[36] _A whip with nine tails._

[37] Ma.s.sachusetts.

[38] This was thrown out as a conjecture of what possibly might happen, and the insurrections in St. Domingo tend to prove the danger, to be more considerable than has generally been supposed, and sufficient to alarm the inhabitants of these States.

FINISH.