CONDITION OF FREE COLORED PEOPLE.
Pursuant to a call given in the summer of 1830, by the colored residents
of Philadelphia, for a National Convention of their race, I started in
company with a friend to attend it; having previously engaged seats inside
Mr. Coe's stage-coach as far as Utica, N.Y., to which place we had paid
our fare the same as other passengers.
We rode on to Auburn very pleasantly, but when at that place, we with
others moved to resume our seats; we were met by a stern rebuke for
presuming to seat ourselves on the inside, and were ordered to ride on the
outside of the coach. In vain we expostulated; in vain we reminded the
driver of the agreement, and of our having paid for an inside seat; we
were told to take the outside of the coach or remain behind.
Desiring to attend the convention, we concluded to go on, submitting to
this rank injustice and dishonesty, until our return, when we determined
to sue the proprietor of that line of stages. An opportunity was offered
soon after, when I commenced a suit for damages against Mr. Sherwood, who
was the great stage proprietor of those days. He, however, cleared himself
by declaring that he was in no way responsible for the failures of Mr.
Coe, to whom I must look for remuneration. I never found it convenient to
sue Mr. Coe, and so the matter ended.
We passed through New York City to the place of our destination, where we
found many of our brethren already assembled.
Philadelphia, which I now saw for the first time, I thought the most
beautiful and regularly laid out city I ever beheld. Here had lived the
peaceable, just, and merciful William Penn; and here many of his adherents
still reside. Here, too, was the place where the Rt. Rev. Bishop Allen,
the first colored American bishop in the United States, had labored so
successfully. When the Methodists sought to crush by cruel prejudice the
poor African, he stepped boldly forward in defence of their cause, which
he sustained, with a zeal and talent ever to be revered.
Thousands were brought to a knowledge of the truth, and induced "to seek
first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness," through his
instrumentality. Through the benign influence of this good man, friends
and means were raised for his poor brethren, to build houses of worship,
where they would no more be dragged from their knees when in prayer, and
told to seat themselves by the door. Oh, how much good can one good and
faithful man do, when devoted to the cause of humanity--following in the
footsteps of the blessed Christ; doing unto others as they would be done
by; and remembering those in bonds as bound with them. What though his
skin be black as ebony, if the heart of a brother beats in his bosom? Oh,
that man could judge of character as does our Heavenly Father; then would
he judge righteous judgment, and cease to look haughtily down upon his
afflicted fellow, because "his skin is colored not like his own."
We convened at the specified time, and organized by appointing Rev. R.
Allen, president, A. Steward, vice-president, and J.C. Morrell, secretary.
The convention which continued in session three days, was largely attended
by all classes of people, and many interesting subjects were ably
discussed; but the most prominent object was the elevation of our race.
Resolutions were passed calculated to encourage our brethren to take some
action on the subjects of education and mechanism. Agricultural pursuits
were also recommended;--and here allow me to give my opinion in favor of
the latter, as a means of sustenance and real happiness.
I knew many colored farmers, all of whom are well respected in the
neighborhood of their residence. I wish I could count them by hundreds;
but our people mostly flock to cities where they allow themselves to be
made "hewers of wood and drawers of water;" barbers and waiters,--when, if
they would but retire to the country and purchase a piece of land,
cultivate and improve it, they would be far richer and happier than they
can be in the crowded city. It is a mistaken idea that there is more
prejudice against color in the country. True, it exists everywhere, but I
regard it less potent in the country, where a farmer can live less
dependant on his oppressors. The sun will shine, the rains descend, and
the earth bring forth her increase, just as readily for the colored
agriculturist as for his pale face neighbor. Yes, and our common mother
Earth will, when life is ended, as readily open her bosom to receive your
remains in a last embrace, as that of the haughty scorner of our rights.
In the city, however, there is no escape from the crushing weight of
prejudice, to ramble over fields of your own cultivation; to forget your
sorrows in the refreshing air that waves the loaded branches of an orchard
of your own planting; nor to solace yourself with a gambol over the green
meadow with your little ones. It is all toil, toil, with a burthened heart
until shadows fall across the hearth-stone, and dismal forebodings darken
the fireside, from whence the weary wife retires to refresh herself in
broken slumber for the renewed toil of another day. Will not my friends
think of these and many other advantages in favor of a country life, and
practice accordingly?
After the close of the convention, I returned to my business in Rochester.
Until the discussion, which commenced about this time on the subject of
temperance, I had been engaged, as most other grocers were at that time,
in the sale of spirituous liquors somewhat extensively. My attention had
never before been called especially to the subject, though I had witnessed
some of its direst evils; but now, when I saw the matter in its true
light, I resolved to give it up. I was doing well and making handsome
profits on the sale of alcoholic beverages. I had also experienced a good
deal of trouble with it. My license allowed me to sell any quantity less
than five gallons; but it was a fine of twenty-five dollars if drunk on
the premises,--one half of the sum to go to the complainant. If a vicious
man got out of funds it became both easy and common for him to give some
person a sixpence, half of which was to be spent for whisky, which made
him a witness for the other, who would make immediate complaint, and
collect his share of the fine. Nor could I prevent men who came with
bottles, and purchased whisky, from drinking it where they pleased;
consequently I was often called to answer to such complaints.
One morning a man entered my store and called for liquor, which the clerk
gave him. After drinking it, he went directly to the office of A. House,
Esq., and entered a complaint against the clerk who had served him; then
stepped out for consultation with his counsel. At that moment I arrived at
the office of the magistrate to whom I immediately made complaint against
myself, relating to him also just how the event happened. In a few minutes
the original complainant returned, to whom 'Squire House explained that he
should have arraigned the proprietor of the store, and not the clerk as he
had done. Determined on making a speculation, however, he demanded a
precept for myself. The 'Squire, laughing most heartily, informed him that
he was too late,--that Mr. Steward had the start of him, having just
entered a complaint against himself, by which he saves one half of the
fine. The man walked out, looking rather "cheap," nor did he or others
annoy me afterwards by making complaints of that kind.
But now I saw, as never before, the sin of selling that which would make
beasts of men, and only stopped to inquire what was duty in the matter.
All the arguments in favor of its sale were more forcible then than now.
All classes of persons used and drank the article; and it required more
moral courage, to relinquish the business than it does now. Nevertheless,
it appeared plain to my mind, that duty to God and my fellow-men required
it, and I cheerfully gave it up forever.
I could not conscientiously, nor do I see how any man can, continue to
traffic in this most fruitful source of pauperism and crime. No benefit
whatever arises from its use as a beverage or from its sale. It is a curse
to the drinker, to the seller, and to the community. Those who are
licensed venders take from the government fifty dollars for every one put
into the treasury. The money paid for licenses is a very meager
compensation for the beggary, crime, and bloodshed which rum produces. All
who have any knowledge of the statistics of the State, or of our prison
and police records know, that intemperance has done more to fill the
prisons, work-houses, alms-houses, and asylums of the State than all other
influences combined; and yet men uphold the traffic. Their favors are for
those who love its use and sale, and their anathemas for him, who is
striving to save a nation of drunkards from swift destruction; yea, their
own sires, sons, and brothers from the grave of the inebriate.
When in Rochester a short time since, soliciting subscribers for this
work, I stepped into a distillery and asked a man to subscribe for it. He
hesitated in his decision until he took a tumbler and filling it with
brandy, invited me to drink. I thanked him, saying I never drink brandy.
"Never drink!" he growled, "then I tell you, sir, that you stand a much
better chance of being struck by lightning than of getting a subscriber
here." Oh, very well; most likely had he agreed to take a copy, he would
have been sorely displeased with my views of the liquor traffic, and
perhaps with the compliment I have here paid him.
But in the foregoing remarks I have said but a tithe of what my heart
feels, when I think of the sufferings occasioned by drunkenness.
Even the cup of the burthened slave, writhing in his chains and toiling
under the lash, is not full of bitterness until the demon rum throws in
its dregs and fills it to overflowing.
How often does it occur that a passionate master, heated with wine,--mad
with himself and all about him, pours out his vengeful ire on the head and
back of some helpless slave, and leaves him weltering in his blood! How
often may be heard the agonized wail of the slave mother, deploring the
departure of some innocent child that has been lost in gambling, while the
master was intoxicated!
How often do the shrieks of the poor but virtuous slave girl, ring through
the midnight air, as she, pleading for death rather than life, rushes
screaming away from a brutal master, infuriated and drunk! If it is a
fact, and certainly it is, that the master is thus affected by his costly
wine; what, think you, will be the temper and condition of the coarse and
heartless overseer who drinks his miserable whisky or bad brandy? It is
horrible, beyond description. I have often myself seen a drunken overseer,
after pouring down dram after dram, mount his horse and ride furiously
among the slaves, beating, bruising, mangling with his heavy cowhide every
one he chanced to meet, until the ground presented the appearance of a
battlefield.