Mr. Boardman directed his address especially to ladies, and we should
think not without effect. He said:
“In slavery, marriage is unknown. Men and women live together: but the
tie is not formally sanctioned. There is no minister, no magistrate,
to give religious or civil authority to the relation. It is a system
of concubinage. And this state of things is encouraged, or rather
marriage is discouraged, because it throws an obstacle in the way of
the sale of these _human chattels_. Notwithstanding, the ties of
affection are not less strong on account of the absence of legal or
religious sanction. Indeed, the fellowship of suffering binds still
stronger the hearts of husband and wife. It is the only channel of
affection. The children of the slave are not his own――they are not
subject to his authority, and they may be torn from him without a
moment’s warning. Pent up in every other direction, the affections of
husband and wife naturally centre entirely upon each other. Yet, even
this tie is rudely severed. A slave in the west, who had a wife
belonging to another master, learned, to his great grief, that his
wife had been sold for the southern market. He went to his master, and
requested that he might be sold, so as not to be separated from his
wife. In order to dissuade him from it, his master described the
hardships to which he would be exposed in the south; but he was firm
to his purpose, choosing the severe servitude of the sugar plantations
of the south, in preference to a separation from the wife of his
bosom. His master then offered him money to satisfy him; but no, he
said he could not leave his wife. ‘O,’ says his master, ‘You can get
another!’ ‘Why, massa, don’t you think I am a man!’
“Another case, I will mention, to show the legitimate effects of
slavery upon the relations of life. A colored man, who was a member of
the church, and who had been living with a woman, according to the
customs of the slaves, went to his master, who was an _elder in the_
Presbyterian church, and told him that he did not feel right to be
living so, and requested permission to be lawfully married. And, how
do you suppose this reasonable request was received? Although it was a
request from one Christian brother to another to be permitted to cease
from sin, yet it was received with a laugh, and positively denied.
“It is in behalf of woman, to woman that this appeal is made, It is
woman in bondage that calls for woman’s sympathies, woman’s efforts,
and woman’s prayers. And I feel confident that this appeal will not
meet a cold repulse, because the object of it has a black skin. I
remember, in my boyhood, of seeing a colored man driving a cart, and
by some accident he was precipitated from his seat, and crushed to
death. But when the alarm began to spread, I heard it said, ‘O, its
only a poor negro that is killed.’ But O, thought I, it is a man. And,
boy as I was, I remembered that he had an immortal soul. Ah, think you
woman would have said that? No. Woman has a heart that can be moved
with the sufferings of the poor negro.
“Woman did much for the abolition of slavery in Great Britain and her
dependencies. When the petition was presented to parliament, it
required four men to carry it to the speaker’s desk. It was signed by
182,000 ladies. A noble lord arose, and with much emotion, said, ‘It
is time for us to move in this matter, when we are called upon in this
manner by our wives, and sisters, and mothers!’ And I rejoice that the
ladies of this country are already lifting up their voices on this
subject. Sir, I was much gratified to hear the voice of 1,000 of my
countrywomen raised in the General Assembly, in behalf of suffering
humanity. And, I feel assured that woman’s voice will be heard. But,
if man will not hear, there is an audience where you can appear with
the assurance of being heard. O, then, mothers, sisters, wives, let
your voice be heard at the throne of grace, pleading in behalf of your
enslaved sisters, and of suffering bondmen.
“But, the question is asked and reiterated, ‘What has abolition done?’
What has abolition done! It has done much, sir. It has so modified the
sentiments of many colonizationists that they speak a language in
reference to slavery, which would not have been tolerated in 1830. Its
voice is now heard in Maryland, in Kentucky, in Tennessee, in
Missouri――in some places, indeed, it is feeble――in others it is the
voice of thunder. What has abolition done? On the first day of August,
1834, it broke the manacles of 800,000 slaves. The sun set upon them
in bondage, and rose upon them in freedom.”