"The Rev. James Smylie, A.M., of the Amite Presbytery,
Mississippi, in a pamphlet, published by him a short time ago,
_in favor_ of American slavery, says:--'If slavery be a sin, and
advertising and apprehending slaves, with a view to restore them
to their masters, is a direct violation of the Divine law; and
if _the buying, selling, or holding a slave, for the sake of
gain_, is a heinous sin and scandal; then, verily,
_three-fourths of all the Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists_,
and _Presbyterians_, in _eleven States of the Union_, are of the
devil. They 'hold,' if they do not buy and sell slaves, and,
_with few exceptions_, they hesitate not to 'apprehend and
restore' runaway slaves, when in their power.'"
Yet, in the face of evidence so overwhelming as this, showing how the
whole moral atmosphere of the Northern States is tainted with
pro-slavery corruption, the abolitionists are frequently taunted with
the question, what has the North to do with slavery? It is, however, a
part of their vocation to bear contempt and reproach. They know they are
at the right end of the lever, though at some apparent distance from the
object to be moved. _Their mission is to correct public opinion in the
free States_. Let us suppose, for a moment, this object attained--the
whole slave-holding portion of the churches cut off, as a diseased and
corrupt excrescence; the national literature purified, and the entire
community pervaded by sound Christian feeling--a feeling which should
abhor all participation, in word or deed, with the guilt of slavery; and
how could the South maintain, for a single day, the perpetual warfare,
which would be thus waged against her from without, and seconded by
alarmed consciences in her own citadel?
The rise of the present abolition movement dates from the year 1832,
when a few persons met at Philadelphia, and adopted and signed a
declaration of their sentiments. He, however, who would trace
anti-slavery sentiments to their source, must go back to the first era
of Christianity, and to the authoritative promulgation of the Divine law
of love by the lips of the Savior of mankind himself. In the darkest
times, since that period, the true doctrine of the unlawfulness of
slavery has never been wholly lost, being in fact a part of the
imperishable substance of vital Christianity.
From 1832 until the division referred to in an early portion of this
work, the anti-slavery societies multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.
The following account of the present state of the cause is furnished by
my friend, John G. Whittier.
"He who, at the present time, judges of the progress of the
anti-slavery cause in the United States, by statistics of the
formation of new societies, or the activity and efficiency of
the old, will obtain no adequate idea of the truth. The
unfortunate divisions among the American abolitionists, and, the
difficulty of uniting, for any continuous effort, those who
differ widely as to the proper means to be used, and measures to
be pursued, have, in a great measure, changed the direction and
manifestation of anti-slavery feeling and action. Thus, while
public opinion, in all the free States, is manifestly
approximating to abolition, and new converts to its principles
are daily avowing themselves, it is exceedingly rare to hear of
the formation of a new anti-slavery society, and there are few
accessions to those which are already in existence. Yet the
fresh recipients of the truths of anti-slavery doctrine find
abundant work for their hands to do, even without the pale of
organized societies, in purifying the churches with which they
are connected, and in counteracting the pro-slavery politics of
the country.
"The two great political parties in the United States, radically
disagreeing in almost all other points, are of one heart and
mind, in opposing emancipation; not, I suppose, from any real
affinity to, or love for the 'peculiar institution,' but for the
purpose of securing the votes of the slave-holders, who, more
consistent than the Northern abolitionists, refuse to support
any man for office, who is not willing to do homage to slavery.
The competition between these two parties for Southern favor is
one of the most painful and disgusting spectacles which presents
itself to the view of a stranger in the United States. To every
well wisher of America it must be a matter of interest and
satisfaction to know, that there is a growing determination in
the free States to meet the combination of slave-holders in
behalf of slavery, by one of freemen in behalf of liberty; and
thus compel the party politicians, on the ground of expediency,
if not of principle, to break from the thraldom of the slave
power, and array themselves on the side of freedom.
"It is an undoubted fact, that, at the present time, the various
denominations of professing Christians in the United States are
more deeply agitated by this question than at any former period.
The publication of such books as Weld's 'Slavery as it is,' has
unveiled the monstrous features of slavery to the Christian
public in the Northern States. The blasphemous attempts of
Southern professors and ministers, to defend their abominable
practices upon Christian grounds, have powerfully re-acted
against them at the North; and church after church, especially
in New England, is taking the high stand of the late General
Convention in London, in withholding its fellowship from
slave-holders, and closing its pulpit against their preachers.
"Recent movements in the slave States themselves encourage the
friends of freedom. In Kentucky, at the late election for state
officers, one of the candidates, Cassius M. Clay, nephew of
Henry Clay, avowed his opposition to pro-slavery principles in
the strongest terms, and staked his election upon this avowal.
He was warmly supported, and his opponent only succeeded by a
small majority. Tennessee, in her mountain region, has many
decided, uncompromising abolitionists, whose encouraging letters
and statements have been published within the last year, in the
Northern anti-slavery papers. The excellent work of Joseph John
Gurney, on the West Indies, and Dr. Channing's late pamphlet,
entitled "Emancipation," have been very widely circulated in
many of the slave States; and, so far as can be ascertained,
have been read with interest by the planters. The movements of
English and French abolitionists have attracted general
attention, and, in the Southern States, have awakened no small
degree of solicitude.
"That baleful American peculiarity, prejudice against color, is
evidently diminishing, under the influence of anti-slavery
principles and practice; and the laws which have oppressed the
free colored citizen are rapidly yielding to the persevering
action of the abolitionists. Dr. Channing has not over-stated
the fact, that the provision in the Federal Constitution,
relative to the reclaiming of fugitive slaves, has been silently
but effectually repealed by the force of public opinion, and the
interposition of jury trial, in many of the free States. In
Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and New York, with the exception
of its slavery-ridden commercial emporium, the recovery of a
slave by legalized kidnappers is entirely out of the question.
In any one of these States, it would, to use the language of a
New York mechanic, be exceedingly difficult to prove, to the
satisfaction of a jury of honest freemen, that a man had been
born 'contrary to the Declaration of Independence.' The
frontiers of slavery are every where very much exposed, and all
along the line of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Virginia, and
Missouri, the tide of self-emancipated men and women is pouring
in upon the free States. I cannot give a better idea of the
extent of this peculiar emigration, than by copying extracts
from the _Centreville Times_, a paper published in Maryland:--
"'_Free Negroes and Slaves_.--When it is too late, the
people of Maryland will begin to look for the means of
protection in their slave property. We still say slave
property; although, notwithstanding slaves are
recognized as property by the constitution, without
which recognition this confederation never would have
been formed: yet such has been the effect of fanaticism
and emancipation, of the intermeddling machinations of
abolitionists, and the mischievous agency of free
negroes--that _the very owners of this species of
property seem to begin to doubt whether slaves are
property or not_; and so much has its value become
impaired, in the possession of those who reside
contiguous to the non-slaveholding States, that the
question has been raised, whether they are, in fact,
worth keeping. Either discipline must be so much
relaxed, as that the labor of the slave will scarcely
pay for his support; or, if forced to labor no more than
is even necessary to health and contentment, they
abscond, and passing over the lines into a
non-slaveholding State, are there concealed and
protected. The number and the success of elopements
leave no doubt of the establishment of a regular chain
of posts, accessary to, and of systematic plans,
deliberately organized, for their seduction and
concealment. In these escapes, the free negroes are, for
the most part, undoubtedly instrumental, as they are to
most of the robberies committed by slaves. While at
Easton, two weeks since, the slaves of two gentlemen
made their escape, being each, if not recovered, a loss
of one thousand dollars; and the firm persuasion was,
that, in both cases, the runaways were furnished with
passes by a free negro barber. Even if apprehended,
these gentlemen will have been put to an expense of not
less than three hundred dollars, and this without the
slightest pretext of ill usage or unkindness.
"'The usual process is, when the owner is supposed to
have despaired of his recovery, for some abolition or
free negro lawyer to open a correspondence with the
owner, representing the runaway to be in Canada, or
otherwise beyond apprehension--coolly adding, with a
highwayman's impudence, "take that or nothing;" and the
owner has to put up with a total loss, or compromise for
a third of the value of his property--the result in
either case, proving an incentive to others to be off in
like manner"'
* * * * *
"'There is not an interest that is not impaired, by the
proximity of the free States, and the protection there
afforded to slaves, and by the presence and
intercommunion of the free with the slave negro. Even
the value of land is diminished by it. Maryland suffers
the disadvantages, without the advantages of a slave
State. The disadvantage consists in the reputation, (the
odium, north of the Delaware,) of being a slave State.
_The capitalists of the North refuse, on that account,
to invest in Maryland lands, though they could buy land
in Maryland for twenty dollars an acre, which is
intrinsically worth more than theirs, which they could
sell for an hundred._ Our condition is, in fact, that of
neither the one or the other; and, unless something can
be done to counteract the progress of fanaticism on this
subject, and that abuse of strength and heedless
injustice which always follows irresponsible power,
_slavery in Maryland must cease, either by sale, while
that right remains to the slave-holder, or ere long, by
forced emancipation_.
"'Virginia--once proud and independent Virginia, already
half captive to the North--will soon take her place as
the frontier slave State;--Maryland, with her Southern
principles, eaten out by Northern men, will then assume
to her the relation that Pennsylvania now bears to
Maryland;--nay, it is but too obvious that, as things
are now working, in process of time, and that not
slowly, _slavery must cease to exist in all the
provision-growing States_,--its northernmost line will
be the line of the sugar, the rice, and the cotton
culture,--the climate alone affording to the
slave-holder that shelter which justice could not offer
from the rapacity of his pursuers. Will the Southern
still accept the shadow without the substance of equal
and confederate powers? Be his relation, then, what it
may--independent, confederate, or colonial--for one, we
say, let it be defined. To the misery of the slave, let
him not add the meanness of the dupe. Let him remember,
that time and corruption have often achieved what would
have defied the power of the sword;--in a word, let the
slave-holder think, while yet, if yet, he has power to
act.'"
I have now concluded an imperfect attempt to delineate the present state
of the anti-slavery cause, on the North American continent, with
incidental notices of the past history of the efforts of its friends. In
regard to the future, my hopes are built on the continuance of these
efforts, and on the concurrent aid afforded by the march of events, both
in the United States and in the world at large, under the manifestly
over-ruling power of that gracious Being, who sometimes employs human
instrumentality to accomplish His purposes of mercy; but who works also
Himself, by His immutable laws, and by the dispensations of His
providence.