Produced by Curtis Weyant, Richard J. Shiffer and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images produced by the Wright
American Fiction Project.)
[Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as
faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other
inconsistencies. Text that has been changed to correct an obvious error by
the publisher is noted at the end of this ebook.]
AUTOGRAPHS
FOR FREEDOM.
EDITED BY
JULIA GRIFFITHS.
"In the long vista of the years to roll,
Let me not see my country's honor fade;
Oh! let me see our land retain its soul!
Her pride in Freedom, and not Freedom's shade."
AUBURN:
ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO.
ROCHESTER:
WANZER, BEARDSLEY & CO.
1854.
ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by
ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District
of New York.
STEREOTYPED BY
THOMAS B. SMITH,
216 William St. N. Y.
[Illustration: J. B. Giddings (Engraved by J. C. Buttre.)]
Preface.
In commending this, the second volume of "_the Autographs for
Freedom_," to the attention of the public, "THE ROCHESTER LADIES'
ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY" would congratulate themselves and the friends of
freedom generally on the progress made, during the past year, by the
cause to which the book is devoted.
We greet thankfully those who have contributed of the wealth of their
genius; the strength of their convictions; the ripeness of their
judgment; their earnestness of purpose; their generous sympathies; to
the completeness and excellence of the work; and we shall hope to meet
many of them, if not all, in other numbers of "_The Autograph_," which
may be called forth ere the chains of the Slave shall be broken, and
this country redeemed from the sin and the curse of Slavery.
On behalf of the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society.
[Illustration: (signature) Julia Griffiths]
_Sec'y._
ROCHESTER, N. Y.
Contents.
Subject Author PAGE
INTRODUCTION (The Colored People's
"Industrial College") _Prof. C. L. Reason_ 11
Massacre at Blount's Fort _Hon. J. R. Giddings_ 14
The Fugitive Slave Act _Hon. Wm. Jay_ 27
The Size of Souls _Antoinette L. Brown_ 41
Vincent Ogé _George B. Vashon_ 44
The Law of Liberty _Rev. Dr. Wm. Marsh_ 61
The Swiftness of Time in God _Theodore Parker_ 63
Visit of a Fugitive Slave to the
Grave of Wilberforce _Wm. Wells Brown_ 70
Narrative of Albert and Mary _Dr. W. H. Brisbane_ 77
Toil and Trust _Hon. Chas. F. Adams_ 128
Friendship for the Slave is
Friendship for the Master _Jacob Abbott_ 134
Christine _Anne P. Adams_ 139
The Intellectual, Moral, and
Spiritual Condition of the
Slave _J. M. Langston_ 147
The Bible _versus_ Slavery _Rev. Dr. Willis_ 151
The Work Goes Bravely on _W. J. Watkins_ 156
Slaveholding not a Misfortune
but a Crime _Rev Win Brock_ 158
The Illegality of Slaveholding _Rev. W. Goodell_ 159
"Ore Perennius" _David Paul Brown_ 160
The Mission of America _John S. C. Abbott_ 161
Disfellowshipping the Slaveholder _Lewis Tappan_ 163
A Leaf from my Scrap Book _Wm. J. Wilson_ 165
Who is my Neighbor _Rev. Thos. Starr King_ 174
Consolation for the Slave _Dr. S. Willard_ 175
The Key _Dr. S. Willard_ 177
The True Mission of Liberty _Dr. W. Elder_ 178
The True Spirit of Reform _Mary Willard_ 180
A Welcome to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, on
her return from Europe _J. C. Holly_ 184
Forward (from the German) _Rev. T. W. Higginson_ 186
What has Canada to do with
Slavery? _Thos. Henning_ 187
A Fragment _Rev. Rufus Ellis_ 190
The Encroachment of the Slave
Power _John Jay, Esq._ 192
The Dishonor of Labor _Horace Greeley_ 194
The Evils of Colonization _Wm. Watkins_ 198
The Basis of the American
Constitution _Hon. Wm. H. Seward_ 201
A Wish _Mrs. C. M. Kirkland_ 207
A Dialogue _C. A. Bloss_ 210
A time of Justice will come _Hon. Gerit Smith_ 225
Hope and Confidence _Prof. G. L. Reason_ 226
A Letter that speaks for itself _Jane G. Swisshelm_ 230
On Freedom _R. W. Emerson_ 235
Mary Smith. An Anti-Slavery
Reminiscence _Hon S. E. Sewell_ 236
Freedom--Liberty _Dr. J. McCune Smith_ 241
An Aspiration _Rev. E. H. Chapin_ 242
The Dying Soliloquy of the
Victim of the Wilkesbarre
Tragedy _Mrs. H. H. Greenough_ 243
Let all be Free _Hon. C. M. Clay_ 248
Extract from a Speech _Frederick Douglass_ 251
Extract from an Unpublished Poem
on Freedom _William D. Snow_ 256
Letter _Rev. H. Ward Beecher_ 273
A Day Spent at Playford Hall _Mrs. Harriet B. Stowe_ 277
Teaching the Slave to Read _Mary Irving_ 304
INTRODUCTION.
The Colored People's "Industrial College."
WHAT SOME OF THE BUILDERS HAVE THOUGHT.
A word oft-times is expressive of an entire policy. Such is the term
_Abolition_. Though formerly used as a synonym of _Anti-Slavery_,
people now clearly understand that the designs of those who have
ranged themselves under the first of these systems of reform are of
deeper significance and wider scope than are the objects contemplated
by the latter, and concern themselves not only with the great primary
question of bodily freedom, but take in also the collateral issues
connected with human enfranchisement, independent of race, complexion,
or sex.
The Abolitionist of to-day is the Iconoclast of the age, and his
mission is to break the idolatrous images set up by a hypocritical
Church, a Sham Democracy, or a corrupt public sentiment, and to
substitute in their stead the simple and beautiful doctrine of a
common brotherhood. He would elevate every creature by abolishing the
hinderances and checks imposed upon him, whether these be legal or
social--and in proportion as such grievances are invidious and severe,
in such measure does he place himself in the front rank of the battle,
to wage his emancipating war.
Therefore it is that the Abolitionist has come to be considered the
especial friend of the negro, since _he_, of all others, has been made
to drink deep from the cup of oppression.
The free-colored man at the north, for his bond-brother as for
himself, has trusted hopefully in the increasing public sentiment,
which, in the multiplication of these friends, has made his future
prospects brighter. And, to-day, while he is making a noble struggle
to vindicate the claims of his entire class, depending mainly for the
accomplishment of that end on his own exertions, he passes in review
the devotion and sacrifices made in his behalf: gratitude is in his
heart, and thanks fell from his lips. But, in one department of
reformatory exertion he feels that he has been neglected. He has seen
his pledged allies throw themselves into the hottest of the battle, to
fight for the Abolition of Capital Punishment--for the Prohibition of
the Liquor Traffic--for the Rights of Women, and similar reforms,--but
he has failed to see a corresponding earnestness, according to the
influence of Abolitionists in the business world, in opening the
avenues of industrial labor to the proscribed youth of the land. This
work, therefore, is evidently left for himself to do. And he has laid
his powers to the task. The record of his conclusions was given at
Rochester, in July, and has become already a part of history.
Though shut out from the workshops of the country, he is determined to
make self-provision, so as to triumph over the spirit of caste that
would keep him degraded. The utility of the Industrial Institution he
would erect, must, he believes, commend itself to Abolitionists. But
not only to them. The verdict of less liberal minds has been given
already in its favor. The usefulness, the self-respect and
self-dependence,--the combination of intelligence and handicraft,--the
accumulation of the materials of wealth, all referable to such an
Institution, present fair claims to the assistance of the entire
American people.
Whenever emancipation shall take place, immediate though it be, the
subjects of it, like many who now make up the so-called free
population, will be in what Geologists call, the "Transition State."
The prejudice now felt against them for bearing on their persons the
brand of slaves, cannot die out immediately. Severe trials will still
be their portion--the curse of a "taunted race" must be expiated by
almost miraculous proofs of advancement; and some of these miracles
must be antecedent to the great day of Jubilee. To fight the battle on
the bare ground of abstract principles, will fail to give us complete
victory. The subterfuges of pro-slavery selfishness must _now_ be
dragged to light, and the last weak argument,--that the negro can
never contribute anything to advance the national character, "nailed
to the counter as base coin." To the conquering of the difficulties
heaped up in the path of his industry, the free-colored man of the
North has pledged himself. Already he sees, springing into growth,
from out his foster _work-school_, intelligent young laborers,
competent to enrich the world with necessary products--industrious
citizens, contributing their proportion to aid on the advancing
civilization of the country;--self-providing artizans vindicating
their people from the never-ceasing charge of a fitness for servile
positions.
Abolitionists ought to consider it a legitimate part of their great
work, to aid in such an enterprise--to abolish not only chattel
servitude, but that other kind of slavery, which, for generation after
generation, dooms an oppressed people to a condition of dependence and
pauperism. Such an Institution would be a shining mark, in even this
enlightened age; and every man and woman, equipped by its discipline
to do good battle in the arena of active life, would be, next to the
emancipated bondman, the most desirable "_Autograph for Freedom_."
[Illustration: (signature) Chas. L. Reason]
Massacre at Blount's Fort.
On the west side of the Appalachicola River, some forty miles below
the line of Georgia, are yet found the ruins of what was once called
"BLOUNT'S FORT." Its ramparts are now covered with a dense growth of
underbrush and small trees. You may yet trace out its bastions,
curtains, and magazine. At this time the country adjacent presents the
appearance of an unbroken wilderness, and the whole scene is one of
gloomy solitude, associated as it is with one of the most cruel
massacres which ever disgraced the American arms.
The fort had originally been erected by civilized troops, and, when
abandoned by its occupants at the close of the war, in 1815, it was
taken possession of by the refugees from Georgia. But little is yet
known of that persecuted people; their history can only be found in
the national archives at Washington. They had been held as slaves in
the State referred to; but during the Revolution they caught the
spirit of liberty, at that time so prevalent throughout our land, and
fled from their oppressors and found an asylum among the aborigines
living in Florida.
During forty years they had effectually eluded, or resisted, all
attempts to re-enslave them. They were true to themselves, to the
instinctive love of liberty, which is planted in every human heart.
Most of them had been born amidst perils, reared in the forest, and
taught from their childhood to hate the oppressors of their race. Most
of those who had been personally held in degrading servitude, whose
backs had been seared by the lash of the savage overseer, had passed
to that spirit-land where the clanking of chains is not heard, where
slavery is not known. Some few of that class yet remained. Their gray
hairs and feeble limbs, however, indicated that they, too, must soon
pass away. Of the three hundred and eleven persons residing in
"Blount's Fort" not more than twenty had been actually held in
servitude. The others were descended from slave parents, who fled from
Georgia, and, according to the laws of slave States, were liable to
suffer the same outrages to which their ancestors had been subjected.
It is a most singular feature in slave-holding morals, that if the
parents be robbed of their liberty, deprived of the rights with which
their Creator has endowed them, the perpetrator of these wrongs
becomes entitled to repeat them upon the children of their former
victims. There were also some few parents and grandchildren, as well
as middle-aged persons, who sought protection within the walls of the
Fort against the vigilant slave-catchers who occasionally were seen
prowling around the fortifications, but who dare not venture within
the power of those whom they sought to enslave.
These fugitives had planted their gardens, and some of them had flocks
roaming in the wilderness; all were enjoying the fruits of their
labor, and congratulating themselves upon being safe from the attacks
of those who enslave mankind. But the spirit of oppression is
inexorable. The slaveholders finding they could not themselves obtain
possession of their intended victims, called on the President of the
United States for assistance to perpetrate the crime of enslaving
their fellow men. That functionary had been reared amid southern
institutions. He entertained no doubt of the right of one man to
enslave another. He did not doubt that if a man held in servitude
should attempt to escape, he would be worthy of death. In short, he
fully sympathised with those who sought his official aid. He
immediately directed the Secretary of War to issue orders to the
Commander of the "Southern Military District of the United States" to
send a detachment of troops to destroy "Blount's Fort," and to "_seize
those who occupied it and return them to their masters_."[1]
General Jackson, at that time Commander of the Southern Military
District, directed Lieut.-Colonel Clinch to perform the barbarous
task. I was at one time personally acquainted with that officer, and
know the impulses of his generous nature, and can readily account for
the failure of his expedition. He marched to the vicinity of the Fort,
made the necessary recognisance, and returned, making report that "the
fortification was not accessible by land."[2]
Orders were then issued to Commodore Patterson, directing him to carry
out the directions of the Secretary of War. He at that time commanded
the American flotilla lying in "Mobile Bay," and instantly issued an
order to Lieut. Loomis to ascend the Appalachicola River with two
gun-boats, "to seize the people in BLOUNT'S FORT, deliver them to
their owners, and destroy the Fort."
On the morning of the 17th Sept., A. D. 1816, a spectator might have
seen several individuals standing upon the walls of that fortress
watching with intense interest the approach of two small vessels that
were slowly ascending the river, under full-spread canvas, by the aid
of a light southern breeze. They were in sight at early dawn, but it
was ten o'clock when they furled their sails and cast anchor opposite
the Fort, and some four or five hundred yards distant from it.
A boat was lowered, and soon a midshipman and twelve men were observed
making for the shore. They were met at the water's edge by some half
dozen of the principal men in the Fort, and their errand demanded.
The young officer told them he was sent to make demand of the Fort,
and that its inmates were to be given up to the "slaveholders, then on
board the gun-boat, who claimed them as fugitive slaves!" The demand
was instantly rejected, and the midshipman and his men returned to the
gun-boats and informed Lieut. Loomis of the answer he had received.
As the colored men entered the Fort they related to their companions
the demand that had been made. Great was the consternation manifested
by the females, and even a portion of the sterner sex appeared to be
distressed at their situation. This was observed by an old patriarch,
who had drunk the bitter cup of servitude, one who bore on his person
the visible marks of the thong, as well as the brand of his master,
upon his shoulder. He saw his friends faultered, and he spoke
cheerfully to them. He assured them that they were safe from the
cannon shot of the enemy--that there were not men enough on board the
vessels to storm their Fort, and finally closed with the emphatic
declaration: "_Give me liberty or give me death!_" This saying was
repeated by many agonized fathers and mothers on that bloody day.
A cannonade was soon commenced upon the Fort, but without much
apparent effect. The shots were harmless; they penetrated the earth
of which the walls were composed, and were there buried, without
further injury. Some two hours were thus spent without injuring any
person in the Fort. They then commenced throwing bombs. The bursting
of these shells had more effect. There was no shelter from these fatal
messages. Mothers gathered their little ones around them and pressed
their babes more closely to their bosoms, as one explosion after
another warned them of their imminent danger. By these explosions some
were occasionally wounded and a few killed, until, at length, the
shrieks of the wounded and groans of the dying were heard in various
parts of the fortress.
Do you ask why these mothers and children were thus butchered in cold
blood? I answer, they were slain for adhering to the doctrine that
"all men are endowed by their Creator with the _inalienable right to
enjoy life and liberty_." Holding to this doctrine of Hancock and of
Jefferson, the power of the nation was arrayed against them, and our
army employed to deprive them of life.
The bombardment was continued some hours with but little effect, so
far as the assailants could discover. They manifested no disposition
to surrender. The day was passing away. Lieut. Loomis called a council
of officers and put to them the question, _what further shall be
done_? An under officer suggested the propriety of firing "hot shot at
the magazine." The proposition was agreed to. The furnaces were
heated, balls were prepared, and the cannonade was resumed. The
occupants of the Fort felt relieved by the change. They could hear the
deep humming sound of the cannon balls, to which they had become
accustomed in the early part of the day, and some made themselves
merry at the supposed folly of their assailants. They knew not that
the shot was heated, and was therefore unconscious of the danger which
threatened them.
The sun was rapidly descending in the west. The tall pines and spruce
threw their shadows over the fortification. The roar of the cannon,
the sighing of the shot, the groans of the wounded, the dark shades of
approaching evening, all conspired to render the scene one of intense
gloom. They longed for the approaching night to close around them in
order that they might bury the dead, and flee to the wilderness for
safety.
Suddenly a startling phenomena presented itself to their astonished
view. The heavy embankment and timbers protecting the magazine
appeared to rise from the earth, and the next _instant_ the dreadful
explosion overwhelmed them, and the next found _two hundred and
seventy_ parents and children in the immediate presence of a holy God,
making their appeal for retributive justice upon the government who
had murdered them, and the freemen of the north who sustained such
unutterable crimes.[3]
Many were crushed by the falling earth and the timbers; many were
entirely buried in the ruins. Some were horribly mangled by the
fragments of timber and the explosion of charged shells that were in
the magazine. Limbs were torn from the bodies to which they had been
attached. Mothers and babes lay beside each other, wrapped in that
sleep which knows no waking.
The sun had set, and the twilight of evening was closing around them,
when some sixty sailors, under the officer second in command, landed,
and, without opposition, entered the Fort. The veteran sailors,
accustomed to blood and carnage, were horror-stricken as they viewed
the scene before them. They were accompanied, however, by some twenty
slaveholders, all anxious for their prey. These paid little attention
to the dead and dying, but anxiously seized upon the living, and,
fastening the fetters upon their limbs, hurried them from the Fort,
and instantly commenced their return towards the frontier of Georgia.
Some fifteen persons in the Fort survived the terrible explosion, and
they now sleep in servile graves, or moan and weep in bondage.
The officer in command of the party, with his men, returned to the
boats as soon as the slaveholders were fairly in possession of their
victims. The sailors appeared gloomy and thoughtful as they returned
to their vessels. The anchors were weighed, the sails unfurled, and
both vessels hurried from the scene of butchery as rapidly as they
were able. After the officers had retired to their cabins, the
rough-featured sailors gathered before the mast, and loud and bitter
were the curses they uttered against slavery and against those
officers of government who had then constrained them to murder women
and helpless children, merely for their love of liberty.
But the dead remained unburied; and the next day the vultures were
feeding upon the carcasses of young men and young women, whose hearts
on the previous morning had beaten high with expectation. Their bones
have been bleaching in the sun for thirty-seven years, and may yet be
seen scattered among the ruins of that ancient fortification.
Twenty-two years elapsed, and a representative in Congress, from one
of the free States, reported a bill giving to the perpetrators of
these murders a gratuity of five thousand dollars from the public
treasury, as a token of the gratitude which the people of this nation
felt for the soldierly and gallant manner in which the crime was
committed toward them. The bill passed both houses of Congress, was
approved by the President, and now stands upon our statute book among
the laws enacted at the 3d Session of the 25th Congress.
The facts are all found scattered among the various public documents
which repose in the alcoves of our National Library. But no historian
has been willing to collect and publish them, in consequence of the
deep disgrace which they reflect upon the American arms, and upon
those who then controlled the government.
[Illustration: (signature) J. R. Giddings]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Vide Executive documents of the 2d Session 13th Congress.
[2] It is believed that this report was suggested by the humanity of
Col. Clinch. He was reputed one of the bravest and most energetic
officers in the service. He possessed an indomitable perseverance, and
could probably have captured the Fort in one hour, had he desired to
do so.
[3] That is the number officially reported by the officer in command,
vide Executive doc. of the 13th Congress.
The Fugitive Slave Act.
Few laws have ever been passed better calculated than this to harden
the heart and benumb the conscience of every man who assists in its
execution. It pours contempt upon the dictates of justice and
humanity. It levels in the dust the barriers erected by the common law
for the protection of personal liberty. Its victims are native born
Americans, uncharged with crime. These men are seized, without notice,
and instantly carried before an officer, by whom they are generally
hurried off into a cruel bondage, for the remainder of their days, and
sometimes without time being allowed for a parting interview with
their families. Such treatment would be cruel toward criminals; but
these men are adjudged to toil, to stripes, to ignorance, to poverty,
to hopeless degradation, on the pretence that they "owe service."
This allegation all know to be utterly false, they having never
promised to serve, and being legally incapable of making any contract.
Every act of Christian kindness to these unhappy people, tending to
secure to them the rights which our declaration of independence
asserts belong _to all_ men, is made by this accursed law a penal
offence, to be punished with fine and imprisonment. Mock judges,
unknown to the constitution, and bribed by the promise of double fees
to re-enslave the fugitive, are commanded to decide, _summarily_, the
most momentous personal issue, with the single exception of life and
death, that could possibly engage the attention of a legal tribunal of
the most august character. Yet this tremendous issue of liberty or
bondage, is to be decided, not only in a hurry, but on such _prima
facie_ evidence as may satisfy the judge, and this judge, too,
_selected_ from a herd of similar creatures, by the claimant himself!!
An _ex parte_ affidavit, made by an absent and interested party, with
the certificate of an absent judge that he believes it to be true, is
to be received as CONCLUSIVE, in the face of any amount of oral and
documentary testimony to the contrary. "Can a man take fire into his
bosom and not be burned?" Can a man aid in executing such a law
without defiling his own conscience? Yet does this profligate statute,
with impious arrogance, command "ALL GOOD CITIZENS" to assist in
enforcing it, when required so to do by an official slave-catcher!
It is a singular fact, in the history of this enactment, that Mr.
Mason, who introduced the bill, and Mr. Webster, who, in advance,
pledged to it his support "to the fullest extent," both confessed, on
the floor of Congress, that in their individual judgments, it was
UNCONSTITUTIONAL,--that is, that the constitution, as they expounded
it, imposed upon the _States_ severally, the obligation to surrender
fugitive slaves, and gave Congress no power to legislate on the
subject. The Supreme Court, however, having otherwise determined,
these gentlemen acquiesced in its decision, without being convinced by
it. It is well known how grossly Mr. Webster, in his subsequent
canvass for the Presidency, insulted all who, like himself, denied the
constitutionality of the law. Another significant fact in the same
history is, that the law was passed by a _minority_ of the House of
Representatives. Of 232 members, only 109 recorded their names in its
favor. Many, deterred either by scruples of conscience or doubts of
the popularity of the measure, declined voting, while party discipline
prevented them from offering to it an open and manly resistance. A
third fact in this history, worthy to be remembered, is, that the
advocates of the law are conscious that its revolting provisions would
not bear discussion, forced its passage under the previous question,
thus preventing any remarks on its enormities--any appeals to the
consciences of the members--against the perpetration of such
detestable wickedness.
Seldom has any public iniquity been committed to which the words of
the Psalmist have been so applicable: "Surely the wrath of man shall
praise THEE; and the remainder of wrath shalt THOU restrain."
It was happily so ordered, that several of the early seizures and
surrenders under this law were conducted with such marked barbarity,
such cruel indecent haste, such wanton disregard of justice and of
humanity, as to shock the moral sense of the community, and to render
the law intensely hateful.
Very soon after the law went into operation, one of the pseudo judges
created by it, surrendered an alleged slave, on evidence which no jury
would have deemed sufficient to establish a title to a dog. In vain
the wretched man declared his freedom--in vain he named six witnesses
whom he swore could prove his freedom--in vain he implored for a delay
of ONE HOUR. He was sent off as a slave, guarded, at the expense of
the United States treasury, to his pretended master in Maryland, who
honestly refused to receive him. The judge had made a mistake (!) and
had sent a free man instead of a slave.
This vile law, although of course receiving the sanction of the
Democrats, it being a bid for the Presidency, was a device of the Whig
party, and could not have been carried but by the co-operation of
Webster, Clay, and Fillmore. As if to enhance the value of the bid,
the Administration affected a desire to baptise it in northern blood,
by making resistance to the law, a crime to be punished with DEATH.
The hustling of an officer, and the consequent escape of an arrested
fugitive, were declared, by the Secretary of State, to be a _levying
of war against the United States_--of course an act of HIGH TREASON,
to be expiated on the gallows; and the rioters at Christiana were
prosecuted for HIGH TREASON, in pursuance of orders forwarded from
Washington. This wretched sycophancy won no favor from the
slaveholders, and the result of the abominable and absurd prosecution
only brought on the authors and advocates of the law fresh obloquy.
When men obtain some rich and splendid prize, by their wrong-doing,
many admire their boldness and dexterity, but foolish, profitless
wickedness ensures only contempt. The northern Whigs, in doing
obeisance to the slave power, sinned against their oft-repeated and
solemn professions and pledges. They sinned in the expectation of
thereby electing a President, and enjoying the patronage he would
dispense. Most bitterly were these men disappointed, first in the
candidate selected, and next in the result of the election. The party
has been beaten to death, and it died unhonored and unwept. Let the
Fugitive Slave Law be its epitaph. Truly the Whig politicians were
"snared in the work of their own hands."
Certain fashionable Divines deemed it expedient to second the efforts
of the politicians in catching slaves, by talking from their pulpits
about Hebrew slavery, and the reverence due to the "powers that be
ordained of God." Yet the injunctions of the fugitive law were so
obviously at variance with the "HIGHER LAW" of justice and mercy which
these gentlemen were required by their Divine Master to inculcate,
that "cotton divinity" fell into disrepute, nor could the plaudits of
politicians and union committees save its clerical professors from
forfeiting the esteem and confidence of multitudes of Christian
people.
But Whig politicians and cotton Divines are not the only friends of
the fugitive law to whom it has made most ungrateful returns. The
Democratic leaders, bidding against the Whigs for the Presidency, were
most vociferous in expressions of the delight they took in the human
chase. Democratic candidates for the Presidency, to the goodly number
of NINE, gave public attestations under their _signs manual_, of their
approbation of a law outraging the principles of Democracy, as well as
of common justice and humanity. Each and all of these men were
rejected, and the slaveholders selected an individual whom they were
well assured would be their obsequious tool, but who had offered no
bribe for their votes.
But did the slaveholders themselves gain more by this law than their
northern auxiliaries? They, indeed, hailed its passage as a mighty
triumph. The nation had given them a law, drafted by themselves,
laying down the rules of the hunt, as best suited their pleasure and
interest. Wealthy and influential gentlemen in our commercial cities,
out of compliment to southern electors, became amateur huntsmen, and
in New York and Boston the chase was pursued with all the zeal and
apparent delight that could have been expected in Guinea or Virginia.
Slave-catching was the test, at once, of patriotism and gentility,
while sympathy for the wretched fugitive was the mark of vulgar
fanaticism. The north was humbled in the dust, by the action of her
own recreant sons. Every "good citizen" found himself, for the first
time in the history of mankind, a slave-catcher by law. Every
official, appointed by a slave-catching judge, was invested with the
authority of a High Sheriff, being empowered to call out the _posse
comitatus_, and compel the neighbors to join in a slave chase. Well,
indeed, might the slaveholders rejoice and make merry;--well, indeed,
in the insolence of triumph, might they command the people of the
north to hold their tongues about "the peculiar institution," under
pain of their sore displeasure.
But amid this slavery jubilee, a woman's heart was swelling and
heaving with indignant sorrow at the outrages offered to God and man
by the fugitive law. Her pent up emotions struggled for utterance,
and at last, as if moved by some mighty inspiration, and in all the
fervor of Christian love, she put forth a book which arrested the
attention of the WORLD. A miracle of authorship, this book attained,
within twelve months, a circulation without a parallel in the history
of printing. In that brief space, about two millions of volumes
proclaimed, in the languages of civilization, the wrongs of the slave
and the atrocities of the AMERICAN FUGITIVE LAW. The gaze of mankind
is now turned upon the slaveholders and their northern auxiliaries,
both clerical and lay. The subjects of European despotisms console
themselves with the grateful conviction, that however harsh may be
their own governments, they make no approach to the baseness or to the
cruelty and tyranny of the "peculiar institution" of the Model
Republic.[4]
One slaveholder, together with the cotton men of the north, fretted
and vexed by their sudden and unenviable notoriety, foolishly
attempted to obviate the impressions made by the book, by denouncing
it as a lying fiction. Nay, one of the most affecting illustrations of
pure and undefiled Christianity that ever proceeded from an uninspired
pen, was gravely declared, by an organ of cotton divinity, to be an
ANTI-CHRISTIAN book.[5] Truly, indeed, the wisdom of man is
foolishness with God. "He disappointeth the devices of the crafty."
Branded with falsehood and impiety, the author was happily put on her
trial before the civilized world. She collected, arranged, and gave to
the press, a mass of unimpeachable documents, consisting of laws,
judicial decisions, trials, confessions of slaveholders,
advertisements from southern papers, and testimonies of eye-witnesses.
The proof was conclusive and overwhelming that the picture she had
drawn of American slavery was unfaithful, only because the coloring
was faint, and wanted the crimson dye of the original. A verdict of
not guilty of exaggeration has been rendered by acclamation.
It has long been the standing refuge of the slaveholders, that
northern men and Europeans, in condemning slavery, were passing
judgment against an institution of which they were ignorant. The
"peculiar institution" was represented as some great _mystery_ which
could not be understood beyond the slave region. Thanks to the
fugitive law, it has led to the construction of a "_key_," which has
unlocked our Republican bastile, thrown open to the sunlight its
hideous dungeons, and exposed the various instruments of torture for
subjecting the soul, as well as the body, to hopeless and unresisting
bondage. The iniquity of our cherished institution is no longer a
MYSTERY. All Christendom is now made familiar with it, and is sending
forth a cry of indignant remonstrance and of taunting scorn. Such is
the suppression of anti-slavery agitation given to the slaveholders by
their northern friends--such the strength imparted by the fugitive
slave law to the system of human bondage. How applicable to the
inventors and supporters of that statute are the words of David, in
regard to some politician of his own day: "Behold he travaileth with
iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He
made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing
shall come down upon his own pate;" and then he adds, "I will praise
the Lord." So also let the Christian bless and magnify HIM, who by his
infinite wisdom brings good out of evil, and in the case of the
fugitive law, HATH CAUSED THE WRATH OF MAN TO PRAISE HIM.
But there is still a _remainder_ of wrath. The law is still on the
Statute Book, and hungry politicians are promising that there it
shall ever remain; and terrible threats come from the south, of the
ruin that shall overwhelm the free States, should the law be repealed
or rendered less abominable than at present. Yet, in spite of northern
promises, and professions of security, and in spite of the great
swelling words of the dealers in human flesh, the _practical_, like
the moral working of the law, has been very far from what its authors
anticipated. The law was passed the 18th September, 1850, and, in two
years and nine months, not fifty slaves have been recovered under
it--not an average of EIGHTEEN slaves a year! Poor compensation this
to the slaveholders for making themselves a bye-word, a proverb, and a
reproach to Christendom--for giving a new and mighty impulse to
abolition, and for deepening the detestation felt by the true friends
of liberty and humanity, for an institution asking and obtaining for
its protection a law so repugnant to the moral sense of mankind. But
while this artful and wicked law, with its army of ten-dollar judges,
and marshals, and constables, and office-seekers, and politicians,
with the President and his cabinet all striving to enforce it, "to the
fullest extent," has restored to their masters not _eighteen slaves_
a year; the escapes from the prison house have probably never been
more numerous, nor the aid and sympathy afforded by Christians more
abundant. Thus has THE REMAINDER OF WRATH BEEN RESTRAINED. In the
marvellous conversion of this odious law into an anti-slavery agency,
let us find a new motive for unceasing and unwearied agitation against
slavery, and a new pledge of ultimate triumph.
[Illustration: (signature) William Jay]
BEDFORD, June 1853.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] A late American traveller, in Germany, invited to an evening party
at the house of a Professor, attempted to compliment the company by
expressing his indignation at the oppression which "the dear old
German fatherland" suffered at the hands of its rulers. The American's
profferred sympathy was coldly received. "We admit," was the reply,
"that there is much wrong here, but we do not admit the right of _your
country_ to rebuke it. There is a system now with you, worse than any
thing which we know of tyranny--your SLAVERY. It is a disgrace and
blot on your free government and on a Christian State. We have nothing
in Russia or Hungary which is so degrading, and we have nothing which
so crushes the mind. And more than this, we hear you have now a LAW,
just passed by your National Assembly, which would disgrace the cruel
code of the Czar. We hear of free men and women, hunted like dogs on
your mountains, and sent back, without trial, to bondage worse than
our serfs have ever known. We have, in Europe, many excuses in ancient
evils and deep-laid prejudices, but you, the young and free people, in
this age, to be passing again, afresh, such measures of unmitigated
wrong!"--_Home life in Germany, by Charles Loving Brace_. Mr. Brace
honestly adds: "_I must say that the blood tingled to my cheek with
shame, as he spoke_."
[5] "We have read the book, and regard it as Anti-Christian, on the
same grounds that the chronicle regards it decidedly anti
ministerial."--New York Observer, September 22, 1852.--_Editorial_.
The Bishop of Rome also regards the book as Anti-Christian, and has
forbidden his subjects to read it. On the other hand, the clergy of
Great Britain differ most widely from the reverend gentlemen of the
"Observer" and the Vatican, in their estimate of the character of the
book. Said Dr. Wardlaw, who on this subject may be regarded as the
representative of the Protestant Divines of Europe: "He who can read
it without the breathings of devotion, must, if he call himself a
Christian, have a Christianity as _unique and questionable_ as his
humanity."
[Illustration: Antoinette L. Brown (Engraved by J. C. Buttre)]
The Size of Souls.
A quaint old writer describes a class of persons who have souls so
very small that "500 of them could dance at once upon the point of a
cambric needle." These wee people are often wrapped up in a lump of
the very coarsest of human clay, ponderous enough to give them the
semblance of full-grown men and women. A grain of mustard seed, buried
in the heart of a mammoth pumpkin, would be no comparison to the
little soul, sheathed in its full grown body. The contrast in size
would be insufficient to convey an adequate impression; and the tiny
soul has little of the mustard seed spiciness.
Yet if this mass of flesh is only wrapped up in a _white skin_, even
though it is not nearly thick enough to conceal the grossness and
coarseness of the veiled material, the poor "feeble folk" within will
fancy that he really belongs to the natural variety of aristocratic
humanity. He has the good taste to refuse condescension sufficient to
allow him to eat at table with a Frederick Douglass, a Samuel R. Ward,
or a Dr. Pennington. Poor light little soul! It can borrow a pair of
flea's legs, and, hopping up to the magnificent lights of public
opinion, sit looking down upon the whole colored race in sovereign
contempt.
Take off the thin veneering of a white skin, substitute in its stead
the real African ebony, and then place him side by side with one of
the above-mentioned men. Measure intellect with intellect--eloquence
with eloquence! Mental and moral infancy stand abashed in the presence
of nature's noblemen!
So, mere complexion is elevated above character. Sensible men and
women are not ashamed of the acknowledgment. The fact has a popular
endorsement. People _sneer_ at _you_ if you are not ready to
comprehend the fitness of the thing. If you cannot weigh mind in a
balance with a moiety of coloring matter, and still let the mind be
found wanting, expect, in America, to lose cast yourself for want of
approved taste.
If sin is capable of being made to look mean, narrow,
contemptible--to exhibit itself in its character of thorough,
unmitigated bitterness--it is when exhibited in the light of our
"peculiar" prejudices. Mind, Godlike, immortal mind, with its burden
of deathless thought, its comprehensive and discriminating reason, its
brilliant wit, its genial humor, its store-house of thrilling
memories--a voice of mingled power and pathos, words burning with the
unconsuming fire of genius, virtues gathering in ripened beauty upon a
brave heart, and moral integrity preeminent over all else--all this
could not make a black man the social equal of a white coxcomb, even
though his brain were as blank as white paper, and his heart as black
as darkness concentrated. May heaven alleviate our undiluted
stupidity!
ANTOINETTE L. BROWN.
Vincent Ogé
[Fragments of a poem hitherto unpublished, upon a revolt of
the free persons of color, in the island of St. Domingo (now
Hayti), in the years 1790-1.]
There is, at times, an evening sky--
The twilight's gift--of sombre hue,
All checkered wild and gorgeously
With streaks of crimson, gold and blue;--
A sky that strikes the soul with awe,
And, though not brilliant as the sheen,
Which in the east at morn we saw,
Is far more glorious, I ween;--
So glorious that, when night hath come
And shrouded it in deepest gloom,
We turn aside with inward pain
And pray to see that sky again.
Such sight is like the struggle made
When freedom bids unbare the blade,
And calls from every mountain glen--
From every hill--from every plain,
Her chosen ones to stand like men,
And cleanse their souls from every stain
Which wretches, steeped in crime and blood,
Have cast upon the form of God.
Though peace like morning's golden hue,
With blooming groves and waving fields,
Is mildly pleasing to the view,
And all the blessings that it yields
Are fondly welcomed by the breast
Which finds delight in passion's rest,
That breast with joy foregoes them all,
While listening to Freedom's call.
Though red the carnage,--though the strife
Be filled with groans of parting life,--
Though battle's dark, ensanguined skies
Give echo but to agonies--
To shrieks of wild despairing,--
We willingly repress a sigh--
Nay, gaze with rapture in our eye,
Whilst "FREEDOM!" is the rally-cry
That calls to deeds of daring.
* * * * *
The waves dash brightly on thy shore,
Fair island of the southern seas!
As bright in joy as when of yore
They gladly hailed the Genoese,--
That daring soul who gave to Spain
A world--last trophy of her reign!
Basking in beauty, thou dost seem
A vision in a poet's dream!
Thou look'st as though thou claim'st not birth
With sea and sky and other earth,
That smile around thee but to show
Thy beauty in a brighter glow,--
That are unto thee as the foil
Artistic hands have featly set
Around Golconda's radiant spoil,
To grace some lofty coronet,--
A foil which serves to make the gem
The glory of that diadem!
* * * * *
If Eden claimed a favored haunt,
Most hallowed of that blessed ground,
Where tempting fiend with guileful taunt
A resting-place would ne'er have found,--
As shadowing it well might seek
The loveliest home in that fair isle,
Which in its radiance seemed to speak
As to the charmed doth Beauty's smile,
That whispers of a thousand things
For which words find no picturings.
Like to the gifted Greek who strove
To paint a crowning work of art,
And form his ideal Queen of Love,
By choosing from each grace a part,
Blending them in one beauteous whole,
To charm the eye, transfix the soul,
And hold it in enraptured fires,
Such as a dream of heaven inspires,--
So seem the glad waves to have sought
From every place its richest treasure,
And borne it to that lovely spot,
To found thereon a home of pleasure;--
A home where balmy airs might float
Through spicy bower and orange grove;
Where bright-winged birds might turn the note
Which tells of pure and constant love;
Where earthquake stay its demon force,
And hurricane its wrathful course;
Where nymph and fairy find a home,
And foot of spoiler never come.
* * * * *
And Ogé stands mid this array
Of matchless beauty, but his brow
Is brightened not by pleasure's play;
He stands unmoved--nay, saddened now,
As doth the lorn and mateless bird
That constant mourns, whilst all unheard,
The breezes freighted with the strains
Of other songsters sweep the plain,--
That ne'er breathes forth a joyous note,
Though odors on the zephyrs float--
The tribute of a thousand bowers,
Rich in their store of fragrant flowers.
Yet Ogé's was a mind that joyed
With nature in her every mood,
Whether in sunshine unalloyed
With darkness, or in tempest rude
And, by the dashing waterfall,
Or by the gently flowing river,
Or listening to the thunder's call,
He'd joy away his life forever.
But ah! life is a changeful thing,
And pleasures swiftly pass away,
And we may turn, with shuddering,
From what we sighed for yesterday.
The guest, at banquet-table spread
With choicest viands, shakes with dread,
Nor heeds the goblet bright and fair,
Nor tastes the dainties rich and rare,
Nor bids his eye with pleasure trace
The wreathed flowers that deck the place,
If he but knows there is a draught
Among the cordials, that, if quaffed,
Will send swift poison through his veins.
So Ogé seems; nor does his eye
With pleasure view the flowery plains,
The bounding sea, the spangled sky,
As, in the short and soft twilight,
The stars peep brightly forth in heaven,
And hasten to the realms of night,
As handmaids of the Even.
* * * * *