Amidst the infinite variety of moral and political subjects, proper for
public commendation, it is truly surprising, that one of the most
important and affecting should be so generally neglected. An encroachment
on the smallest civil or political privilege, shall fan the enthusiastic
flames of liberty, till it shall extend over vast and distant regions, and
violently agitate a whole continent. But the cause of humanity shall be
basely violated, justice shall be wounded to the heart, and national honor
deeply and lastingly polluted, and not a breath or murmur shall arise to
disturb the prevailing quiescence or to rouse the feelings of indignation
against such general, extensive, and complicated iniquity.--To what cause
are we to impute this frigid silence--this torpid indifference--this cold
inanimated conduct of the otherwise warm and generous Americans? Why do
they remain inactive, amidst the groans of injured humanity, the shrill
and distressing complaints of expiring justice and the keen remorse of
polluted integrity?--Why do they not rise up to assert the cause of God
and the world, to drive the fiend injustice into remote and distant
regions, and to exterminate oppression from the face of the fair fields of
America?
When the united colonies revolted from Great Britain, they did it upon
this principle, "that all men are by nature and of right ought to be
free."--After a long, successful, and glorious struggle for liberty,
during which they manifested the firmest attachment to the rights of
mankind, can they so soon forget the principles that then governed their
determinations? Can Americans, after the noble contempt they expressed for
tyrants, meanly descend to take up the scourge? Blush, ye revolted
colonies, for having apostatized from your own principles.
Slavery, in whatever point of light it is considered, is repugnant to the
feelings of nature, and inconsistent with the original rights of man. It
ought therefore to be stigmatized for being unnatural; and detested for
being unjust. Tis an outrage to providence and an affront offered to divine
Majesty, who has given to man his own peculiar image.--That the Americans
after considering the subject in this light--after making the most manly
of all possible exertions in defence of liberty--after publishing to the
world the principle upon which they contended, viz.: "that all men are by
nature and of right ought to be free," should still retain in subjection
a numerous tribe of the human race merely for their own private use and
emolument, is, of all things the strongest inconsistency, the deepest
reflexion on our conduct, and the most abandoned apostasy that ever took
place, since the almighty fiat spoke into existence this habitable world.
So flagitous a violation can never escape the notice of a just Creator
whose vengeance may be now on the wing, to disseminate and hurl the arrows
of destruction.
In what light can the people of Europe consider America after the strange
inconsistency of her conduct? Will they not consider her as an abandoned
and deceitful country? In the hour of calamity she petitioned heaven to be
propitious to her cause. Her prayers were heard. Heaven pitied her
distress, smiled on her virtuous exertions, and vanquished all her
afflictions. The ungrateful creature forgets this timely assistance--no
longer remembers her own sorrows--but basely commences oppression in her
turn.--Beware America! pause--and consider the difference between the mild
effulgence of approving providence and the angry countenance of incensed
divinity!
The importation of slaves into America ought to be a subject of the deepest
regret, to every benevolent and thinking mind.--And one of the greatest
defects in the federal system, is the liberty it allows on this head.
Venerable in every thing else, it is injudicious here; and it is to be much
deplored, that a system of so much political perfection, should be stained
with any thing that does an outrage to human nature. As a door, however, is
open to amendment, for the sake of distressed humanity, of injured national
reputation, and the glory of doing so benevolent a thing, I hope some wise
and virtuous patriot will advocate the measure, and introduce an alteration
in that pernicious part of the government.--So far from encouraging the
importation of slaves, and countenancing that vile traffic in human flesh;
the members of the late continental convention[2] should have seized the
happy opportunity of prohibiting for ever this cruel species of reprobated
villainy.--That they did not do so, will for ever diminish the luster of
their other proceedings, so highly extolled, and so justly distinguished
for their intrinsic value. Let us for a moment contrast the sentiments and
actions of the Europeans on this subject, with those of our own countrymen.
In France the warmest and most animated exertions are making, in order to
introduce the entire abolition of the slave trade; and in England many of
the first characters of the country advocate the same measure, with an
enthusiastic philanthropy. The prime minister himself is at the head of
that society; and nothing can equal the ardour of their endeavours, but the
glorious goodness of the cause.[3]--Will the Americans allow the people of
England to get the start of them in acts of humanity? Forbid it shame!
The practice of stealing, or bartering for human flesh is pregnant with the
most glaring turpitude, and the blackest barbarity of disposition.--For can
any one say, that this is doing as he would be done by? Will such a
practice stand the scrutiny of this great rule of moral government? Who can
without the complicated emotions of anger and impatience, suppose himself
in the predicament of a slave? Who can bear the thoughts of his relatives
being torn from him by a savage enemy; carried to distant regions of the
habitable globe, never more to return; and treated there as the unhappy
Africans are in this country? Who can support the reflexion of his
father--his mother--his sister--or his wife--perhaps his children--being
barbarously snatched away by a foreign invader, without the prospect of
ever beholding them again? Who can reflect upon their being afterwards
publicly exposed to sale--obliged to labor with unwearied assiduity--and
because all things are not possible to be performed, by persons so
unaccustomed to robust exercise, scourged with all the rage and anger of
malignity, until their unhappy carcasses are covered with ghastly wounds
and frightful contusions? Who can reflect on these things when applying the
case to himself, without being chilled with horror, at circumstances so
extremely shocking?--Yet hideous as this concise and imperfect description
is, of the sufferings sustained by many of our slaves, it is nevertheless
true; and so far from being exaggerated, falls infinitely short of a
thousand circumstances of distress, which have been recounted by different
writers on the subject, and which contribute to make their situation in
this life, the most absolutely wretched, and completely miserable, that can
possibly be conceived.--In many places in America, the slaves are treated
with every circumstance of rigorous inhumanity, accumulated hardship, and
enormous cruelty.--Yet when we take them from Africa, we deprive them of a
country which God hath given them for their own; as free as we are, and as
capable of enjoying that blessing. Like pirates we go to commit devastation
on the coast of an innocent country, and among a people who never did us
wrong.
An insatiable, avaricious desire to accumulate riches, cooperating with a
spirit of luxury and injustice, seems to be the leading cause of this
peculiarly degrading and ignominious practice. Being once accustomed to
subsist without labour, we become soft and voluptuous; and rather than
afterwards forego the gratification of our habitual indolence and ease, we
countenance the infamous violation, and sacrifice at the shrine of cruelty,
all the finer feelings of elevated humanity.
Considering things in this view, there surely can be nothing more justly
reprehensible or disgusting than the extravagant finery of many country
people's daughters. It hath not been at all uncommon to observe as much
gauze, lace and other trappings, on one of those country maidens as hath
employed two or three of her father's slaves, for twelve months afterwards,
to raise tobacco to pay for. Tis an ungrateful reflexion that all this
frippery and effected finery, can only he supported by the sweat of another
person's brow, and consequently only by lawful rapine and injustice. If
these young females could devote as much time from their amusements, as
would be necessary for reflexion; or was there any person of humanity at
hand who could inculcate the indecency of this kind of extravagance, I am
persuaded that they have hearts good enough to reject with disdain, the
momentary pleasure of making a figure, in behalf of the rational and
lasting delight of contributing by their forbearance to the happiness of
many thousand individuals.
In Maryland where slaves are treated with as much lenity, as perhaps they
are any where, their situation is to the last degree ineligible. They live
in wretched cots, that scarcely secure them from the inclemency of the
weather; sleep in the ashes or on straw, wear the coarsest clothing, and
subsist on the most ordinary food that the country produces. In all things
they are subject to their master's absolute command, and, of course, have
no will of their own. Thus circumstanced, they are subject to great
brutality, and are often treated with it. In particular instances, they may
be better provided for in this state, but this suffices for a general
description. But in the Carolinas and the island of Jamaica, the cruelties
that have been wantonly exercised on those miserable creatures, are without
a precedent in any other part of the world. If those who have written on
the subject, may be believed, it is not uncommon there, to tie a slave up
and whip him to death.
On all occasions impartiality in the distribution of justice should be
observed. The little state of Rhode Island has been reprobated by other
states, for refusing to enter into measures respecting a new general
government; and so far it is admitted that she is culpable.[4] But if she
is worthy of blame in this respect, she is entitled to the highest
admiration for the philanthropy, justice, and humanity she hath displayed,
respecting the subject I am treating on. She hath passed an act prohibiting
the importation of slaves into that state, and forbidding her citizens to
engage in the iniquitous traffic. So striking a proof of her strong
attachment to the rights of humanity, will rescue her name from oblivion,
and bid her live in the good opinion of distant and unborn generations.
Slavery, unquestionably, should be abolished, particularly in this country;
because it is inconsistent with the declared principles of the American
Revolution. The sooner, therefore, we set about it, the better. Either we
should set our slaves at liberty, immediately, and colonize them in the
western territory;[5] or we should immediately take measures for the
gradual abolition of it, so that it may become a known, and fixed point,
that ultimately, universal liberty, in these united states, shall
triumph.--This is the least we can do in order to evince our sense of the
irreparable outrages we have committed, to wipe off the odium we have
incurred, and to give mankind a confidence again in the justice,
liberality, and honour of our national proceedings.
It would not be difficult to show, were it necessary, that America would
soon become a richer and more happy country, provided the step was adopted.
That corrosive anguish of persevering in anything improper, which now
embitters the enjoyments of life, would vanish as the mist of a foggy morn
doth before the rising sun; and we should find as great a disparity between
our present situation, and that which would succeed to it, as subsists
between a cloudy winter, and a radiant spring.--Besides, our lands would
not be then cut down for the support of a numerous train of useless
inhabitants--useless, I mean, to themselves, and effectually to us, by
encouraging sloth and voluptuousness among our young farmers and planters,
who might otherwise know how to take care of their money, as well as how to
dissipate it.--In all other respects, I conceive them to be as valuable as
we are--as capable of worthy purposes, and to possess the same dignity that
we do, in the estimation of providence; although the value of their work
apart, for which we are dependent on them, we generally consider them as
good for nothing, and accordingly, treat them with greatest neglect.
But be it remembered, that this cause is the cause of heaven; and that the
father of them as well as of us, will not fail, at a future settlement, to
adjust the account between us, with a dreadful attention to justice.
Othello
Baltimore, May 10, 1788.
--_American Museum_, IV, 412-415.