THE CHURCHES AND SLAVERY.
This leads me to examine a side of the American question upon which,
attention is, naturally fixed at the present time; how is it that the
iniquities of slavery are maintained among this charitable and liberal
people? how is it that such iniquities have subsisted under the
influence of so powerful a Christian sentiment? Can it be true that
Christians have deserted the cause of justice? Has the Gospel had the
place which belongs to it, in the great struggle that is going on
between the North and the South? yes; or no. This is perhaps the point
of all others most important to clear up; first, because it is the one
on which the most errors have accumulated; next, because it is the one
most closely connected with the final solution; for this solution will
not be happy, if the Gospel has no hand in it.
To judge rightly, let us approach and endeavor to comprehend the true
position of those whose conduct we seek to appreciate. See the South,
for example, where the almost universal opinion is favorable to slavery,
where governors write dithyrambics on its benefits, where many
Christians have succeeded in discovering that it is sanctioned by the
Gospel, where men of sincerity are now placing their impious crusades in
behalf of its extension under the protection of God, where numerous
preachers expound in their own way the celebrated text "Cursed be
Canaan!" Do not these sentiments of the South, detestable as they are,
find, to a certain point, their explanation and excuse in the
circumstances in which the South is placed?
The power of surroundings is incalculable. If we ourselves, who condemn
slavery, and are right in so doing, had been reared in Charleston; if we
had led a planter's life from our earliest infancy; if we had nourished
our minds with their ideas; if we considered our monetary interests
menaced by Abolitionism; if the image of more fearful perils, of violent
destructions and massacres, appeared to haunt our thoughts; if the
political antagonism between the North and the South came to add its
venom to the passions already excited within us, is it certain that we
ourselves should no be figuring at the present time among the
desperadoes who are firing upon the ships of the Union, and attempting
the foundation of a Southern Confederacy?
It is well to ask this of ourselves, in order to learn to respect, to
love, and consequently to aid those whose conduct we blame the most
strongly. For my part, whenever I am tempted to set myself up as a judge
or an accuser of the South, I ask myself what I should do if I belonged
to the South, and this brings me back to the true position. I remember,
too, what I saw, with my own eyes, at the time when the discussion on
slavery was carried on in France; the colonial passions, the blindest
and most violent of all, broke out in Martinique and the isle of
Bourbon, as they had broken out before in Jamaica, where the circulars
of Mr. Canning, the proposition, for example, to suppress the
flagellation of women, had excited a veritable explosion. There were
some very honorable men among those who were indignant at this measure;
and, among us, likewise, the planters who determined to combat all
modification of the negro system, were good men. Severity is almost
always a defect of memory; we blame others without pity, only when we
begin by forgetting our own history. We Frenchmen, who had so much
difficulty in emancipating our own slaves, and who would not, perhaps,
have succeeded in it, had it not been for the bold decision of M.
Schoelcher; we, who have sought to take back, in part, through our
colonial regulations, the liberty accorded the blacks; we, who suffered
recruitals by purchase to be made on the African coast; who formerly
organized the expedition charged with re-establishing slavery and the
slave trade at St. Domingo; who suppressed the slave trade at the
Congress of Vienna only in stipulating its continuance for some years;
who carried into our discussions on the right of search, a very meagre
interest for the victims of the slavers; we, whose consciences are
burdened with these misdeeds, are bound to use indulgence towards the
States of the South.
This remark was necessary: it is from the South that the Biblical
theories in favor of slavery proceed; it is on account of the South that
these theories have been adopted by certain Christians of the North,
desirous, above every thing, of avoiding both the dismemberment of the
United States, and that of the churches and religious societies. Take
away the South, and no one in America, any more than in Europe, will
dream of discovering in the Gospel the divine approbation of the
atrocities of slavery.
I comprehend better than most, the sentiment of indignation that is
caused by these deplorable teachings, in which slavery is sometimes
excused, sometimes exalted; I comprehend, that, under the impulse of a
sentiment so justifiable, one may be led on to anathematize preachers
and churches in a mass, that he may even come to the point of
representing to himself the Christian faith as the true obstacle to the
progress of liberty. This is a great perversion of the truth, but we can
easily understand how it has succeeded in gaining the assent of generous
and sincere minds. I myself have read a sermon which was listened to
with sympathy in a certain Presbyterian church in New York, in which
slavery, declares right until the return of Jesus Christ, ceases to be
so, I know not why, during the millennium? I know the nature of that
theology, too truly styled _cottony_, which is displayed in the clerical
columns of the _New York Observer_. Notwithstanding, I hasten to say
that these revolting excesses seldom appear except in seaports, and
especially in New York. The interests of this great city are bound up to
such a degree with those of the cotton States, that, until very lately,
New York might have been considered as a prolongation of the South. We
need not be surprised, therefore, to find some congregations there which
are ruled by the prejudices of the South. Besides, even in New York,
other churches protest with holy zeal, and other journals, among which I
will cite the _Independent_, the organ of the Congregationalists, combat
slavery unceasingly in the name of the Gospel.
Then people persist in seeing only New York, in taking notice only of
what passes in New York; but they forget that New York is ordinarily an
exception in the North, as much by its commercial position as by its
opinions and votes. Let us go ever so short a distance from the city
into the surrounding country, and we will encounter a different
spirit--a spirit thoroughly impregnated with Christian faith, and little
disposed to covenant with slavery. There we begin to see that race of
Puritan farmers, but lately represented by John Brown. Has not the
attempt been made to transform him also into a free thinker, a
philosophic enemy of the Bible, and, from this very cause, an enemy to
slavery? We need nothing more than his last letter to his wife, to show
from what source he had drawn that courage, so misdirected but so
indomitable, which he displayed at Harper's Ferry; the Christian, the
Biblical and orthodox Christian, comes to explain the liberal and the
hero.
That Christians in general condemned the enterprise of John Brown, while
sympathizing with him, I hasten to acknowledge; and I am far from
blaming them. That many have committed the real wrong of recoiling
before the consequences of an open and decided conduct, I am forced to
admit. Yes, without even mentioning the South, where, as every one
knows, the reign of terror prevails, there are numerous Protestant and
Catholic churches in the remainder of the Confederation, which have
refused to declare themselves, as they should have done, in opposition
to the crime of slavery. Let us not hasten, however, to cry out against
falsehood and hypocrisy; most honorable and sincere men have believed
that they would do more harm than good by bringing on a rupture with the
South. Let us not forget that political rupture is complicated here with
religious rupture. Now, all the churches extend over both North and
South; all the charitable societies number committees and subscribers in
both North and South. The point in question then, (let us weigh the
immensity of the sacrifice,) the point in question is to rend in twain
all the churches, to break in pieces all the societies, to expose to
perilous risks all the great works that do honor to the United States.
Doubtless, to have gone their way, to have done their duty, and not to
have troubled themselves about the consequences, was the great rule of
action. I grant it; yet, notwithstanding, I refuse to stigmatize, as
many have done, those men who have committed the fault of hesitating; I
feel that to rank them among the champions of slavery is to pervert
facts, and to fall into a blamable exaggeration. Again, to-day, after
the election of Mr. Lincoln, cannot citizens be cited in the North who
are devoted to the cause of the negroes, but who refuse to participate
in abolitionist demonstrations, because they fear (and the sentiments
does them honor) to encourage the impending insurrections?
This said, I wish to prove by some too well-known facts, what has been
this forbearance, or even this pretended hesitation of orthodox
Christianity. On regarding the churches, I see two, and the most
considerable, which have openly declared themselves: the
Congregationalists and the Methodists. About six months since, the
General Conference of Methodists resolutely plunged into the current
without suffering itself to be trammelled by the protests which came to
it from the South. I read in a report presented to one of the great
divisions of this church: "We believe that to sell or to hold in bondage
human beings under the name of chattels, is in contradiction to the
divine laws and to humanity; and that it conflicts with the golden rule
and with the rule of our discipline." Last year, a numerous assemblage
of delegates of the Congregational churches adopted the following
resolution: "Slaveholding is immoral, and slaveholders should not be
admitted as members of Christian churches. We ought to protest against
it without ceasing, in the name of the Gospel, until it shall have
entirely disappeared." And this resolution has not remained a dead
letter: a Congregational church of Ohio has expelled from its bosom one
of its deacons, who had contributed in the capacity of magistrate to the
extradition of a fugitive slave.
Other churches, without taking so decided a position, have at least
manifested by their internal convulsions the profound interest excited
among them by the question of slavery. In this manner a secession has
just rent the Presbyterian church in twain, because the declared
adversaries of slavery were unwilling to remain responsible for a
forbearance which appeared to them criminal. These things are signs of
life, and these signs are beginning to show themselves even in the midst
of ecclesiastical bodies which have acted, until now, in the most
unchristian manner. A warm discussion has been thus called forth, and
this signifies a great deal, among the members of the Episcopal church
in New York. The majority stifled the debate; will it be able to do this
always?
If from the churches we proceed to the religious societies, we find the
same symptoms among them; here, they declare themselves openly against
slavery, in spite of the menaces of the South; there, they succeed in
staving off the question, yet at the price of excited debates, which
continually spring up again, of a great scandal, and of protests which
are heard by Christians through the whole world. The course of conduct
adopted by the great American Board of Missions is the more significant,
inasmuch as its committee is composed of members belonging to various
evangelical denominations; it stands, therefore, as their permanent
representative, yet this has not prevented its adoption, after long
hesitation, of resolutions indicating in what course it will henceforth
proceed: it has broken off its relations with the missionaries employed
among the Choctaws, for the sole reason that they obstinately refused
openly to attack Indian slavery, and the abominable practices which it
engenders. The Society, which long, too long, contented itself with a
timid and inconsistent censure, has been obliged, therefore, to resort
to more decisive measures.
Another great body, the Tract Society, unfortunately, has not followed
this example; the general assemblies held at New York, and ruled by the
spirit of that city, have given a majority to the party opposed to the
discussion of the subject; but, be it said to the honor of American
Christians, the very large minority resisted to the end; the latter was
sustained by outside opinion, and many friends of the Gospel joined with
it in deploring the pusillanimity which yielded to the menaces of the
South. A crisis thence arose, which has not yet reached its height, and
the first fruits of which have been the foundation of a rival society in
Boston, to which adherents are gathering from all sides.
These are grave events, for they manifest the inmost revolutions of the
human soul. Would you know what will take place in political societies?
Begin by informing yourself about what is taking place in the
consciences of the public. Now it is evident that the public conscience
is in motion in the United States. The vast obstacles by which this
movement was trammelled have been surmounted on every side. I wish no
other proof of this than the deplorable fact of which I have just made
mention: the conduct of the Tract Society, the internal crisis which it
has experienced, the reprobation which it encounters, in Europe as in
America. Are not these palpable proofs of the too little known truth
that the great moral force which is struggling with American slavery is
the Gospel?
And how could it be otherwise? If we had not positive facts before our
eyes, if we did not know that one entire sect of Christians, the
Quakers, have devoted themselves, body and goods, to the service of poor
fugitive slaves, if we did not recognize the deep Puritan imprint in the
movement which has colonized Kansas, and in that which has borne Mr.
Lincoln to the presidency, should we not be forced to ask ourselves
whether it is possible that the Gospel remains a stranger to a struggle
undertaken for liberty? There exist, thank God, between liberty and the
Gospel, close, eternal, and indestructible relations. I know of one
species of freedom which contains the germ of all the rest--freedom of
soul; now what was it, if not the Gospel, that introduced this freedom
into the world? Remember ancient Paganism: neither liberty of
conscience, nor liberty of individuals, nor liberty of families--such
was its definition. The State laid its hand upon all the inmost part of
existence, the creeds of the fathers, and the education of the children;
moral slavery also existed everywhere, and if slavery, properly called,
had been anywhere wanting, it would have given cause for astonishment.
The Gospel came, and with it these new phenomena: individual belief,
true independence makes its advent here on earth, a liberty worthy of
the name appears finally among men. From this time we see men lifting up
their heads, despotism finding its limits, the humblest, the weakest
opposing to it insurmountable barriers.
They act without reflection, who attempt to place in opposition these
two things: the Gospel and liberty. And remark that in the United
States, in particular, the Gospel and liberty are accustomed to go
together; they first landed together at New Plymouth with the passengers
of the Mayflower. Why had these poor pilgrims torn themselves from all
the habits of home and country, to seek in the dead of winter an asylum
on an unknown soil? Because they loved the Gospel, and because they
desired liberty; the chief of liberties--that of the conscience. From
the 21st of December, 1620, there existed on the shores of the New World
the beginning of a free people--free through the powerful influence of
the Gospel. All who have studied the United States with sincerity, will
ratify the opinion of M. de Tocqueville: "America is the place, of all
others, where the Christian religion has preserved the most power over
souls." This power is such, that we find it at the base of all lasting
reforms. In this country, in which the idea of authority has little
force, there is one authority, that of the Bible, before which the
majority bow, and which is of the more importance inasmuch as it alone
commands respect and obedience.
If you doubt the decisive part which the Gospel fills in American
debates, look at the pains taken by parties to render public homage to
it, the Democrats as the Republicans, Mr. Buchanan as Mr. Lincoln. Then
look more closely at the Republican party, do you not find in it again
the visible traces of Puritanism? It is the ancient States, it is old
America, it is also the Young America of the farmers, of the pioneers of
the Western solitudes, the America of the clearers of the forests, the
America of the Bible and the schools. This America long since abolished
slavery, and prevented its introduction into the territories that
acknowledged its influence. In the meanest of its cabins, you will find
the Scriptures, hymn books, reports of religious societies; in the
majority of its families, domestic worship is celebrated; in its
prayer-meetings, it is not rare to see physicians, lawyers, magistrates,
marine officers, taking part publicly; its statesmen do not think
themselves dishonored by keeping a Sunday-school; the Gospel, in a word,
is a power to which no other can compare, and outside of which it would
be puerile to expect to succeed in accomplishing any thing of
importance.
Here the action of the Gospel can be plainly detected; an important
religious event preceded and paved the way for the political event which
we have witnessed: before the election of Mr. Lincoln, an awakening took
place. The American awakening, which must not be confounded with those
_revivals_, the description and sometimes the caricature of which have
been transmitted us by travellers, the awakening, which had neither
ecstasies nor convulsive sobs, and the distinctive feature of which was
a tone of simplicity and conviction, produced one of those profound
agitations of the conscience, which give rise to generous resolutions.
The financial crisis had just overthrown the fortunes of the people;
they turned towards God and began to pray. On a route of three thousand
miles, wherever one might stop, he found a meeting, a simple,
spontaneous meeting, at which the pastors did not take the initiative,
where they were present instead of presiding. Ere long, public attention
became fixed on this movement, the greatness of which could not be
contested; the most hostile journals ended by rendering it homage. And
it lasted, it still subsists, it has produced something else than
meetings and prayers, it has induced extensive moral reforms, it has
closed places of debauchery and taverns by hundreds. The military and
commercial marine of the United States has been especially subjected to
its influence; captains, officers, and sailors in great numbers, have
shown by their lives that their habits of piety are more than a vain
form; American vessels are perhaps the only ones at the present day in
which groups of sailors assemble to converse on the interests of their
soul, and to make the praises of God resound over the ocean.
In strengthening the religious element, in exciting the Puritan fibre of
America, the awakening certainly contributed a great share to the
success of the party opposed to slavery. South Carolina acknowledged
this herself lately, when she inserted the following phrase in her
declaration of independence: "The public opinion of the North has given
to a great political error the sanction of a still more erroneous
religious sentiment." Is this religious sentiment, assailed by the
slaveholders, that of free thinkers, or of Christians? The South is not
mistaken; it knows that the truly difficult acts of emancipation are
accomplished on earth only by the power of the Gospel; it saw the great
abolition impulse rise in England, and spread over the United States;
journals, committees, correspondence, all indicated that the English had
become the American movement, and was continued under the same banner.
Under this banner, and this alone, it has conquered. A colossal work in
fact is here in question, before which all purely human forces fall to
the ground. If such prodigious Christian efforts were needed to give the
victory to Wilberforce, what will be required in the heart of a country
where slavery is not exiled to distant colonies, and where it has
acquired formidable proportions with years. There are easy abolitions,
which are wrought in some sort of themselves, and which seem the natural
corollary of a political revolution; as, for instance, that which
occurred forty years ago in the Spanish republics. Bolivar, Quiroga, and
the other leaders, needed the support of all classes of the population
in their struggle against Spain; they adopted the expedient of
suppressing slavery. In taking this resolution, they accomplished a
most honorable deed, but they made little change in the condition of the
country, for large planting was rare, and both the blacks and the whites
were few in numbers, less numerous, indeed, than the Indians and the
half breeds.
If political reasons then sufficed, it is evident that they are far from
sufficing to-day: we must seek elsewhere for the explanation of the
movement which, a long time wavering and suppressed, has just manifested
its irresistible power in the United States. We have recognized in it
the hand of the Gospel; and this is no indifferent matter, for if the
Gospel had no part in it, such a movement would end in destruction.
The responsibility of Christians will be great in America; they can do
much for the favorable solution of a problem which menaces the future of
their country, and overshadows that of humanity. The mode of
pacification here is, to declare themselves; the pretensions of the
South, its fatal progress, the extreme peril to which but lately it
exposed the Confederation, are due much more than is imagined to the
deplorable hesitation of the religious societies and the churches. If it
had long since been brought face to face with a determined evangelical
doctrine, the South, which knows also, though in a less degree, the
influence of the Gospel, would have avoided falling into the excesses to
which it is now abandoned. The faults of the past are irreparable, but
it is possible to ward off their return. Let all Northern churches, let
all societies, let all eminent Christians take henceforth with firmness
the position which they ought to have taken from the first; let them
present to their Southern brethren a solid rallying point, and the
effects of this faithful conduct will not be slow in making themselves
felt. There is, in the slave States, especially in those occupying an
intermediate position, more disturbance of thought, and more conflicts
of feeling, than we generally suppose. Let the banner of the Christian
faith be openly displayed, and many good men will rally round it: this
is certain.
And let no one put forward the shameful pretext: there are sceptics,
rationalists, free thinkers in the ranks of Abolitionism! Why not?
Questions of this sort, thanks to the Gospel, have entered in the domain
of common morality; shall I desert these questions in order to avoid
contact with men who reject the essential doctrines of Christianity? I
confess that the orthodoxy which should draw such conclusions would
appear suspicious to me. Voltaire pleading for the Calas will not make
me turn my back on religious liberty; Channing writing pages against
slavery, revealing a heart more Christian than his doctrine; Parker,
blending his noble efforts in favor of the negroes with his assaults
against the Bible, will not alienate me from a cause which was mine
before it was theirs.
I say, besides, that the objections of these men against Christianity
force me to ask whether our conduct as Christians be not one of the
principal causes of their scepticism. Is it quite certain that Voltaire
himself would have been the adversary that we know him, if he had not
seen that thought was stifled, that liberty was crushed, that conscience
was violated in the name of the Gospel? Would not this same Gospel have
presented itself under a different aspect to Parker, Channing, and the
other Unitarians of Boston, if they had seen it at its post, the post of
honor, at the head of all generous ideas and true liberties? Yes; there
are Abolitionists who reject the Bible because they have heard certain
orthodox Christians maintain that the Bible is in favor of slavery.
Whoever preaches this, is of a school of impiety.