Journey from Yorktown to Richmond by Williamsburg and Norfolk.—History
of Virginia. Some considerations on negro slavery.
The acclamations of gratitude and tumult of arms, which momentarily
interrupted the habitual calm of Yorktown, had already ceased, when on
the morning of the 20th, we departed for Williamsburgh, formerly the
capital of Virginia, but at present a small town retaining very little
of its ancient importance. Its college which was founded under the reign
of William and Mary, and bears their name, was celebrated for the
excellence of its learning until within about half a century, since when
it appears to have partaken of the sad destiny of the town, to which it
belongs. Williamsburg is situated on a plain between York and James
rivers. Two creeks which fall into these great rivers approach each
other in front of the town and form a sort of narrow road upon which
General Lafayette established the excellent post which Cornwallis
attempted unsuccessfully, when he essayed to escape from the snare into
which he had been drawn by his youthful adversary. Although the
population of Williamsburg is not more than 14 or 1500 souls, the
general was received with great feeling, and had the pleasure of
greeting a considerable number of ancient friends, with whom he passed
the day. The day following, we embarked at Jamestown for Norfolk, and
our voyage down James river was very interesting to General Lafayette
and some of our old travelling companions, who at each point of the
shore again reviewed a page of the history of their glorious Virginian
campaign.
In about five hours we arrived in the vast road of Hampton; the
declining sun threw his rays obliquely upon the fort of old point
Comfort, which in the distance seemed to rest upon the level surface of
the sea.—Beyond that, upon the Chesapeake, we beheld several ships whose
majestic sides seemed elevated like high walls, which belonged to the
French squadron; some cannon which we heard towards the south, and the
columns of smoke seen rising in that direction, indicated the position
of Norfolk, which, situated upon a flat and marshy ground at the mouth
of Elizabeth river, does not appear above the surface of the water,
unless it be closely approached. Our boat soon reached the wharf, and at
his landing General Lafayette was saluted by the two forts which defend
the entrance of the river, and by the shipping in port. I shall not
undertake to describe the festivities prepared by the citizens of
Norfolk for the reception of the nation’s guest; they were, as every
where else, strongly impressed with the patriotic and grateful character
of the people. The young lady, who as the emblem of the Genius of
Norfolk, received General Lafayette under the triumphal arch, and
expressed the sentiments of the citizens, merits an especial
remembrance; her beauty, eloquence and the modest firmness with which
she performed her part, made a deep and ineffaceable impression upon all
the spectators.
Of all the cities we had visited, Norfolk had the least agreeable
aspect; the houses are generally badly built, and the streets narrow and
crooked. On account of the circumjacent marshes, the air is unhealthy,
and diseases common during autumn. Its population does not exceed 4000
souls. Its commerce however is very active with the northern states,
Europe and especially the West India Islands; its harbour is deep enough
for the largest, has room for at least three hundred vessels, and is the
only good port in Virginia and North Carolina, so that all the imports
and exports of these two states are made thereby. The exports consist
principally of corn, flour, wheat, all sorts of lumber, salt-meat, and
fish, iron, lead, tobacco, tar and turpentine. A great number of French
families, emigrants from St. Domingo reside at Norfolk. These families
first made choice of this asylum because of its proximity, and were
eventually induced to fix themselves there, because they had permission
to retain and work the unfortunate slaves they brought with them. It is
a sad and revolting spectacle which is presented at present by some of
these refugees, who have no other means of struggling against misery,
than by hiring their wretched slaves out to severe labour, for which
they receive the pay. Many of the negroes who work about the harbour are
slaves thus hired to the merchants, who feed them and pay about 65 cents
a day, which they faithfully carry home at night to their indolent
master.
On the following morning, we visited Portsmouth, a small village
situated immediately opposite Norfolk upon the left bank of James river,
and contains a fine navy yard, where we saw a superb sixty-four gun
ship, the North Carolina, which had not long been launched. On
re-entering Norfolk, we were received with great pomp by the freemasons,
who had the kindness to receive us all three as honorary members of
their lodge. In the evening there was a brilliant ball, to which the
citizens of Norfolk hoped to have had the company of the officers of the
French squadron, but it appeared that the same causes, which had
prevented their participation in the Yorktown festival, also prevented
them from having the pleasure of dancing with the Norfolk ladies, for we
did not see one of them, at least in uniform.
After the ball, about eleven P. M. we returned to the steam-boat to
ascend James river to Richmond, the capital of Virginia, distant about
one hundred miles. The nation’s guest was expected there with more
impatience because this city in proportion to its population contained a
greater number of witnesses of his efforts in favour of American
independence. At Richmond, in fact, and its vicinity, the multiplied
movements between Lafayette and the traitor Arnold, supported by General
Philips took place.
All business was suspended to receive Lafayette, and in spite of the
inconvenience of a profuse rain, which detained us for some hours on
board the boat, the crowd had pushed forward to meet us at Osborn where
we were to land. The solemn entry could not take place till next
morning. Forty revolutionary soldiers who had served under him in
Virginia, were introduced to him immediately after his arrival. It was
with great feeling that they again beheld their old general, and he,
full of emotion, astonished them by remembering and calling by name
those who most particularly shared his toils and dangers.
The next morning, as the bad weather ceased, the festivities were
resumed with increased splendour. The general was received at the
capital, built in imitation of the _square house_ of Nimes, and welcomed
in a speech by Chief Justice Marshall, in presence of the civil and
military officers, and a vast concourse of citizens, among whom we had
the pleasure of finding some Frenchmen, and particularly Mr. Chevalié,
who for thirty years has lived in Virginia, where he has uniformly
enjoyed the friendship and esteem of his adopted fellow-citizens.
Notwithstanding the multiplicity of entertainments into which we were
almost forced, during our stay in Richmond, we were able to pass some
moments in private society, with some of the most distinguished men of
the city. From their uniformly instructive conversation, I collected the
details relative to the history, constitution, and manners of Virginia,
which will be found below.
That part of the American continent called Virginia, which was one of
the most ancient English colonies in the western hemisphere, and at
present forms one of the vastest states of the great republican family
of the union, was first discovered by John Cabot, according to English,
and by Verrazano according to the French historians, who took possession
of it in the name of Francis I. But whoever was the fortunate navigator
who first landed upon this fertile soil, it is not the less true, that
its first establishments do not date earlier than 1587, at which time
Sir Walter Raleigh took possession on behalf of a company of English
merchants. This feeble colony was composed of but 500 individuals in
1605, and was soon reduced to sixty by all sorts of privations, and the
reiterated attacks of the Indians. It is probable that this shattered
remnant would soon have been entirely destroyed, if a new expedition of
three ships under Captain Newport, had not arrived to assist them with
men, arms and provisions. At this time Jamestown was founded, and its
slender ramparts offered a shelter to the colonists from the Indian
arrows. War, famine and discord would speedily have extinguished the
colony, if the influence of one man of genius had not sufficed to save
it. Captain Smith, by his skill and bravery, soon became the soul of the
settlement; he waged successful war with some of the tribes which
refused to negociate, and formed friendly alliances with others, so that
the colony was soon in a nourishing condition. It was in this state, and
already beginning to forget its first troubles, when Captain Smith was
taken prisoner by hostile Indians, who would inevitably have killed him,
if the young Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan chief of the tribe, by her
prayers and tears had not obtained his pardon, at the moment he was
about to be sacrificed. As soon as he was set at liberty, he hastened to
return to Jamestown, where he found the colony once more reduced to the
most miserable state. But thirty-eight persons survived, and were
willing to risk in a frail shallop, the lives they had compromitted by
their imprudence and presumption. Smith still had sufficient ascendance
to retain them; his activity created new resources, and another
reinforcement was brought by Newport. The colony again began to prosper,
but a novel incident again threw them into necessity, and was near
extinguishing them forever. They thought they had discovered gold in a
rivulet flowing through a bank of sand above the town, and the senseless
wish of amassing gold caused them to abandon the only exertions by which
they could hope for a happy existence. Famine again began to decimate
the colonists who were obliged to recur to him, whose prudence had so
often saved them. Smith taking advantage of the terror with which he had
impressed some tribes, and the friendship he had excited in others,
obtained succours from them, which they brought to Jamestown in
abundance. He then undertook to explore the country to great distances
to ascertain its resources. For this purpose he embarked in a small
canoe, and amid all perils explored most of the rivers flowing into the
Chesapeake, and collected concerning them, and especially of the actual
territory of Virginia. Such exact details that they still serve as the
basis of the best efforts of the best geographers. In short the genius
of Smith preserved the colony, and continued to extend its limits until
1610, at which time a fatal accident prevented him from making farther
attempts. In returning from his expedition, his powder flask exploded
and wounded him dreadfully. His friends urged his return to England; he
yielded to their intreaties, and in six months after the five hundred
colonists, whom he had left well armed, well provisioned and beginning
to enjoy their flocks and harvests, were reduced to sixty individuals,
looking like spectres more than men. The colony would have soon ceased,
but for the arrival of three ships and a great number of new emigrants,
brought by Lord Delaware. This reinforcement raised the spirits of the
colonists, and the wise administration of Sir Thomas Dale gave to the
settlement an unexpected increase of prosperity. At this time Mr. Rolfe,
one of the settlers, married Pocahontas, the same that saved the life of
Captain Smith. This alliance was immensely advantageous to the colony,
because Powhatan pledged himself and all the tribes under his influence,
to aid the English in all their wars, and furnish them with provisions.
How much is it to be regretted that Rolfe’s example had not been
followed by his companions! It would have been easy for them to have
secured their own prosperity by such alliances, and they would have
spared humanity much blood and tears.
After this marriage, the settlers peacefully applied themselves to the
culture of tobacco, which brought them great wealth, and subsisted
almost entirely at the cost of the Indians, who were faithful to their
treaty, although it was truly onerous to them. Sir Thomas Dale profited
by this tranquillity to perfect the administrative system, but
unfortunately he was succeeded in 1617, by Captain Algal, whose haughty
and tyrannic disposition was near causing the greatest disorders, and
the colony already experienced some vicissitudes. Recalled by the
company, he was replaced by George Hardly, who to obtain the means of
repairing the errors of his predecessor, convoked a general assembly of
the inhabitants of Virginia. The introduction of the representative
system into the colony dates from this period, which was not slow in
feeling its happy effects. The London Company assented to this new form
of government, and determined its basis by a charter granted on the 24th
of July 1621. This charter established, “That in Virginia for the
future, there should be a legislative body, called the _General
Assembly_, consisting of the governor, twelve counsellors, and
representatives of the people; that the counsellors and representatives
should make the laws, and that the government should have the right to
approve or reject them; that the laws should have no effect until
ratified by the company; and that as soon as the colonial government was
well established, the orders of the company should not affect the
colony, without consent of the General Assembly.”
The company however, reserved the right of nominating and displacing the
governor and counsellors at pleasure. Notwithstanding this reservation,
the constitution of Virginia thenceforth remained fixed, and its
inhabitants, servants of a company as they were, at once changed into
freemen and citizens. At this period the company sent to Virginia 160
poor young women of irreproachable character; they were received with
eagerness, and married to the young settlers, who payed the expense of
their transportation at the rate of 120 lbs. of tobacco for each one.
The rights of the London Company, already weakened by concessions made
to the colonists, were soon contemned by king James I. and three years
after Virginia passed under the immediate domination of the English
government.
The population of Virginia, at first confined to the environs of
Jamestown, began gradually to extend over a vast country, following the
rivers which fell into the Chesapeake. But their imprudence towards the
natives increased with their increase of strength, and they inflicted
upon the Indians all sorts of vexations. Powhatan was dead, and the
tribes he had governed had elected in his stead a renowned warrior from
the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, named Opecancanough. This prince felt
a profound hatred of the Europeans, because he foresaw how fatal they
would become to his nation; he found it easy to impart his hatred and
fears to his countrymen, and induced them to enter into a vast
conspiracy against the common enemy. The secret was faithfully kept
during four years, and was only betrayed at the moment of execution, by
an Indian who was baptised by the English. Notwithstanding this treason,
the plot was partially executed, and four hundred settlers fell under
the savage tomahawk. The retaliations were cruel, and only suspended by
a treaty which concealed the most atrocious design. The Indians, relying
with confidence upon the protestations of their enemy, applied
themselves without suspicion to their agricultural labours, when the
English fell upon them unexpectedly, and committed the most horrible
butchery; the feeble remnants of the tribes which escaped this terrible
massacre, soon miserably perished in the forests, and disappeared
forever. The colonists, thenceforward masters of this great country,
could extend themselves at will, but even this advantage was fatal to
them, and they would inevitably have fallen under the horrors of famine,
if a new reinforcement of settlers and provisions, had not arrived, to
replace those destroyed by the Indians. These succours were not sent by
the company, as this was dissolved by king James. This violence of the
crown against a company which had expended more than three millions for
the establishment of the colony, and who in spite of its faults merited
encouragement for its astonishing perseverance, at first afflicted the
colonists, but eventually turned to their actual advantage. They knew
how to defend themselves against the encroachments of the royal
government, and obtained the confirmation of all the rights acquired
before the extinction of the company.
The colony was peaceful and prosperous until 1651. The troubles produced
in England by the decapitation of Charles I. agitated it but slightly,
and had no other result than a treaty, in which Cromwell acknowledged in
an especial article, the exemption of Virginia from taxes, and
impositions of all sorts; nor without the consent of the general
assembly, could any charge be laid upon her, forts or castles be built,
nor troops be kept in service. But from the year 1652, the colonists
began to feel the narrow policy of the commonwealth of England, relative
to the commerce of the colonies, during the ten years of Cromwell’s
reign; their discontent augmented to such a degree, that when Governor
Matthew, who was appointed by the usurper, died, the inhabitants of the
colony profiting by this sort of interregnum, overturned the republican
authorities, and proclaimed Charles II. who was then sheltered in
Holland, and who thus found himself king of Virginia, before he was
certain of remounting the throne of England. The death of Cromwell which
occurred in 1660, saved the colony from the danger to which its
imprudent attachment to the Stuart cause would infallibly have exposed
it.
The Virginians soon repented of their devotion to the new king, whose
ingratitude was more injurious to them than Cromwell’s tyranny. Charles
II. far from abolishing the restrictions, which already shackled the
commerce of Virginia, aggravated and perpetuated it by the _navigation
act_. The re-establishment of the Gallacan church with all its
intolerance, the violent revocation of all the acts that could
perpetuate the memory of the revolution, the spoliations of property to
recompense the instruments of the restoration; the constitutional
depreciation of the value of tobacco, every thing in a word, concurred
to offend the colonists, and dispose to a popular insurrection; an
occasion soon offered, and civil war broke out in the colony. A squadron
sent by Charles II. to the relief of Governor Berkeley, arrived at the
moment Bacon, chief of the insurgents, who were already masters of
Jamestown, died; no one feeling possessed of the talents necessary to
complete, what this hardy and skilful leader had undertaken, they
accepted the amnesty offered by Berkeley; but this attempt at
insurrection only angered Charles II. whose despotism soon surpassed all
limits. He went so far as to interdict by law all complaint of, or evil
speaking against the administration of the governor, under pain of the
severest chastisement, and several seditions were quelled by force.
However, notwithstanding the violence and injustice of the metropolis,
commerce regained some activity, and the population finding daily new
resources in its industry, rapidly augmented. In 1688, there were
already more than 40,000 souls. But with their increase of strength the
colonists increased in hatred to the royal authority; and to the first
cries of independence made in the northern colonies, Virginia answered
by raising the standard of revolt. From the month of June 1776, the
representatives of the people, assembled to the number of one hundred
and twelve, at the capitol in Williamsburg, drew up and signed a
declaration which forever broke the tyrannical chains which previously
bound the colony to the mother country. This declaration, in
establishing in a clear and precise manner the rights of every member of
the social body, consecrated the principle of the _sovereignty of the
people_, and repelled as a monstrosity, the _hereditary_ principle in
the exercise of power. This was soon followed by the publication of the
constitution, which triumphantly came out of the revolutionary war. In
1785, the assembly passed the act revising the laws, and establishing
religious liberty; finally, in 1788, Virginia completed her revolution,
and strengthened her independence, by adopting the confederate
constitution of the United States.
The state of Virginia, which on account of its long establishment, the
extent and fertility of its soil, and the pleasantness of its climate,
should now be the richest and best peopled state in the union, has still
but 1,600,000 inhabitants, dispersed over a surface of 40,960,000 acres.
That is to say, in proportion to its extent, it has not more than half
the population of the state of New York, its cotemporary; and not more
than the state of Ohio, whose constitution and existence as a state, are
not much more than twenty years old. This difference, which at every
step betrays itself to the attentive traveller, by the separation of the
towns, the smallness of the villages, and the poverty of the
cultivation, will not disappear, until Virginia, comprehending her true
interests better, and placing them in harmony with the principles of
liberty and equality so clearly established in her declaration of
rights, and so vigorously defended by her arms, shall have finally
abolished negro slavery.
When we have examined the truly great and liberal institutions of the
United States with some attention, well comprehended their action, and
admired their happy influence, the soul feels suddenly chilled and the
imagination alarmed, in learning that at many points of this vast
republic the horrible principle of slavery still reigns with all its sad
and monstrous consequences; we demand with astonishment the source of
this contradiction between such sublime theories, and a practice so
shameful to humanity! This question which for a long time has been
always keenly discussed by philanthropists and politicians of both
hemispheres, though not always in good faith, we hope will speedily be
settled by the well-understood interests of those immediately concerned.
In the mean time I shall hazard some observations here, not with the
expectation of ending the discussion, but in the hope of establishing in
their true condition, some facts which have been misrepresented by the
ignorance or bad faith of some writers.
Happily, there is no part of the civilized world in which it is
necessary to discuss the justice or injustice of the principle of negro
slavery; at the present day every sane man agrees that it is a
monstrosity, and it would be altogether inaccurate to suppose that there
are in the United States more than elsewhere, individuals sufficiently
senseless to seek to defend it, either by their writings or
conversation. For myself, who have traversed the 24 states of the union,
and in the course of a year have had more than one opportunity of
hearing long and keen discussions upon this subject, I declare that I
never have found but a single person who seriously defended this
principle. This was a young man whose head, sufficiently imperfect in
its organization, was filled with confused and ridiculous notions
relative to Roman history, and appeared to be completely ignorant of the
history of his own country. It would be waste of time to repeat here his
crude and ignorant tirade; for every man of good faith, the following I
believe are the most essential points for discussion concerning slavery
in the United States.
1st. Have the Americans adopted it voluntarily?
2d. Since they have secured their independence have they practically
testified their aversion to slavery?
3d. Do they at present well understand the entire danger in which
slavery places them, and do they conscientiously do their best to
eradicate the evil?
4th. What are the most efficacious means to attain as speedily as
possible, the enfranchisement of the blacks?
If these four questions were impartially examined, it is probable that
those violent declamations which offend without instructing would be
relinquished, as they offer no mode of redressing the evil of which they
accuse others. I shall not attempt a profound investigation of these
questions, which demand a vaster field than I can give them; I shall but
skim over them, but always in the course of my journey, if opportunities
present, I shall exactly state the facts I witness, and this I hope will
make known the state of slavery, and the daily progress of public
opinion on the subject, better than all discussion.
This crime, by which man abusing his power and intelligence, subjects to
his caprices or to the supply of his wants another man less enlightened
than himself, was first committed in Virginia in the year 1620. It
originated in the misery of the colonists whose small numbers and
exhausted strength could no longer till the soil, and the avarice of the
Hollanders, who sold them like beasts of burthen, the unfortunate
negroes they had stolen from the shores of Africa. The English, not less
avid of money than the Hollanders, soon perceived in this abuse of
power, encouraging idleness, a source of wealth, which they hastened to
turn to their advantage, and from that time their ships annually cast
forth upon the American continent thousands of slaves. However, the
sentiments of humanity which famine had for some time smothered in the
bosoms of the colonists, were re-animated by the return of prosperity
and abundance. The general assembly of Virginia about 1680, demanded of
the metropolis that an end should be made of this infamous and now
unnecessary commerce in human flesh, since the population was
sufficiently numerous and active to cultivate a country which richly
recompensed the slightest labour; other colonies repeated this call of
justice and philanthropy, but the metropolis was insensible thereto, and
only replied by this atrocious declaration of parliament;—the
importation of slaves into America, _is too lucrative_, for the colonies
to ask that England should ever give it up;—and this declaration was
followed by threats, to which they were obliged to yield, since they
were unable to resist.[19] The general assembly nevertheless frequently
renewed its demand, which had no other result than to obtain in 1699 an
act by which the importation of slaves into Virginia, was heavily taxed.
It was not a remedy for the evil, though it was somewhat palliative.
This condition continued as long as the colonies remained under the
English yoke; when that was broken, and their independence was assured,
the different state governments turned their attention towards slavery,
and sought means to cause its disappearance. But this frightful evil had
taken such deep root, that, so to speak, it was fixed in the manners of
the citizens. The remedy was therefore difficult of attainment, and
could not produce immediate effects; however, those who had undertaken
the cause, did not lose courage; their writings and conversation
animated all minds, and the state of Virginia had still the honour to
give a great example, in being the first to proscribe the importation of
slaves into her territory. This example was soon followed by nearly all
the other states, and some went still farther; several, like
Pennsylvania, declared all coloured children born, after the
promulgation of the law, free; others, as the state of New York,
declared that after a given time no one could hold a slave. Congress,
following the general movement of opinion, did what no European power
had dared to attempt; it proscribed the slave-trade, which it
assimilated to piracy, by making it a capital offence; finally, of the
thirteen primitive states, eight proclaimed the freedom of the blacks by
special legislative acts; none but the most southern states refrained
from the same movements, as their black population had so rapidly
increased, that at some points it was quadruple that of the whites, to
whom they caused some fear.
At present the Union is composed of twenty-four states; thirteen of them
have abolished slavery by law; the eleven others are still soiled by it;
among these last, five are of the ancient or original states, the others
are formed of portions of the old states, or parts of the territory of
Louisiana after it was bought from France. In this part of the United
States, the prejudices against the blacks, it must be confessed, keep a
great number of slave-owners blindfold; accustomed as they are from
infancy to see in the African nothing but an inferior race, incapable of
ever acquiring the qualities belonging to a free citizen, they do not
attempt to give their slaves that instruction, without which, it is very
true that liberty would be hurtful to themselves and to society; they
think they have done enough for humanity in softening the rigours of
slavery by kind treatment; but in their blindness they forget that in
the social state, the rights of citizen cannot be refused to one class
of men, without placing them in a state of war in relation to those who
do enjoy them; and if the oppressed be sufficiently numerous to demand
the reason of this refusal, it is to be presumed that they will not
always tranquilly suffer such an injustice, at least unless they be
crushed beneath the weight of tyranny. This terrible truth, for a long
time repeated at all points of the union by the voice of philanthropy
and religion, which although less powerful in the south than in the
north, still exerts a considerable influence, begins to affect the minds
of persons in the slave states, and every day finds the number of
individuals increased, who desire to seek the means of freeing their
country from this horrible scourge.
Of all the plans yet presented, none has produced any very marked
result; it is true that all are very difficult of execution; for
whatever certain European philanthropists may say, who would perhaps be
very much embarrassed if placed in the situation of a Carolina or
Georgia planter, the general and instantaneous enfranchisement of the
slaves cannot be thought of without exposing to the greatest evils, not
only the whites, but the blacks also, who on account of their extreme
ignorance, see nothing better in liberty than the privilege of doing
nothing, or of committing every excess. I may venture to affirm that to
four fifths of the slaves in the United States, immediate liberation
would be nothing but a condemnation to die of famine after having
destroyed every thing around them. Consequently I believe that under
such circumstances to withhold from these men, the immediate exercise of
their rights, is neither to violate these rights nor to protect the
violaters of them, but is merely employing in the mode of removing the
evil, the prudence necessary to make the justice we wish to render them
more surely a mean of happiness. Here prudence requires that the
enfranchisement should be gradual. It remains, therefore, to inquire if
the slave-owners really take means to produce surely and rapidly this
gradual liberation.
Among those who wish to deliver their country from the opprobrium and
degradation of slavery, all are not agreed upon the measures to be taken
in relation to the fate of the slaves. Some persons have proposed that
in order to indemnify owners for the loss of their slaves, they should
be sold in the English or French West India Islands: but this inhuman
plan was repelled with horror by most of the planters, who declared they
could never determine to send, to perish under the lash of the drivers
of Guadaloupe or Martinique, men, whom they had accustomed to be treated
with mildness. Some others thought of devoting a portion of the vast
territories extending towards the foot of the Rocky mountains, to the
establishment of a colony, to which all the young blacks of twenty, and
all the females of eighteen years old, should be sent, after having
first given them at the public expense, an education, and furnished them
with all the objects necessary to their establishment. This colony might
eventually govern itself, and become a powerful ally of the United
States; but when this proposition was made, the prosperity of the United
States was not sufficiently great to afford the funds necessary for such
an enterprize, nor was public opinion sufficiently formed at that time
to feel all its importance.
Some years afterwards this idea was resumed, modified, and finally
carried into execution by a society formed in 1818, under the presidency
of Judge Bushrod Washington. This society, which now counts among its
members the most distinguished men of the different states of the union,
and of which General Lafayette is a vice-president for life, has
founded, under protection of the American government, a colony upon the
coast of Africa, which probably will soon attain the double end of
affording an asylum to the blacks of the United States, in proportion as
they receive their liberty, and at the same time as a centre of light
and industry, whence hereafter civilization may be introduced into that
part of the world.
However, whatever may be the efforts and success of this philanthropic
colonization society, it cannot reasonably be hoped that it will alone
prove sufficient to produce the abolition of slavery. If slave-owners do
not endeavour to instruct the children of the blacks, to prepare them
for liberty; if the legislatures of the southern states do not fix upon
some period, near or remote, when slavery shall cease, that part of the
union will be for a still longer time exposed to the merited reproach of
outraging the sacred principle contained in the first article of the
declaration of rights; _that all men are born free and equal_. But every
thing leads to the belief, that the moment has arrived, when the gradual
abolition of slavery will rapidly advance. The sentiment of _well
understood personal interest_, now better comprehended by the southern
proprietors, begins to make them feel, that in a few years their
products will scarcely be able to maintain the competition with those of
Mexico and South America, if they do not relinquish a ruinous system of
culture; and already many of them do not fear openly to attack the
unfortunate prejudices of their fellow citizens, by declaring that they
would be happier, and much richer, if the black population was
sufficiently diminished for them to hire free black labourers, and thus
by the emulation of free labour, replace the ruinous mass of children
and old men, they are now obliged to support in idleness.
Thus then, according to the opinion of men most disposed to abolish
slavery, the greatest obstacle to enfranchisement, whether general or
gradual, is the too great population of the blacks; this population must
consequently be diminished as the first step, and the system of
colonization is therefore wisely conceived, since its object is to offer
an outlet to this superabundance of population. The emancipation of
Hayti, also adds to the facilities offered by the African colony of
Liberia, but in order not to compromit the safety and prosperity of this
colony, and of the republic of Hayti, no emigrants should be sent to
either, except such whose manners and intelligence may contribute to the
prosperity of these new societies: it is unfortunately but too true,
that almost the whole of the blacks in the United States, are still too
much brutalized by ignorance and slavery, to furnish good subjects for
emigration. The efforts then, of the friends of humanity, and of that
true liberty which does not admit of the ridiculous distinction between
men, founded upon colour of skin, should all be directed to enlighten
the minds of the rising generation of blacks. This noble end can only be
attained by establishing, multiplying, and encouraging, every where,
free schools for coloured children of both sexes. It is in vain that
some individuals, blinded by their prejudices, exclaim that there is no
hope of improving the African race, which is only intermediate to man
and the brutes, in the scale of being. Numerous facts have long since
refuted this absurd assertion; and moreover, may it not be asked of
those who are so proud of the whiteness of their skin, and who judge the
blacks only by what they are, not what they are capable of, if they know
well what would be the condition of their descendants after several
generations, were slavery suddenly transferred from the blacks to the
whites? But why fear the opposition of prejudices which are daily
weakened, and whose approaching extinction is presaged by the humanity
with which, in general, all the American planters believe themselves at
present obliged to treat their slaves.
Some facts which I shall have occasion to cite, will, I hope, complete
the proof that relative to slavery, public opinion is in a good train in
the United States, and that it only requires encouragement, and that
good advice relative to the means to be employed, would be more
serviceable than violent attacks which are often unjust and exaggerated.
I shall conclude these observations by remarking, that the state of
Virginia in a population of 1,065,366 contains 462,281 coloured people,
of which 37,113 are free. This last number appears never to increase
much, because this state in particular supplies colonists for Liberia,
and emigrants to Hayti and that in general the irregular life of the
free negroes in the large cities; considerably prevents their
reproduction.