an opportunity to despoil us of every right and possession sacred to
our existence, with which God has endowed us as a heritage on the
earth. For let it not be forgotten that the white race--who numbers but
_one_ of them to _two_ of us--originally located in Europe, besides
possessing all of that continent, have now got hold of a large portion
of Asia, Africa, all North America, a portion of South America, and all
of the great islands of both hemispheres, except Paupau, or New Guinea,
inhabited by negroes and Malays, in Oceanica; the Japanese Islands,
peopled and ruled by the Japanese; Madagascar, peopled by negroes,
near the coast of Africa; and the Island of Hayti, in the West Indies,
peopled by as brave and noble descendants of Africa as they who laid
the foundation of Thebias, or constructed the everlasting pyramids and
catacombs of Egypt,--a people who have freed themselves by the might of
their own will, the force of their own power, the unfailing strength of
their own right arms, and their unflinching determination to be free.
Let us, then, not survive the disgrace and ordeal of Almighty
displeasure, of two to one, witnessing the universal possession and
control by the whites of every habitable portion of the earth. For such
must inevitably be the case, and that, too, at no distant day, if black
men do not take advantage of the opportunity, by grasping hold of those
places where chance is in their favor, and establishing the rights and
power of the colored race.
We must make an issue, create an event, and establish for ourselves a
position. This is essentially necessary for our effective elevation as
a people, in shaping our national development, directing our destiny,
and redeeming ourselves as a race.
If we but determine it shall be so, it _will_ be so; and there
is nothing under the sun can prevent it. We shall then be but in
pursuit of our legitimate claims to inherent rights, bequeathed to
us by the will of Heaven--the endowment of God, our common Parent. A
distinguished economist has truly said, “God has implanted in man an
infinite progression in the career of improvement. A soul capacitated
for improvement ought not to be bounded by a tyrant’s landmarks.” This
sentiment is just and true, the application of which to our case is
adapted with singular fitness.
Having glanced hastily at our present political position in the world
generally, and the United States in particular,--the fundamental
disadvantages under which we exist, and the improbability of ever
attaining citizenship and equality of rights in this country,--we call
your attention next to the places of destination to which we shall
direct emigration.
The West Indies, Central and South America, are the countries of our
choice, the advantages of which shall be made apparent to your entire
satisfaction. Though we have designated them as countries, they are,
in fact, but one country, relatively considered, a part of this, the
Western Continent. As now politically divided, they consist of the
following classification, each group or division placed under its
proper national head:--
Square Population
miles. in 1840.
THE FRENCH ISLANDS.
Guadeloupe, 675 124,000
Martinico, 260 119,000
St. Martin, N. part, 15 6,000
Mariegalente, 90 11,500
Deseada, 25 1,500
DANISH ISLANDS.
Santa Cruz, 80 34,000
St. Thomas, 50 15,000
St. John, 70 3,000
SWEDISH.
St. Bartholomew, 25 8,000
DUTCH.
St. Eustatia, 10 20,000
Curacoa, 375 12,000
St. Martin, S. part, 10 5,000
Saba, 20 9,000
VENEZUELA.
Margarita, 00 16,000
SPANISH.
Cuba, 43,500 725,000
Porto Rico, 4,000 325,000
BRITISH.
Jamaica, 5,520 375,000
Barbadoes, 164 102,000
Trinidad, 1,970 45,000
Antigua, 108 36,000
Grenada and the Granadines, 120 29,000
St. Vincent, 121 36,000
St. Kitts, 68 24,000
Dominica, 275 20,000
St. Lucia, 275 18,000
Tobago, 120 14,000
Nevis, 20 12,000
Montserrat, 47 8,000
Tortola, 20 7,000
Barbuda, 72 0,000
Anguilla, 90 3,000
Bahamas, 4,440 18,000
Bermudas, 20 10,000
HAYTIEN NATION.
Hayti, 000 800,000
In addition to these there are a number of smaller islands, belonging
to the Little Antilles, the area and population of which are not known,
many of them being unpopulated.
These islands, in the aggregate, form an area--allowing 40,000 square
miles to Hayti and her adjunct islands, and something for those the
statistics of which are unknown--of about 103,000, or equal in extent
to Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and little
less than the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the
principality of Wales.
The population being, on the above date, 1840, 3,115,000 (three
millions one hundred and fifteen thousand), and allowing an increase of
_ten per cent._ in ten years, on the entire population, there are now
3,250,000 (three millions two hundred and fifty thousand) inhabitants,
who comprise the people of these islands.
CENTRAL AMERICA.
Population
in 1840.
Guatemala, 800,000
San Salvador, 350,000
Honduras, 250,000
Costa Rica, 150,000
Nicaragua, 250,000
These consist of five states, as shown in the above statistics, the
united population of which, in 1840, amounted to 1,800,000 (one million
eight hundred thousand) inhabitants. The number at present being
estimated at 2,500,000 (two and a half millions), shows in thirteen
years, 700,000 (seven hundred thousand), being one third and one
eighteenth of an increase in population.
SOUTH AMERICA.
Square miles. Population in 1840.
New Grenada, 450,000 1,687,000
Venezuela, 420,000 900,000
Ecuador, 280,000 600,000
Guiana, 160,000 182,000
Brazil, 3,390,000 5,000,000
North Peru, 300,000 700,000
South Peru, 130,000 800,000
Bolivia, 450,000 1,716,000
Buenos Ayres, 750,000 700,000
Paraguay, 88,000 150,000
Uruguay, 92,000 75,000
Chili, 170,000 1,500,000
Patagonia, 370,000 30,000
The total area of these states is 7,050,000 (seven millions and fifty
thousand) square miles; but comparatively little (450,000 square miles)
less than the whole area of North America, in which we live.
But one state in South America, Brazil, is an abject slaveholding
state; and even here all free men are socially and politically equal,
negroes and colored men partly of African descent holding offices
of honor, trust, and rank, without restriction. In the other states
slavery is not known, all the inhabitants enjoying political equality,
restrictions on account of color being entirely unknown, unless,
indeed, necessity induces it, when, in all such cases, the preference
is given to the colored man, to put a check to European assumption and
insufferable Yankee intrusion and impudence.
The aggregate population was 14,040,000 (fourteen millions and forty
thousand) in 1840. Allowing for thirteen years the same ratio of
increase as that of the Central American states,--being one third
(4,680,000),--and this gives at present a population of 18,720,000 in
South America.
Add to this the population of the Antilles and Guatemala, and this
gives a population in the West Indies, Central and South America, of
24,470,000 (twenty-four millions four hundred and seventy thousand)
inhabitants.
But one seventh of this population, 3,495,714 (three millions four
hundred and ninety-five thousand seven hundred and fourteen) being
white, or of pure European extraction, there is a population throughout
this vast area of 20,974,286 (twenty millions nine hundred and
seventy-four thousand two hundred and eighty-six) colored persons,
who constitute, from the immense preponderance of their numbers, the
_ruling element_, as they ever must be, of those countries.
There are no influences that could be brought to bear to change this
most fortunate and Heaven-designed state and condition of things.
Nature here has done her own work, which the art of knaves nor the
schemes of deep-designing political impostors can ever reach. This is a
fixed fact in the zodiac of the political heavens, that the blacks and
colored people are the stars which must ever most conspicuously twinkle
in the firmament of this division of the Western Hemisphere.
We next invite your attention to a few facts, upon which we predicate
the claims of the black race, not only to the tropical regions and
_south temperate zone_ of this hemisphere, but to the whole continent,
North as well as South. And here we desire it distinctly to be
understood, that, in the selection of our places of destination, we
do not advocate the _southern_ scheme as a concession, nor yet at the
will nor desire of our North American oppressors; but as a policy by
which we must be the greatest political gainers, without the risk
or possibility of loss to ourselves. A gain by which the lever of
political elevation and machinery of national progress must ever be
held and directed by our own hands and heads, to our own will and
purposes, in defiance of the obstructions which might be attempted on
the part of a dangerous and deep-designing oppressor.
From the year 1492, the discovery of Hispaniola,--the first land
discovered by Columbus in the New World,--to 1502, the short space
of ten years, such was the mortality among the natives, that the
Spaniards, then holding rule there, “began to employ a few” Africans
in the mines of the island. The experiment was effective--a successful
one. The Indian and the African were enslaved together, when the Indian
sunk, and the African stood.
It was not until June the 24th, of the year 1498, that the continent
was discovered by John Cabot, a Venetian, who sailed in August of the
previous year, 1497, from Bristol, under the patronage of Henry VII.,
King of England.
In 1517, the short-space of but fifteen years from the date of their
introduction, Carolus V., King of Spain, by right of a patent, granted
permission to a number of persons annually to supply the islands of
Hispaniola (St. Domingo), Cuba, Jamaica, and Porto Rico with natives
of Africa, to the number of four thousand annually. John Hawkins, a
mercenary Englishman, was the first person known to engage in this
general system of debasing our race, and his royal mistress, Queen
Elizabeth, was engaged with him in interest, and shared the general
profits.
The Africans, on their advent into a foreign country, soon experienced
the want of their accustomed food, and habits, and manner of living.
The aborigines subsisted mainly by game and fish, with a few patches
of maize, or Indian corn, near their wigwams, which were generally
attended by the women, while the men were absent engaged in the chase,
or at war with a hostile tribe. The vegetables, grains, and fruits,
such as in their native country they had been accustomed to, were
not to be obtained among the aborigines, which first induced the
African laborer to cultivate “patches” of ground in the neighborhood
of the mining operations, for the purpose of raising food for his own
sustenance.
This trait in their character was observed and regarded with
considerable interest; after which the Spaniards and other colonists,
on contracting with the English slave dealers--Captain Hawkins and
others--for new supplies of slaves, were careful to request that an
adequate quantity of seeds and plants of various kinds, indigenous to
the continent of Africa, especially those composing the staple products
of the natives, be selected and brought out with the slaves to the New
World. Many of these were cultivated to a considerable extent, while
those indigenous to America were cultivated with great success.
Shortly after the commencement of the slave trade under Elizabeth and
Hawkins, the queen granted a license to Sir Walter Raleigh to search
for uninhabited lands, and seize upon all unoccupied by Christians. Sir
Walter discovered the coast of North Carolina and Virginia, assigning
the name “Virginia” to the whole coast now comprising the old Thirteen
States.
A feeble colony was here settled, which did not avail much, and it was
not until the month of April, 1607, that the first permanent settlement
was made in Virginia, under the patronage of letters patent from James
I., King of England, to Thomas Gates and associates. This was the first
settlement of North America, and thirteen years anterior to the landing
of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock.
And we shall now introduce to you, from acknowledged authority,
a number of historical extracts, to prove that previous to the
introduction of the black race upon this continent but little
enterprise of any kind was successfully carried on. The African or
negro was the first _available contributor_ to the country, and
consequently is by priority of right, and politically should be,
entitled to the highest claims of an eligible citizen.
“No permanent settlement was effected in what is now called the
United States, till the reign of James the First.”--_Ramsay’s
Hist. U. S._, vol. i. p. 38.
“The month of April, 1607, is the epoch of the first permanent
settlement on the coast of Virginia, the name then given to all
that extent of country which forms thirteen states.”--_Ib._ p.
39.
The whole coast of the country was at this time explored, not for the
purpose of trade and agriculture,--because there were then no such
enterprises in the country, the natives not producing sufficient of the
necessaries of life to supply present wants, there being consequently
nothing to trade for,--but, like their Spanish and Portuguese
predecessors, who occupied the islands and different parts of South
America, in search of gold and other precious metals.
Trade and the cultivation of the soil, on coming to the New World, were
foreign to their intention or designs, consequently, when failing of
success in that enterprise, they were sadly disappointed.
“At a time when the precious metals were conceived to be the
peculiar and only valuable productions of the New World, when
every mountain was supposed to contain a treasure and every
rivulet was searched for its golden sands, this appearance was
fondly considered as an infallible indication of the mine.
Every hand was eager to dig.…
“There was now,” says Smith, “no talk, no hope, no work; but
dig gold; wash gold, refine gold. With this imaginary wealth
the first vessel returning to England was loaded, while the
_culture of the land_ and every useful occupation was _totally
neglected_.
“The colonists thus left were in miserable circumstances for
want of provisions. The remainder of what they had brought with
them was so small in quantity as to be soon expended, and so
damaged in course of a long voyage as to be a source of disease.
“... In their expectation of getting gold, the people were
disappointed, the glittering substance they had sent to England
proving to be a valueless mineral. Smith, on his return to
Jamestown, found the colony reduced to thirty-eight persons,
who, in despair, were preparing to abandon the country. He
employed caresses, threats, and even violence in order to
prevent them from executing this fatal resolution.”--_Ramsay’s
Hist. U. S._, pp. 45, 46.
The Pilgrims or Puritans, in November, 1620, after having organized
with solemn vows to the defence of each other, and the maintenance
of their civil liberty, made the harbor of Cape Cod, landing safely
on “Plymouth Rock” December 20th, about one month subsequently. They
were one hundred and one in number, and from the toils and hardships
consequent to a severe season, in a strange country, in less than six
months after their arrival, “forty persons, nearly one half of their
original number,” had died.
“In 1618, in the reign of James I., the British government
established a regular trade on the coast of Africa. In the year
1620 negro slaves began to be imported into Virginia, a Dutch
ship bringing twenty of them for sale.”--_Sampson’s Historical
Dictionary_, p. 348.
It will be seen by these historical reminiscences, that the Dutch ship
landed her cargo at New Bedford, Massachusetts,--the whole coast, now
comprising the old original states, then went by the name of Virginia,
being so named by Sir Walter Raleigh, in honor of his royal mistress
and patron, Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen of England, under whom he
received the patent of his royal commission, to seize all the lands
unoccupied by Christians.
Beginning their preparations in the slave trade in 1618, just two years
previous,--allowing time against the landing of the first emigrants
for successfully carrying out the project,--the African captives and
Puritan emigrants, singularly enough, landed upon the same section of
the continent at the same time (1620), the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and
the captive slaves at New Bedford, but a few miles, comparatively,
south.
“The country at this period was one vast wilderness. The
continent of North America was then one continued forest …
There were no horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, or tame beasts of
any kind … There were no domestic poultry … There were no
gardens, orchards, public roads, meadows, or cultivated fields
… They often burned the woods that they could advantageously
plant their corn … They had neither spice, salt, bread, butter,
cheese, nor milk. They had no set meals, but eat when they
were hungry, or could find anything to satisfy the cravings of
nature. Very little of their food was derived from the earth,
except what it spontaneously produced … The ground was both
their seat and table … Their best bed was a skin … They had
neither iron, steel, nor any metallic instruments.”--_Ramsay’s
Hist._, pp. 39, 40.
We adduce not these extracts to disparage or detract from the real
worth of our brother Indian,--for we are identical as the subjects
of American wrongs, outrages, and oppression, and therefore one
in interest,--far be it from our designs. Whatever opinion he may
entertain of our race,--in accordance with the impressions made by
the contumely heaped upon us by our mutual oppressor, the American
nation,--we admire his, for the many deeds of heroic and noble daring
with which the brief history of his liberty-loving people is replete.
We sympathize with him, because our brethren are the successors of his
in the degradation of American bondage; and we adduce them in evidence
against the many aspersions heaped upon the African race, avowing that
their inferiority to the other races, and unfitness for a high civil
and social position, caused them to be reduced to servitude.
For the purpose of proving their availability and eminent fitness
alone--not to say superiority, and not inferiority--first suggested to
Europeans the substitution of African for that of Indian labor in the
mines; that their superior adaptation to the difficulties consequent to
a new country and different climate made them preferable to Europeans
themselves; and their superior skill, industry, and general thriftiness
in all that they did, first suggested to the colonists the propriety of
turning their attention to agricultural and other industrial pursuits
than those of mining operations.
It is evident, from what has herein been adduced,--the settlement of
Captain John Smith being in the course of a few months reduced to
thirty-eight, and that of the Pilgrims at Plymouth from one hundred and
one to fifty-seven in six months,--that the whites nor aborigines were
equal to the hard, and to them insurmountable, difficulties which then
stood wide-spread before them.
An endless forest, the impenetrable earth,--the one to be removed, and
the other to be excavated; towns and cities to be built, and farms to
be cultivated,--all presented difficulties too arduous for the European
then here, and entirely unknown to the native of the continent.
At a period such as this, when the natives themselves had fallen
victims to the tasks imposed upon them by the usurpers, and the
Europeans also were fast sinking beneath the influence and weight
of climate and hardships; when food could not be obtained, nor the
common conveniences of life procured; when arduous duties of life were
to be performed, and none capable of doing them, save those who had
previously, by their labors, not only in their own country, but in the
new, so proven themselves capable, it is very evident, as the most
natural consequence, the Africans were resorted to for the performance
of every duty common to domestic life.
There were no laborers known to the colonists, from Cape Cod to Cape
Lookout, than those of the African race. They entered at once into the
mines, extracting therefrom the rich treasures which for a thousand
ages lay hidden in the earth; when, plunging into the depths of the
rivers, they culled from their sandy bottoms, to the astonishment
of the natives and surprise of the Europeans, minerals and precious
stones, which added to the pride and aggrandizement of every throne in
Europe.
And from their knowledge of cultivation,--an art acquired in their
native Africa,--the farming interests in the North and planting in
the South were commenced with a prospect never dreamed of before the
introduction on the continent of this most interesting, unexampled,
hardy race of men. A race capable of the endurance of more toil,
fatigue, and hunger than any other branch of the human family.
Though pagans for the most part in their own country, they required not
to be taught to work, and how to do it; but it was only necessary to
bid them work, and they at once knew what to do, and how it should be
done.
Even up to the present day, it is notorious that in the planting states
the blacks themselves are the only skilful cultivators of the soil, the
proprietors or planters, as they are termed, knowing little or nothing
of the art, save that which they learn from the African husbandman;
while the ignorant white overseer, whose duty is to see that the work
is attended to, knows still less.
Hemp, cotton, tobacco, corn, rice, sugar, and many other important
staple products, are all the result of African skill and labor in the
southern states of this country. The greater number of the mechanics of
the South are also black men.
Nor was their skill as herdsmen inferior to their other proficiencies,
they being among the most accomplished trainers of horses in the world.
Indeed, to this class of men may be indebted the entire country for the
improvement South in the breed of horses. And those who have travelled
in the southern states could not have failed to observe that the
principal trainers, jockeys, riders, and judges of horses were men of
African descent.
These facts alone are sufficient to establish our claim to this
country, as legitimate as that of those who fill the highest stations
by the suffrage of the people.
In no period since the existence of the ancient enlightened nations of
Africa have the prospects of the black race been brighter than now; and
at no time during the Christian era have there been greater advantages
presented for the advancement of any people than at present those which
offer to the black race, both in the eastern and western hemispheres;
our election being in the western.
Despite the efforts to the contrary, in the strenuous endeavors for
a supremacy of race, the sympathies of the world, in their upward
tendency, are in favor of the African and black races of the earth. To
be available, _we_ must take advantage of these favorable feelings,
and strike out for ourselves a bold and manly course of _independent
action_ and _position_; otherwise, this pure and uncorrupted sympathy
will be reduced to pity and contempt.
Of the countries of our choice, we have stated that one province and
two islands were slaveholding places. These, as before named, are
Brazil in South America, and Cuba and Porto Rico in the West Indies.
There are a few other little islands of minor consideration: the Danish
three, Swedish one, and Dutch four.
But in the eight last referred to, slavery is of such a mild type,
that, however objectionable as such, it is merely nominal.
In South America and the Antilles, in its worst form, slavery is a
blessing almost, compared with the miserable degradation of the slaves
under our upstart, assumed superiors, the slaveholders of the United
States.
In Brazil color is no badge of condition, and every freeman, whatever
his color, is socially and politically equal, there being black
gentlemen, of pure African descent, filling the highest positions in
state under the emperor. There is, also, an established law by the
Congress of Brazil, making the crime punishable with death for the
commander of any vessel to bring into the country any human being as a
slave.
The following law has passed one branch of the General Legislative
Assembly of Brazil, but little doubt being entertained that it
will find a like favor in the other branch of that august general
legislative body:--
“1. All children born after the date of this law shall be free.
“2. All those shall be considered free who are born in other countries,
and come to Brazil after this date.
“3. Every one who serves from birth to seven years of age, any of those
included in article one, or who has to serve so many years, at the end
of fourteen years shall be emancipated, and live as he chooses.
“4. Every slave paying for his liberty a sum equal to what he cost his
master, or who shall gain it by honorable gratuitous title, the master
shall be obliged to give him a free paper, under the penalty of article
one hundred and seventy-nine of the criminal code.
“5. Where there is no stipulated price or fixed value of the slave, it
shall be determined by arbitrators, one of which shall be the public
_promoter_ of the town.
“6. The government is authorized to give precise regulations for the
execution of this law, and also to form establishments necessary for
taking care of those who, born after this date, may be abandoned by the
owners of slaves.
“7. Opposing laws and regulations are repealed.”
Concerning Cuba, there is an old established law, giving any slave
the right of a certain _legal tender_, which, if refused by the
slaveholder, he, by going to the residence of any parish priest, and
making known the facts, shall immediately be declared a freeman, the
priest or bishop of the parish or diocese giving him his “freedom
papers.” The legal tender, or sum fixed by law, we think does not
exceed two hundred and fifty Spanish dollars. It may be more.
Until the Americans intruded themselves into Cuba, contaminating
society wherever they located, black and colored gentlemen and ladies
of rank mingled indiscriminately in society. But since the advent
of these negro-haters, the colored people of Cuba have been reduced
nearly, if not quite, to the level of the miserable, degraded position
of the colored people of the United States, who almost consider it a
compliment and favor to receive the notice or smiles of a white.
Can we be satisfied, in this enlightened age of the world, amid the
advantages which now present themselves to us, with the degradation and
servility inherited from our fathers in this country? God forbid. And
we think the universal reply will be, We will not!
Half a century brings about a mighty change in the reality of existing
things and events of the world’s history. Fifty years ago our fathers
lived. For the most part they were sorely oppressed, debased, ignorant,
and incapable of comprehending the political relations of mankind--the
great machinery and motive-power by which the enlightened nations of
the earth were impelled forward. They knew but little, and ventured
to do nothing to enhance their own interests beyond that which their
oppressors taught them. They lived amidst a continual cloud of moral
obscurity; a fog of bewilderment and delusion, by which they were of
necessity compelled to confine themselves to a limited space--a _known_
locality--lest by one step beyond this they might have stumbled over a
precipice, ruining themselves beyond recovery in the fall.
We are their sons, but not the same individuals; neither do we live in
the same period with them. That which suited them, does not suit us;
and that with which they may have been contented, will not satisfy us.
Without education, they were ignorant of the world, and fearful of
adventure. With education, we are conversant with its geography,
history, and nations, and delight in its enterprises and
responsibilities. They once were held as slaves; to such a condition
we never could be reduced. They were content with privileges; we will
be satisfied with nothing less than rights. They felt themselves
happy to be permitted to beg for rights; we demand them as an innate
inheritance. They considered themselves favored to live by sufferance;
we reject it as a degradation. A subordinate position was all they
asked for; we claim entire equality or nothing. The relation of master
and slave was innocently acknowledged by them; we deny the right
as such, and pronounce the relation as the basest injustice that
ever scourged the earth and cursed the human family. They admitted
themselves to be inferiors; we barely acknowledge the whites as equals,
perhaps not in every particular. They lamented their irrecoverable
fate, and incapacity to redeem themselves and their race. We rejoice
that, as their sons, it is our happy lot and high mission to
accomplish that which they desired, and would have done, but failed for
the want of ability to do.
Let no intelligent man or woman, then, among us be found at the present
day, exulting in the degradation that our enslaved parents would gladly
have rid themselves had they had the intelligence and qualifications to
accomplish their designs. Let none be found to shield themselves behind
the plea of our brother bondmen in ignorance, that we know not _what_
to do, nor _where_ to go. We are no longer slaves, as were our fathers,
but freemen; fully qualified to meet our oppressors in every relation
which belongs to the elevation of man, the establishment, sustenance,
and perpetuity of a nation. And such a position, by the help of God our
common Father, we are determined to take and maintain.
There is but one question presents itself for our serious
consideration, upon which we _must_ give a decisive reply: Will
we transmit, as an inheritance to our children, the blessings of
unrestricted civil liberty, or shall we entail upon them, as our only
political legacy, the degradation and oppression left us by our fathers?
Shall we be persuaded that we can live and prosper nowhere but under
the authority and power of our North American white oppressors? that
this (the United States) is the country most, if not the only one,
favorable to our improvement and progress? Are we willing to admit
that we are incapable of self-government, establishing for ourselves
such political privileges, and making such internal improvements as
we delight to enjoy, after American white men have made them for
themselves?
No! Neither is it true that the United States is the country best
adapted to _our_ improvement. But that country is the best in which our
manhood--morally, mentally, and physically--can be _best developed_;
in which we have an untrammelled right to the enjoyment of civil and
religious liberty; and the West Indies, Central and South America,
present now such advantages, superiorly preferable to all other
countries.
That the continent of America was designed by Providence as a reserved
asylum for the various oppressed people of the earth, of all races, to
us seems very apparent.
From the earliest period after the discovery, various nations sent a
representative here, either as adventurers and speculators, or employed
laborers, seamen, or soldiers, hired to work for their employers. And
among the earliest and most numerous class who found their way to the
New World were those of the African race. And it has been ascertained
to our minds, beyond a doubt, that when the continent was discovered,
there were found in the West Indies and Central America tribes of the
black race, fine looking people, having the usual characteristics
of color and hair, identifying them as being originally of the
African race; no doubt, being a remnant of the Africans who, with the
Carthaginian expedition, were adventitiously cast upon this continent,
in their memorable adventure to the “Great Island,” after sailing many
miles distant to the west of the “Pillars of Hercules,”--the present
Straits of Gibraltar.
We would not be thought to be superstitious, when we say, that in all
this we can “see the finger of God.” Is it not worthy of a notice here,
that while the ingress of foreign whites to this continent has been
voluntary and constant, and that of the blacks involuntary and but
occasional, yet the whites in the southern part have _decreased_ in
numbers, _degenerated_ in character, and become mentally and physically
_enervated_ and imbecile; while the blacks and colored people have
studiously _increased_ in numbers, _regenerated_ in character, and have
grown mentally and physically vigorous and active, developing every
function of their manhood, and are now, in their elementary character,
decidedly superior to the white race? So, then, the white race could
never successfully occupy the southern portion of the continent;
they must, of necessity, every generation, be repeopled from another
quarter of the globe. The fatal error committed by the Spaniards, under
Pizarro, was the attempt to exterminate the Incas and Peruvians, and
fill their places by European whites. The Peruvian Indians, a hale,
hardy, vigorous, intellectual race of people, were succeeded by those
who soon became idle, vicious, degenerated, and imbecile. But Peru,
like all the other South American states, is regaining her former
potency, just in proportion as the European race decreases among them.
All the labor of the country is performed by the aboriginal natives
and the blacks, the few Europeans there being the merest excrescences
on the body politic--consuming drones in the social hive.
Had we no other claims than those set forth in a foregoing part of this
address, they are sufficient to induce every black and colored person
to remain on this continent, unshaken and unmoved.
But the West Indians, Central and South Americans, are a noble race
of people; generous, sociable, and tractable--just the people with
whom we desire to unite; who are susceptible of progress, improvement,
and reform of every kind. They now desire all the improvements of
North America, but being justly jealous of their rights, they have
no confidence in the whites of the United States, and consequently
peremptorily refuse to permit an indiscriminate settlement among them
of this class of people; but placing every confidence in the black and
colored people of North America.
The example of the unjust invasion and forcible seizure of a large
portion of the territory of Mexico is still fresh in their memory; and
the oppressive disfranchisement of a large number of native Mexicans,
by the Americans,--because of the color and race of the natives,--will
continue to rankle in the bosom of the people of those countries, and
prove a sufficient barrier henceforth against the inroads of North
American whites among them.
Upon the American continent, then, we are determined to remain despite
every opposition that may be urged against us.
You will doubtless be asked,--and that, too, with an air of
seriousness,--why, if desirable to remain on this continent, not be
content to remain _in_ the United States. The objections to this--and
potent reasons, too, in our estimation--have already been clearly shown.
But notwithstanding all this, were there still any rational, nay, even
the most futile grounds for hope, we still might be stupid enough to
be content to remain, and yet through another period of unexampled
patience and suffering, continue meekly to drag the galling yoke and
clank the chain of servility and degradation. But whether or not in
this God is to be thanked and Heaven blessed, we are not permitted,
despite our willingness and stupidity, to indulge even the most
distant glimmer of a hope of attaining to the level of a well-protected
slave.
For years we have been studiously and jealously observing the course
of political events and policy on the part of this country, both in
a national and individual state capacity, as pursued towards the
colored people. And he who, in the midst of them, can live without
observation, is either excusably ignorant, or reprehensibly deceptious
and untrustworthy.
We deem it entirely unnecessary to tax you with anything like the
history of even one chapter of the unequalled infamies perpetrated on
the part of the various states, and national decrees, by legislation,
against us. But we shall call your particular attention to the more
recent acts of the United States; because, whatever privileges we may
enjoy in any individual state, will avail nothing when not recognized
as such by the United States.
When the condition of the inhabitants of any country is fixed by
legal grades of distinction, this condition can never be changed
except by express legislation. And it is the height of folly to expect
such express legislation, except by the inevitable force of some
irresistible internal political pressure. The force necessary to this
imperative demand on our part we never can obtain, because of our
numerical feebleness.
Were the interests of the common people identical with ours, we, in
this, might succeed, because we, as a class, would then be numerically
the superior. But this is not a question of the rich against the poor,
nor the common people against the higher classes, but a question of
white against black--every white person, by legal right, being held
superior to a black or colored person.
In Russia, the common people might obtain an equality with the
aristocracy, because, of the sixty-five millions of her population,
forty-five millions are serfs or peasants; leaving but twenty millions
of the higher classes--royalty, nobility, and all included.
The rights of no oppressed people have ever yet been obtained by a
voluntary act of justice on the part of the oppressors. Christians,
philanthropists, and moralists may preach, argue, and philosophize as
they may to the contrary: facts are against them. Voluntary acts, it
is true, which are in themselves just, may sometimes take place on the
part of the oppressor; but these are always actuated by the force of
some outward circumstances of self-interest equal to a compulsion.
The boasted liberties of the American people were established by a
constitution, borrowed from and modelled after the British _magna
charta_. And this great charter of British liberty, so much boasted of
and vaunted as a model bill of rights, was obtained only by force and
compulsion.
The barons, an order of noblemen, under the reign of King John,
becoming dissatisfied at the terms submitted to by their sovereign,
which necessarily brought degradation upon themselves,--terms
prescribed by the insolent Pope Innocent III., the haughty sovereign
Pontiff of Rome,--summoned his majesty to meet them on the plains of
the memorable meadow of Runnymede, where, presenting to him their own
Bill of Rights--a bill dictated by themselves, and drawn up by their
own hands--at the unsheathed points of a thousand glittering swords,
they commanded him, against his will, to sign the extraordinary
document. There was no alternative: he must either do or die. With a
puerile timidity, he leaned forward his rather commanding but imbecile
person, and with a trembling hand and single dash of the pen, the name
KING JOHN stood forth in bold relief sending more terror throughout the
world than the mystic handwriting of Heaven throughout the dominions
of Nebuchadnezzar, blazing on the walls of Babylon. A consternation,
not because of the _name_ of the king, but because of the rights of
_others_, which that name acknowledged.
The king, however, soon became dissatisfied, and determining on a
revocation of the act,--an act done entirely contrary to his will,--at
the head of a formidable army spread fire and sword throughout the
kingdom.
But the barons, though compelled to leave their castles, their houses
and homes, and fly for their lives, could not be induced to undo that
which they had so nobly done--the achievement of their rights and
privileges. Hence the act has stood throughout all succeeding time,
because never annulled by those who _willed_ it.
It will be seen that the first great modern Bill of Rights was obtained
only by a force of arms: a resistance of the people against the
injustice and intolerance of their rulers. We say the people--because
that which the barons demanded for themselves, was afterwards extended
to the common people. Their only hope was based on their _superiority
of numbers_.
But can we, in this country, hope for as much? Certainly not. Our case
is a hopeless one. There was but _one_ John, with his few sprigs of
adhering royalty; and but _one_ heart, at which the threatening points
of their swords were directed by a thousand barons; while in our case,
there is but a handful of the oppressed, without a sword to point, and
_twenty millions_ of Johns or Jonathans--as you please--with as many
hearts, tenfold more relentless than that of Prince John Lackland, and
as deceptious and hypocritical as the Italian heart of Innocent III.
Where, then, is our hope of success in this country? Upon what is
it based? Upon what principle of political policy and sagacious
discernment do our political leaders and acknowledged great
men--colored men we mean--justify themselves by telling us, and
insisting that we shall believe them, and submit to what they say--to
be patient, remain where we are; that there is a “bright prospect and
glorious future” before us in this country! May Heaven open our eyes
from their Bartimean obscurity.
But we call your attention to another point of our political
degradation--the acts of state and general governments.
In a few of the states, as in New York, the colored inhabitants have
a partial privilege of voting a white man into office. This privilege
is based on a property qualification of two hundred and fifty dollars
worth of real estate. In others, as in Ohio, in the absence of organic
provision, the privilege is granted by judicial decision, based on a
ratio of blood, of an admixture of more than one half white; while in
many of the states there is no privilege allowed, either partial or
unrestricted.
The policy of the above-named states will be seen and detected at
a glance, which, while seeming to extend immunities, is intended
especially for the object of degradation.
In the State of New York, for instance, there is a constitutional
distinction created among colored men,--almost necessarily compelling
one part to feel superior to the other,--while among the whites no such
distinctions dare be known. Also, in Ohio, there is a legal distinction
set up by an upstart judiciary, creating among the colored people a
privileged class by birth! All this must necessarily sever the cords of
union among us, creating almost insurmountable prejudices of the most
stupid and fatal kind, paralyzing the last bracing nerve which promised
to give us strength.
It is upon this same principle, and for the self-same object, that
the general government has long been endeavoring, and is at present
knowingly designing to effect a recognition of the independence of
the Dominican Republic, while disparagingly refusing to recognize the
independence of the Haytien nation--a people four fold greater in
numbers, wealth, and power. The Haytiens, it is pretended, are refused
because they are _negroes_; while the Dominicans, as is well known
to all who are familiar with the geography, history, and political
relations of that people, are identical--except in language, they
speaking the Spanish tongue--with those of the Haytiens; being composed
of negroes and a mixed race. The government may shield itself by the
plea that it is not familiar with the origin of those people. To this
we have but to reply, that if the government is thus ignorant of the
relations of its near neighbors, it is the height of presumption, and
no small degree of assurance, for it to set up itself as capable of
prescribing terms to the one, or conditions to the other.
Should they accomplish their object, they then will have succeeded
in forever establishing a barrier of impassable separation, by
the creation of a political distinction between those peoples, of
superiority and inferiority of origin or national existence. Here,
then, is another stratagem of this most determined and untiring enemy
of our race--the government of the United States.
We come now to the crowning act of infamy on the part of the general
government towards the colored inhabitants of the United States--an act
so vile in its nature, that rebellion against its demands should be
promptly made in every attempt to enforce its infernal provisions.
In the history of national existence, there is not to be found a
parallel to the tantalizing insult and aggravating despotism of the
provisions of Millard Fillmore’s Fugitive Slave Bill, passed by the
Thirty-third Congress of the United States, with the approbation of a
majority of the American people, in the year of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ eighteen hundred and fifty.
This bill had but one object in its provisions, which was fully
accomplished in its passage, that is, the reduction of every colored
person in the United States--save those who carry free papers of
emancipation, or bills of sale from former claimants or owners--to a
state of relative _slavery_; placing each and every one of us at the
_disposal of any and every white_ who might choose to _claim_ us,
and the caprice of any and every upstart knave bearing the title of
“commissioner.”
Did any of you, fellow-countrymen, reside in a country, the provisions
of whose laws were such that any person of a certain class, who,
whenever he, she, or they pleased, might come forward, lay a claim
to, make oath before (it might be) some stupid and heartless person,
authorized to decide in such cases, and take, at their option, your
horse, cow, sheep, house and lot, or any other property, bought and
paid for by your own earnings,--the result of your personal toil and
labor,--would you be willing, or could you be induced by any reasoning,
however great the source from which it came, to remain in that country?
We pause, fellow-countrymen, for a reply.
If there be not one yea, of how much more importance, then, is your
_own personal safety_ than that of property? Of how much more concern
is the safety of a wife or husband, than that of a cow or horse; a
child, than a sheep; the destiny of your family, to that of a house and
lot?
And yet this is precisely our condition. Any one of us, at any moment,
is liable to be _claimed_, _seized_, and _taken_ into custody by any
white, as his or her property--to be _enslaved for life_--and there is
no remedy, because it is the _law of the land_! And we dare predict,
and take this favorable opportunity to forewarn you, fellow-countrymen,
that the time is not far distant, when there will be carried on by the
white men of this nation an extensive commerce in the persons of what
now compose the free colored people of the North. We forewarn you,
that the general enslavement of the whole of this class of people is
now being contemplated by the whites.
At present, we are liable to enslavement at any moment, provided we are
taken _away_ from our homes. But we dare venture further to forewarn
you, that the scheme is in mature contemplation, and has even been
mooted in high places, of harmonizing the two discordant political
divisions in the country by again reducing the free to slave states.
The completion of this atrocious scheme only becomes necessary for each
and every one of us to find an owner and master at our own doors. Let
the general government but pass such a law, and the states will comply
as an act of harmony. Let the South but _demand_ it, and the North will
comply as a _duty_ of compromise.
If Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts can be found arming their
sons as watch-dogs for Southern slave hunters; if the United States
may, with impunity, garrison with troops the court-house of the freest
city in America; blockade the streets; station armed ruffians of
dragoons, and spiked artillery in hostile awe of the people; if free,
white, high-born and bred gentlemen of Boston and New York are smitten
down to the earth,[10] refused an entrance on professional business
into the court-houses, until inspected by a slave hunter and his
counsel, all to put down the liberty of the black man, then, indeed, is
there no hope for us in this country!
It is, fellow-countrymen, a fixed fact, as indelible as the covenant of
God in the heavens, that the colored people of these United States are
the slaves of any white person who may choose to claim them!
What safety or guarantee have we for ourselves or families? Let us, for
a moment, examine this point.
Supposing some hired spy of the slave power residing in Illinois,
whom, for illustration, we shall call Stephen A., Counsellor B., a
mercenary hireling of New York, and Commissioner C., a slave catcher of
Pennsylvania, should take umbrage at the acts or doings of any colored
person or persons in a free state; they may, with impunity, send or go
on their knight errantry to the South (as did a hireling of the slave
power in New York--a lawyer by profession), give a description of
such person or persons, and an agent with warrants may be immediately
despatched to swear them into slavery forever.
We tell you, fellow-countrymen, any one of you here assembled--your
humble committee who report to you this paper--may, by the laws of this
land, be seized, whatever the circumstances of his birth, whether he
descends from free or slave parents--whether born north or south of
Mason and Dixon’s line--and ere the setting of another sun, be speeding
his way to that living sepulchre and death-chamber of our race--the
curse and scourge of this country--the southern part of the United
States. This is not idle speculation, but living, naked, undisguised
truth.
A member of your committee has received a letter from a gentleman of
respectability and standing in the South, who writes to the following
effect. We copy his own words:--
“There are, at this moment, as I was to-day informed by
Colonel W., one of our first magistrates in this city, a gang
of from twenty-five to thirty vagabonds of poor white men,
who, for twenty-five dollars a head, clear of all expenses,
are ready and willing to go to the North, make acquaintance
with the blacks in various places, send their descriptions to
unprincipled slaveholders here,--for there are many of this
kind to be found among the poorer class of masters,--and swear
them into bondage. So the free blacks, as well as fugitive
slaves, will have to keep a sharp watch over themselves to get
clear of this scheme to enslave them.”
Here, then, you have but a paragraph in the great volume of this
political crusade and legislative pirating by the American people over
the rights and privileges of the colored inhabitants of the country.
If this be but a paragraph,--for such it is in truth,--what must
be the contents when the whole history is divulged! Never will the
contents of this dreadful record of crime, corruption, and oppression
be fully revealed, until the trump of God shall proclaim the universal
summons to judgment. Then, and then alone, shall the whole truth be
acknowledged, when the doom of the criminal shall be forever sealed.
We desire not to be sentimental, but rather would be political; and
therefore call your attention to another point--a point already
referred to.
In giving the statistics of various countries, and preferences to many
places herein mentioned, as points of destination in emigration, we
have said little or nothing concerning the present governments, the
various state departments, nor the condition of society among the
people.
This is not the province of your committee, but the legitimate office
of a Board of Foreign Commissioners, whom there is no doubt will be
created by the convention, with provisions and instructions to report
thereon, in due season, of their mission.
With a few additional remarks on the subject of the British Provinces
of North America, we shall have done our duty, and completed, for the
time being, the arduous, important, and momentous task assigned to us.
The British Provinces of North America, especially Canada
West,--formerly called Upper Canada,--in climate, soil, productions,
and the usual prospects for internal improvements, are equal, if not
superior, to any northern part of the continent. And for these very
reasons, aside from their contiguity to the northern part of the United
States,--and consequent facility for the escape of the slaves from the
South,--we certainly should prefer them as a place of destination. We
love the Canadas, and admire their laws, because, as British Provinces,
there is no difference known among the people--no distinction of
race. And we deem it a duty to recommend, that for the present, as
a temporary asylum, it is certainly advisable for every colored
person, who, desiring to emigrate, and is not prepared for any other
destination, to locate in Canada West.
Every advantage on our part should be now taken of the opportunity of
_obtaining_ LANDS, while they are to be had cheap, and on the most easy
conditions, from the government.
Even those who never contemplate a removal from this country of chains,
it will be their best interest and greatest advantage to procure
lands in the Canadian Provinces. It will be an easy, profitable, and
safe investment, even should they never occupy nor yet see them. We
shall then be but doing what the whites in the United States have for
years been engaged in--securing unsettled lands in the territories,
previous to their enhancement in value, by the force of settlement
and progressive neighboring improvements. There are also at present
great openings for colored people to enter into the various industrial
departments of business operations: laborers, mechanics, teachers,
merchants, and shop-keepers, and professional men of every kind. These
places are now open, as much to the colored as the white man, in
Canada, with little or no opposition to his progress; at least in the
character of prejudicial preferences on account of race. And all of
these, without any hesitancy, do we most cheerfully recommend to the
colored inhabitants of the United States.
But our preference to other places over the Canadas has been cursorily
stated in the foregoing part of this paper; and since the writing
of that part, it would seem that the predictions or apprehensions
concerning the Provinces are about to be verified by the British
Parliament and Home Government themselves. They have virtually
conceded, and openly expressed it--Lord Brougham in the lead--that the
British Provinces of North America must, ere long, cease to be a part
of the British domain, and become annexed to the United States.
It is needless--however much we may regret the necessity of its
acknowledgment--for us to stop our ears, shut our eyes, and stultify
our senses against the truth in this matter; since, by so doing, it
does not alter the case. Every political movement, both in England and
the United States, favors such an issue, and the sooner we acknowledge
it, the better it will be for our cause, ourselves individually, and
the destiny of our people in this country.
These Provinces have long been burdensome to the British nation, and
her statesmen have long since discovered and decided as an indisputable
predicate in political economy, that any province as an independent
state, is more profitable in a commercial consideration to a country
than when depending as one of its colonies. As a child to the parent,
or an apprentice to his master, so is a colony to a state. And as the
man who enters into business is to the manufacturer and importer, so is
the colony which becomes an independent state to the country from which
it recedes.
Great Britain is decidedly a commercial and money-making nation, and
counts closely on her commercial relations with any country. That
nation or people which puts the largest amount of money into her
coffers, are the people who may expect to obtain her greatest favors.
This the Americans do; consequently--and we candidly ask you to mark
the prediction--the British will interpose little or no obstructions
to the Canadas, Cuba, or any other province or colony contiguous to
this country, falling into the American Union; except only in such
cases where there would be a compromise of her honor. And in the event
of a seizure of any of these, there would be no necessity for such a
sacrifice; it could readily be avoided by diplomacy.
Then there is little hope for us on this continent, short of those
places where, by reason of their numbers, there is the greatest
combination of strength and interests on the part of the colored race.
We have ventured to predict a reduction of the now nominally free into
slave states. Already has this “reign of terror” and dreadful work of
destruction commenced. We give you the quotation from a Mississippi
paper, which will readily be admitted as authority in this case:--
“Two years ago a law was passed by the California legislature,
granting _one year_ to the owners of slaves carried into the
territory previous to the adoption of the constitution, to
remove them beyond the limits of the state. Last year the
provision of this law _was extended twelve months longer_.
We learn by the late California papers that a bill has just
passed the Assembly, by a vote of 33 to 21, _continuing
the same law in force until 1855_. The provisions of this
bill embraces _slaves who have been carried to California
since the adoption of her constitution_, as well as those
who were there previously. The large majority by which it
passed, and the opinions advanced during the discussion,
_indicates a more favorable state of sentiment in regard to
the rights of slaveholders in California than we supposed
existed_.”--_Mississippian._
No one who is a general and intelligent observer of the politics of
this country, will after reading this, doubt for a moment the final
result.
At present there is a proposition under consideration in California
to authorize the holding of a convention to amend the constitution of
that state, which doubtless will be carried into effect; when there is
no doubt that a clause will be inserted, granting the right to _hold
slaves at discretion_ in the state. This being done, it will meet with
general favor throughout the country by the American people, and the
_policy be adopted on the state’s rights principle_. This alone is
necessary, in addition to the insufferable Fugitive Slave Law, and the
recent nefarious Nebraska Bill,--which is based upon this very boasted
American policy of the state’s rights principle,--to reduce the free
to slave states, without a murmur from the people. And did not the
Nebraska Bill disrespect the feelings and infringe upon the political
rights of Northern _white_ people, its adoption would be hailed with
loud shouts of approbation, from Portland, Maine, to San Francisco.
That, then, which is left for us to do, is to _secure_ our liberty; a
position which shall fully _warrant_ us _against_ the _liability_ of
such monstrous political crusades and riotous invasions of our rights.
Nothing less than a national indemnity, indelibly fixed by virtue of
our own sovereign potency, will satisfy us as a redress of grievances
for the unparalleled wrongs, undisguised impositions, and unmitigated
oppression which we have suffered at the hands of this American people.
And what wise politician would otherwise conclude and determine? None,
we dare say. And a people who are incapable of this discernment and
precaution are incapable of self-government, and incompetent to direct
their own political destiny. For our own part, we spurn to treat for
liberty on any other terms or conditions.
It may not be inapplicable, in this particular place, to quote, from
high authority, language which has fallen under our notice since
this report has been under our consideration. The quotation is worth
nothing, except to show that the position assumed by us is a natural
one, which constitutes the essential basis of self-protection.
Said Earl Aberdeen recently, in the British House of Lords, when
referring to the great question which is now agitating Europe, “One
thing alone is certain, that the only way to obtain a sure and
honorable peace, is to _acquire a position_ which may _command_ it; and
to gain such a position, _every nerve and sinew_ of the empire should
be strained. The pickpocket who robs us is not to be let off because he
offers to restore our purse;” and his lordship might have justly added,
“should never thereafter be intrusted or confided in.”
The plea, doubtless, will be, as it already frequently has been raised,
that to remove from the United States, our slave brethren would be left
without a hope. They already find their way in large companies to the
Canadas, and they have only to be made sensible that there is as much
freedom for them South as there is North; as much protection in Mexico
as in Canada; and the fugitive slave will find it a much pleasanter
journey and more easy of access, to wend his way from Louisiana and
Arkansas to Mexico, than thousands of miles through the slaveholders
of the South and slave-catchers of the North to Canada. Once into
Mexico, and his farther exit to Central and South America and the West
Indies would be certain. There would be no obstructions whatever. No
miserable, half-starved, servile Northern slave-catchers by the way,
waiting, cap in hand, ready and willing to do the bidding of their
contemptible Southern masters.
No prisons nor court-houses, as slave-pens and garrisons, to secure the
fugitive and rendezvous the mercenary gangs, who are bought as military
on such occasions. No perjured marshals, bribed commissioners, nor
hireling counsel, who, spaniel-like, crouch at the feet of Southern
slaveholders, and cringingly tremble at the crack of their whip. No,
not as may be encountered throughout his northern flight, there are
none of these to be found or met with in his travels from the Bravo
del Norte to the dashing Orinoco--from the borders of Texas to the
boundaries of Peru.
Should anything occur to prevent a successful emigration to the
south--Central, South America, and the West Indies--we have no
hesitancy, rather than remain in the United States, the merest
subordinates and serviles of the whites, should the Canadas still
continue separate in their political relations from this country, to
recommend to the great body of our people to remove to Canada West,
where, being politically equal to the whites, physically united with
each other by a concentration of strength; when worse comes to worse,
we may be found, not as a scattered, weak, and impotent people, as we
now are separated from each other throughout the Union, but a united
and powerful body of freemen, mighty in politics, and terrible in
any conflict which might ensue, in the event of an attempt at the
disturbance of our political relations, domestic repose, and peaceful
firesides.
Now, fellow-countrymen, we have done. Into your ears have we recounted
your own sorrows; before your own eyes have we exhibited your wrongs;
into your own hands have we committed your own cause. If these should
prove inadequate to remedy this dreadful evil, to assuage this terrible
curse which has come upon us, the fault will be yours and not ours;
since we have offered you a healing balm for every sorely aggravated
wound.
MARTIN R. DELANY, Pa.
WILLIAM WEBB, Pa.
AUGUSTUS R. GREEN, Ohio.
EDWARD BUTLER, Mo.
H. S. DOUGLAS, La.
A. DUDLEY, Wis.
CONAWAY BARBOUR, Ky.
WM. J. FULLER, R. I.
WM. LAMBERT, Mich.
J. THEODORE HOLLY, N. Y.
T. A. WHITE, Ind.
JOHN A. WARREN, Canada.
FOOTNOTES
[1] This paper will be found on p. 327.
[2] This sword was a relic of the revolutionary war, presented by
Frederick the Great to General Washington, and was kept in the
Washington family until that time.
[3] Extract from the report of the proceedings of the fourth session of
the International Statistical Congress, held in London, July 16, 1860,
and the five following days:--
“_Opening Meeting of the Congress._
“At four o’clock His Royal Highness, the Prince Consort,
arrived at Somerset House, attended by the Earl Spencer, the
Lord Waterpark, Major General Hon. C. Grey, Colonel F. Seymour,
C. B., and Lieutenant Colonel Ponsonby. His Royal Highness
was received in the outer hall of King’s College by the Right
Hon. the President of the Board of Trade and the Right Hon.
W. Cowper, M. P., Vice-President of the Congress, the Earl of
Shaftesbury, the Earl Stanhope, Sir James Clark, Bart., Rev.
Dr. Jeff, Principal of King’s College, and Dr. Guy, and the
Secretaries, Dr. Farr, Mr. Valpy, and Mr. Hammack. A guard
of honor of the Queen’s (Westminster) Rifle Volunteers, with
the band of the corps, was in attendance to receive his Royal
Highness.
“Amongst the noblemen and gentlemen present were the
Honorary Vice-President, including the official delegates,
His Excellency the Count de Persigny, Ambassador of France;
His Excellency Monsieur Musurus, Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary of Turkey; Monsieur Sylvain Van de
Weyer, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of
Belgium; the Baron de Cetto, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of Bavaria; the Count de Bernstorff, Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Prussia; the
Commander de Carvalho Moreira, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of Brazil; George Mifflin Dallas, Esq., Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United
States of America; the Count Apponyi, Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary of Austria; the Count de Vitzthum,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Saxony;
Monsieur de La Rive, Envoy Extraordinary of Switzerland; Lord
Brougham, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Earl Stanhope, Lord John
Russell, M. P., Viscount Ebrington, Lord Monteagle, Lord
Wriothesley, Lord Harry Vane, M. P., the Lord Mayor, Mr.
Bouverie, M. P., Mr. Slaney, M. P., Sir John Bowring, Major
General Sir C. Paisley, Rear Admiral Fitz Roy, Colonel Sykes,
M. P., Right Hon. Joseph Napier, Right Hon. W. Hutt, M. P., Mr.
Monckton Milnes, M. P., Sir Roderick I. Murchison, Mr. Nassau,
Senior, Mr. Pollard Urquhart, M. P., Sir F. H. Goldsmid,
Bart., M. P., the Registrar General of England, the Registrar
General of Ireland, Sir R. M. Bromley, K. C. B., Mr. Caird,
M. P., Mr. Fonblanque, Mr. Crawfurd, Mr. Newmarch, Mr. Edwin
Chadwick, Mr. L. J. Leslie, Mr. S. Gaskell, Mr. J. Heywood,
Mr. Babbage, Alderman Salomans, M. P., Mr. Mowbray Morris,
Mr. T. Chambers, Mr. Lumley, Colonel Dawson, Dr. Babington,
Mr. J. Glaisher, Dr. Balfour, Dr. Sutherland, Mr. Hodge, Mr.
Edgar, Mr. Hastings, Mr. T. Webster, Mr. S. Redgrave, Mr. A.
Redgrave, Professor Leone Levi, Dr. R. D. Thomson, Mr. H. G.
Bohn, Mr. Hendricks, Sir Ranald Martin, C. B., Dr. Letheby,
Dr. McWilliam, C. B., Mr. Simon, Mr. Horace Mann, Mr. Hill
Williams, Mr. Panizzi, Mr. Tidd Pratt, Dr. Varrentrapp of
Frankfort, Dr. Neumann of Berlin, Dr. Mühry of Hanover,
Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy, Mr. F. Purdy, Dr. Norton Shaw, Mr.
A. Bonham Carter, Mr. R. Hunt, Mr. W. Clode, Chevalier Hebeler,
M. Koulomzine and M. Von Bouchen of Russia, M. Chatelain of
Paris, M. Carr van der Maeren, Le Chevalier Debrang, Mr. Peter
Hardy, Captain Sierakowski and Professor Kapoustine of Russia,
Dr. Otto Hübner, M. Coquerel, Professor Chicherin of Moscow,
Dr. Bialloblotzki, Mr. J. G. Cogswell, Mr. D. V. McLean, Dr.
Schwabe of Berlin, M. Villemsens of Paris, _Dr. Delany of
Canada_, Mr. H. Ayres, Mr. T. Michell, M. Grigorieff of St.
Petersburg, the President of the College of Physicians, the
President of the College of Surgeons, Dr. Bryson, Mr. S. Brown,
Mr. Jellicoe, Mr. Yates, Mr. Holland, Dr. Greenhill, Captain
D. Galton, Mr. Thwaites, and a large body of gentlemen who had
been specially invited to take part in the proceedings of the
Congress.”
[4] Here, as elsewhere mentioned, Judge Longstreet is again in error,
he not having remained long enough to make himself acquainted with the
Congress. Mr. Dallas was not a “complimentary visitor,” abstractly
considered, as the judge’s reference would infer, but, by general
rule, an _ex-officio_ member of the Congress,--a vice president,--as
was every envoy extraordinary, or minister plenipotentiary to her
majesty’s court, and consequently had taken his seat as one of the high
officials of an International (the World’s) Congress, and not Great
Britain’s, much less England’s Congress. The Congress belonged as much
to Mr. Dallas as to his lordship, and, may it be permitted, even his
royal highness. The great assembly simply sat by turn of appointment in
Great Britain, and doubtless in time will come to the United States,
especially now that they have reached the point of consummate of
national justice.
[5] As to the insulting allusion on page 114, presented for the
consideration of the British public, that the American slaveholders
could “beatify them with precisely four millions such as myself,”
alluding to their degraded, uneducated slaves, I am admonished against
retaliating in a manner which would otherwise be justifiable in view of
the great changes brought about by the mistaken cherished ideas of such
gentlemen as Judge Longstreet, and the consequent effects everywhere
throughout the South, imploringly staring us in the face.
And in reply to the inquiry, page 114, “To what section does he belong?
I do not find him allotted to either,” a reply will be found in the
_Transactions of the International Statistical Congress_, London, 1860;
and had he remained to “belong to a section” at all, he would have been
clear of the historical blunder which he is found to have made.
And finally, regarding the singular inquiry, page 114, “To how many
of the entertainments has he been invited?” were I capable of either
weakness or vanity in that direction, I might allude to them, as does
the learned judge, page 115, but would rather refer him to those to
whom he appeals, as having been complimented by, and simply conclude
by the allusion that had he himself been at all the entertainments,
he could not have failed to see Dr. Delany at many. The uncalled-for
allusion to the reception given by his royal highness has been
previously replied to.
[6] His lordship is in error in regard to the birthplace, as elsewhere
shown.
[7] See page 327.
[8] Mr. Shadd was elected Vice-President in the place of Mr. Bailey,
who left the Province for New Caledonia.
[9] Elihu Burritt.
[10] John Jay, Esq., of New York, son of the late distinguished jurist,
Hon. William Jay, was, in 1852, as the counsel of a fugitive slave,
brutally assaulted and struck in the face by the slave-catching agent
and counsel, Busteed.
Also, Mr. Dana, an honorable gentleman, counsel for the fugitive
Burns, one of the first literary men of Boston, was arrested on his
entrance into the court-house, and not permitted to pass the guard of
slave-catchers, till the slave agent and counsel, Loring, together
with the overseer, Suttle, _inspected_ him, and ordered that he might
be _allowed_ to pass in! After which, in passing along the street, Mr.
Dana was ruffianly assaulted and murderously felled to the earth by the
minions of the dastardly Southern overseer.
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