I leave this matter without comment, and only request the reader to ask
himself from whence come these exhibitions? Why this utter annihilation
of every particle of moral sense that places man above the brute? And
why this degradation of their own feelings, and want of self-respect?
And yet to answer these questions, you can only say, that they are the
_legitimate_ fruits of slavery--of man being empowered by the laws of
his country to hold his fellow beings in bondage,--and wherever this
_might_ creates the _right_, these things will be prominent in the
social relations. I know it is said that under this _blessed_ system
the slaves enjoy themselves, are contented and happy, and will “hug
their chains.” And I know too that this assertion is _false_ in every
particular, and that those who make it do so with the full knowledge of
the falsehood which they utter; for it is thrown back in his face in
language that he cannot misunderstand, every time he looks upon a slave
in the deep agony of spirit which he is witness to every day, coming up
from the dark recesses of that poor slave’s heart that he has stricken
down by the laws of the land, and kneels cowering before him like a
dog! If you do not believe this, just turn the scene upon yourself,
and let the laws of the slave code and the condition of the slave come
down upon you for a few short months, and then go among and tell your
fellow citizens whether these things are true, and whether these are
only a few “_isolated_” cases of these wrongs, and whether you think
the picture is overdrawn and embellished with ideal matter. But before
you take this load upon yourself, I can tell you this is no fancy
sketch; for the poet’s wild and delirious imagination has not power
to portray these scenes with the colors of fancy; for the breathings
of the deep agonies of the human soul cannot be portrayed by the
impotence of thoughts uttered in language from the tongue of man. For
I have seen the aged slave mother, who had dragged through a life of
prostitution, and had around her daughters, who were being driven out
into the same ceaseless round of degradation. And I have witnessed a
mother’s feelings poured out from the fountain of tears, and have heard
her mourn and lament that the _monster_ death had not taken her child
before she had become the fit sport and prey of the _monster_ man.
And in view of such a life, I have heard the slave mother exult and
rejoice, as they ever do, while her daughter and child lay before her a
cold and stiffened corpse. And yet you may think this is an idle tale,
but when you have seen what I have often witnessed, the slave mother
look on her child who had just closed its eyes in death, and say, “I
am glad she is dead--master has been trying to sell her for a long
time, and she is now well sold. God has got her, and he is a good kind
master, and I am glad she has gone, for she will not have to suffer
misery, misery, as the poor slaves do.” And this is literally true
word for word, as I heard uttered by a slave mother in New Orleans,
over the corpse of her daughter about twelve years old. And this is
the universal expression of feeling with the slave mothers when their
children die. They never mourn nor weep, but rejoice and seem happy.
I now leave all the facts and representations with the reader, with the
most positive assurance that they are true in every particular, and so
far as the subject of slavery is presented, human language contains no
power adequate to portray the reality to the conception of him who has
never witnessed it. It must be seen and _heard_ to be realized. You
must look over a Sugar or Cotton plantation--you must look into the
slave pens in the city of New Orleans--you must stand in the Auction
market on the day of sale, and hear the mother plead that her child
may not be torn from her. You must witness brothers and sisters bid
each other farewell, _forever too_, as they follow their new master off
to an early and premature grave. You must witness the deep agony of
spirit, deeper than can be called up from the fountain of tears. You
must witness the sundering of kindred ties, and hear the happy mother
rejoice that her child is dead. All this you must witness, and then
the long days of unending toil--the cruelties--the tortures of the
lash--the murders by the club, the knife and the pistol, and when you
have seen these things you can realize what slavery is; but you cannot
_feel_ what it is, for none but a slave can do this, and you cannot
tell it, nor describe it to him who has not witnessed it.
In view of the institution of slavery in all its phrases, there is
not a redeeming feature--not one bright spot--not one solitary rule
or regulation in the whole system, can be offered as an apology for
its abuses, and from beginning to end it is one scene of pollution
and death; for its base is _avarice_, its superstructure _idleness_,
its summit _licentiousness_, and can there be any thing but wrong
in a fabric sustained by such principles? And I ask if the _moral
sentiment_, the spirit of _Liberty_, and the promptings of humanity,
have nothing to do with this mountain of wrongs--this great national
curse--this damning shame, that shocks with a blush the countenance of
every American when he is pointed to, and taunted with this libel upon
the genius of our institutions--upon humanity itself? And must American
citizens forever forbear and submit to these outrages?--And must the
philanthropist seal in perpetual silence his lips, and never plead for
the wrongs of his crushed and bleeding fellow men? Is moral indignation
never to be aroused only by crimes committed at our own door? Are
_Liberty_ and _Freedom_ mere empty sounds to be forever stayed by the
power of tyrants, and the threats of those who trample them under their
feet? And must the American citizen forever suffer the disgrace, and
be taunted by this libel upon the Declaration of Independence? If this
must be--if the patriot, the philanthropist, and the christian, can
submit to these things and discharge their duty to themselves, to their
God and their country, then more criminal than the slaveholder will
they be, for they must answer it to the bar of their own conscience,
as well as to the spirit of the age in which they live. And if they
are now idle their condemnation will be overwhelming. But this cannot
be so--the warning note has gone out--“Slavery must fall.” The eyes
of the civilized world are upon it. The philanthropist, the patriot
and the christian, are bearing down upon it with a force of moral
power that never fail to crush the wrong and drive the evil from the
land. And blind indeed must that man be who cannot see the tendencies
of the spirit of the age. And dark and benighted must he be, who has
not yet learned that the people of this country have determined that
this mountain of wrong, this curse of all curses, shall be driven from
among us, for it has been seized hold of by the divine aspirations
of the human soul, and no power on earth can stay it. That morbid
sensibility, that fawning sycophant servility to the slave power, that
fearful foreboding of the future, that came up a few years ago against
the light and truth, that demonstrated itself in burnings, mobs and
riots, have become changed, and in place of madness and alarms the
spirit of _justice_ and LIBERTY have become the ruling passions of the
day. EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAWS is engraven upon the escutcheon of every
shield, and it cannot be stricken out by the breath of an orator, nor
made less potent by the cry of disunion. The slaveholders may meet in
convention--manifesto may follow manifesto, from the great champion of
slavery and bondage--the threat and cry of dissolution may be thrown
out to call up the servility and obsequiousness of the North, to check
the current of thought and speech that is bearing down so fearless upon
every part of this great citadel--the “peculiar institution” may be
held up as guarded by the sanctity of age and law, and constitutional
entrenchments, but “IT IS TOO LATE,” and they will be swept away by the
MORAL SENSE which is aroused in a spirit of action through the length
and breadth of this land. And the evidence that this work has begun,
is that the slaveholders themselves have become aroused, and they see
in letters of “livid light” its doom and destiny, written upon the
walls--MENE, MENE, TEKEL. And although they are lashing themselves into
phrenzy and madness, yet when the storm of passion shall become hushed,
and the “second sober thought” prompted by reason and justice comes
over them, they will be caught up by the spirit of the age--their moral
sensibilities will be awakened, and while the hoary headed fabric is
trembling to its base, they will seize its trembling pillars and tear
them away, and thus hasten its fall; and when the deed is done, they
will look over the ruins with amazement, and wonder how they could
“live and breathe” amid those scenes of pollution and death.
Transcriber's Note:
Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
Text that was in small caps is in all caps.
- Some inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
- Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.
- Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following
changes:
Page 6: "one at Natches" to "one at Natchez"
Page 8: "fit instrument to dot his work" to "fit instrument to do this
work"
Page 10: "the colony passed, op" to "the colony passed, up"
Page 11: "The purchase of Louisania" to "The purchase of Louisiana"
Page 12: "to mingle with the heterogenous" to "to mingle with the
heterogeneous"
Page 13: "the warm-hearted son of the Emerated" to "the warm-hearted
son of the Emerald"
Page 13: "have borne such a conspicous" to "have borne such a
conspicuous"
Page 15: "a bailable case of 3,000" to "a bailable case of $3,000"
Page 16: "let him off at Walnut hills" to "let him off at Walnut Hills"
Page 17: "settled by business" to "settled my business"
Page 19: "forbidding any distincttion" to "forbidding any distinction"
Page 20: "of the most deadly, poisonons" to "of the most deadly,
poisonous"
Page 20: "meets a ridge at 'Baton Rogue'" to "meets a ridge at 'Baton
Rouge'"
Page 21: "state of feverish inflamation" to "state of feverish
inflammation"
Page 29: "up smart rows of bran" to "up smart rows of brand"
Page 30: "_cafes_ and _restaurats_" to "_cafes_ and _restaurants_"
Page 45: "a large portion ofthese" to "a large portion of these"
Page 50: "writhings of maddenning" to "writhings of maddening"
Page 52: "drives on the maddenning" to "drives on the maddening"
Page 53: "of any millionare" to "of any millionaire"
Page 56: "Tugg’d at my heart, aud" to "Tugg’d at my heart, and"
Page 65: "that this singular phenomonon" to "that this singular
phenomenon"
Page 76: "every day life in the slavs States" to "every day life in
the slave States"