were now commenced. These were efficiently aided by a letter to the
American people, dated Lisbon, July 11, 1794, from Colonel Humphreys,
the friend and companion of Washington, and at that time our minister to
Portugal. Taking advantage of the general interest in lotteries, and
particularly of the custom, not then condemned, of resorting to these as
a mode of obtaining money for literary or benevolent purposes, he
suggested a grand lottery, sanctioned by the United States, or
particular lotteries in the individual states, in order to obtain the
means required to purchase the freedom of our countrymen. He then asks,
"Is there within the limits of these United States an individual who
will not cheerfully contribute, in proportion to his means, to carry it
into effect? By the peculiar blessings of freedom which you enjoy, by
the disinterested sacrifices you made for its attainment, by the
patriotic blood of those martyrs of liberty who died to secure your
independence, and by all the tender ties of nature, let me conjure you
once more to snatch your unfortunate countrymen from fetters, dungeons,
and death."
This appeal was followed shortly after by a petition from the American
captives in Algiers, addressed to the ministers of the gospel of every
denomination throughout the United States, praying their help in the
sacred cause of Emancipation. It begins by an allusion to the day of
national thanksgiving appointed by President Washington, and proceeds to
ask the clergy to set apart the Sunday preceding that day for sermons,
to be delivered contemporaneously throughout the country in behalf of
their brethren in bonds.[94]
"_Reverend and Respected_,--
"On Thursday, the 19th of February, 1795, you are enjoined by
the President of the United States of America to appear in the
various temples of that God who heareth the groaning of the
prisoner, and in mercy remembereth those who are appointed to
die.
"Nor are ye to assemble alone; for on this, the high day of
continental thanksgiving, all the religious societies and
denominations throughout the Union, and all persons whomsoever
within the limits of the confederated States, are to enter the
courts of Jehovah, with their several pastors, and gratefully
to render unfeigned thanks to the Ruler of nations for the
manifold and signal mercies which distinguish your lot as a
people; in a more particular manner, commemorating your
exemption from foreign war; being greatly thankful for the
preservation of peace at home and abroad; and fervently
beseeching the kind Author of all these blessings graciously to
prolong them to you, and finally to render the United States of
America more and more an asylum for the unfortunate of every
clime under heaven.
"_Reverend and Respected_,--
"Most fervent are our daily prayers, breathed in the sincerity
of woes unspeakable; most ardent are the imbittered aspirations
of our afflicted spirits, that thus it may be in deed and in
truth. Although we are prisoners in a foreign land, although we
are far, very far from our native homes, although our harps are
hung upon the weeping willows of slavery, nevertheless America
is still preferred above our chiefest joy, and the last wish of
our departing souls shall be _her peace, her prosperity, her
liberty forever_. On this day, the day of festivity and
gladness, remember us, your unfortunate brethren, late members
of the family of freedom, now doomed to perpetual confinement.
_Pray, earnestly pray, that our grievous calamities may have a
gracious end. Supplicate the Father of mercies for the most
wretched of his offspring. Beseech the God of all consolation
to comfort us by the hope of final restoration. Implore the
Jesus whom you worship to open the house of the prison. Entreat
the Christ whom you adore to let the miserable captives go
free._
"_Reverend and Respected_,--
"It is not your prayers alone, although of much avail, which we
beg on the bending knee of sufferance, galled by the corroding
fetters of slavery. We conjure you by the bowels of the mercies
of the Almighty, we ask you in the name of your Father in
heaven, to have compassion on our miseries, to wipe away the
crystallized tears of despondence, to hush the heartfelt sigh
of distress; _and by every possible exertion of godlike
charity, to restore us to our wives, to our children, to our
friends, to our God and to yours_.
"Is it possible that a stimulus can be wanting? Forbid it, the
example of a dying, bleeding, crucified Savior! Forbid it, the
precepts of a risen, ascended, glorified Immanuel! _Do unto us
in fetters, in bonds, in dungeons, in danger of the pestilence,
as ye yourselves would wish to be done unto. Lift up your
voices like a trumpet; cry aloud in the cause of humanity,
benevolence, philosophy; eloquence can never be directed to a
nobler purpose; religion never employed in a more glorious
cause; charity never meditate a more exalted flight._ O that a
live coal from the burning altar of celestial beneficence might
warm the hearts of the sacred order, and impassion the feelings
of the attentive hearer!
"_Gentlemen of the Clergy in New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia_,--
"Your most zealous exertions, your unremitting assiduities, are
pathetically invoked. Those States in which you minister unto
the Church of God gave us birth. We are as aliens from the
commonwealth of America. We are strangers to the temples of our
God. The strong arm of infidelity hath bound us with two
chains; the iron one of slavery and the sword of death are
entering our very souls. _Arise, ye ministers of the Most High,
Christians of every denomination, awake unto charity! Let a
brief, setting forth our situation, be published throughout the
continent. Be it read in every house of worship, on Sunday, the
8th of February. Command a preparatory discourse to be
delivered on Sunday, the 15th of February, in all churches
whithersoever this petition or the brief may come; and on
Thursday, the 19th of February, complete the godlike work._ It
is a day which assembles a continent to thanksgiving. It is a
day which calls an empire to praise. God grant that this may be
the day which emancipates the forlorn captive, and may the best
blessings of those who are ready to perish be your abiding
portion forever! Thus prays a small remnant who are still
alive; thus pray your fellow-citizens, chained to the galleys
of the impostor Mahomet.
"Signed for and in behalf of his fellow-sufferers, by
"RICHARD O'BRIEN,
"In the tenth year of his captivity."
[Footnote 94: History of the War with Tripoli, pp. 69-71.]
The cause in which this document was written will indispose the candid
reader to any criticism of its somewhat exuberant language. Like the
drama of Cervantes, setting forth the horrors of the galleys of Algiers,
"it was not drawn from the imagination, but was born far from the
regions of fiction, in the very heart of truth." Its earnest appeals
were calculated to touch the soul, and to make the very name of slavery
and slave dealer detestable.
And here I should do injustice to the truth of history, if I did not
suspend for one moment the narrative of this Anti-Slavery movement, in
order to exhibit the pointed parallels then extensively recognized
between Algerine and American slavery. The conscientious man could not
plead in behalf of the emancipation of his white fellow-citizens,
without confessing in his heart, perhaps to the world, that every
consideration, every argument, every appeal urged for the white man,
told with equal force in behalf of his wretched colored brother in
bonds. Thus the interest awakened for the slave in Algiers embraced also
the slave at home. Sometimes they were said to be alike in condition;
sometimes, indeed, it was openly declared that the horrors of our
American slavery surpassed that of Algiers.
John Wesley, the oracle of Methodism, addressing those engaged in the
negro slave trade, said, as early as 1772, "You have carried the
survivors into the vilest of slavery, never to end but with life--_such
slavery as is not found among the Turks at Algiers_."[95] And another
writer, in 1794, when the sympathy with the American captives was at its
height, presses the parallel in pungent terms: "For this practice of
buying and selling slaves," he says, "we are not entitled to charge the
Algerines with any exclusive degree of barbarity. The Christians of
Europe and America carry on this commerce one hundred times more
extensively than the Algerines. It has received a recent sanction from
the immaculate Divan of Britain. Nobody seems even to be surprised by a
diabolical kind of advertisements, which, for some months past, have
frequently adorned the newspapers of Philadelphia. The French fugitives
from the West Indies have brought with them a crowd of slaves. These
most injured people sometimes run off, and their master advertises a
reward for apprehending them. At the same time, we are commonly informed
that his sacred name is marked in capitals on their breasts; or, in
plainer terms, it is stamped on that part of the body with a red-hot
iron. Before, therefore, we reprobate the ferocity of the Algerines, we
should inquire whether it is not possible to find in some other region
of this globe a systematic brutality still more disgraceful."[96]
[Footnote 95: Wesley's Thoughts on Slavery, (1772,) p. 26.]
[Footnote 96: Short Account of Algiers, (Philadelphia, 1794,) p. 18.]
Not long after the address to the clergy by the captives in Algiers, a
publication appeared in New Hampshire, entitled "Tyrannical Libertymen;
a Discourse upon Negro Slavery in the United States, composed at ---- in
New Hampshire on the late Federal Thanksgiving Day,"[97] which does not
hesitate to brand American slavery in terms of glowing reprobation.
"There was a contribution upon this day," it says, "for the purpose of
redeeming those Americans who are in slavery at Algiers--an object
worthy of a generous people. Their redemption, we hope, is not far
distant. But should any person contribute money for this purpose which
he had cudgelled out of a negro slave, he would deserve less applause
than an actor in the comedy of Las Casas.... When will Americans show
that they are what they affect to be thought--friends to the cause of
humanity at large, reverers of the rights of their fellow-creatures?
Hitherto we have been oppressors; nay, murderers! for many a negro has
died by the whip of his master, and many have lived when death would
have been preferable. Surely the curse of God and the reproach of man is
against us. Worse than the seven plagues of Egypt will befall us. If
Algiers shall be punished sevenfold, truly America seventy and
sevenfold."
[Footnote 97: From the Eagle Office, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1795.]
To the excitement of this discussion we are indebted for the story of
"The Algerine Captive;" a work to which, though now forgotten, belongs
the honor of being among the earliest literary productions of our
country reprinted in London, at a time when few American books were
known abroad. It was published anonymously, but is known to have been
written by Royall Tyler, afterwards Chief Justice of Vermont. In the
form of a narrative of personal adventures, extending through two
volumes, as a slave in Algiers, the author depicts the horrors of this
condition. In this regard it is not unlike the story of "Archy Moore,"
in our own day, displaying the horrors of American slavery. The author,
while engaged as surgeon on board a ship in the African slave trade, is
taken captive by the Algerines. After describing the reception of the
poor negroes, he says, "I cannot reflect on this transaction yet without
shuddering. I have deplored my conduct with tears of anguish; and I pray
a merciful God, the common Parent of the great family of the universe,
who hath made of one flesh and one blood all nations of the earth, that
the miseries, the insults, and cruel woundings I afterwards received,
when a slave myself, may expiate for the inhumanity I was necessitated
to exercise towards these my brethren of the human race."[98] And when
at length he is himself made captive by the Algerines, he records his
meditations and resolves. "Grant me," he says, from the depths of his
own misfortune, "once more to taste the freedom of my native country,
and every moment of my life shall be dedicated to preaching against this
detestable commerce. I will fly to our fellow-citizens in the Southern
States; I will, on my knees, conjure them, in the name of humanity, to
abolish a traffic which causes it to bleed in every pore. If they are
deaf to the pleadings of nature, I will conjure them, for the sake of
consistency, to cease to deprive their fellow-creatures of freedom,
which their writers, their orators, representatives, senators, and even
their constitutions of government, have declared to be the unalienable
birthright of man."[99]
[Footnote 98: Chap. xxx.]
[Footnote 99: Chap. xxxii.]
But this comparison was presented not merely in the productions of
literature, or in fugitive essays. It was distinctly set forth, on an
important occasion, in the diplomacy of our country, by one of her most
illustrious citizens. Complaint had been made against England for
carrying away from New York certain negroes, in alleged violation of the
treaty of 1783. In an elaborate paper discussing this matter, John Jay,
at that time, under the Confederation, Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
says, "Whether men can be so degraded as, under any circumstances, to be
with propriety denominated _goods and chattels_, and, under that idea,
capable of becoming _booty_, is a question on which opinions are
unfortunately various, even in countries professing Christianity and
respect for the rights of mankind." He then proceeds, in words worthy of
special remembrance at this time: "If a war should take place between
France and Algiers, and in the course of it France should invite the
American slaves there to run away from their masters, and actually
receive and protect them in their camp, what would Congress, and indeed
the world, think and say of France, if, in making peace with Algiers,
she should give up those American slaves to their former Algerine
masters? _Is there any difference between the two cases than this_,
viz., _that the American slaves at Algiers are_ WHITE _people, whereas
the African slaves at New York were_ BLACK _people_?" In introducing
these sentiments, the Secretary remarks, "He is aware he is about to say
unpopular things; but higher motives than personal considerations press
him to proceed."[100] Words worthy of John Jay!
[Footnote 100: Secret Journals of Congress, 1786, vol. iv. pp. 274-280.]
The same comparison was also presented by the Abolition Society of
Pennsylvania, in an Address, in 1787, to the Convention which framed the
Federal Constitution. "Providence," it says, "seems to have ordained the
sufferings of our American brethren, groaning in captivity at Algiers,
to awaken us to a sentiment of the injustice and cruelty of which we are
guilty towards the wretched Africans."[101] Shortly afterwards, it was
again brought forward by Dr. Franklin, in an ingenious apologue, marked
by his peculiar humor, simplicity, logic, and humanity. As President of
the same Abolition Society, which had already addressed the Convention,
he signed a memorial to the earliest Congress under the Constitution,
praying it "to countenance the restoration of liberty to those unhappy
men, who alone, in this land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual
bondage; and to step to the _very verge_ of the power vested in them for
_discouraging_ every species of traffic in the persons of our
fellow-men." In the debates which ensued on the presentation of this
memorial,--memorable not only for its intrinsic importance as a guide to
the country, but as the final public act of one of the chief founders of
our national institutions,--several attempts were made to justify
slavery and the slave trade. The last and almost dying energies of
Franklin were excited. In a remarkable document, written only
twenty-four days before his death, and published in the journals of the
time, he gave a parody of a speech actually delivered in the American
Congress--transferring the scene to Algiers, and putting the American
speech in the mouth of a corsair slave dealer, in the Divan at that
place. All the arguments adduced in favor of negro slavery are applied
by the Algerine orator with equal force to justify the plunder and
enslavement of whites.[102] With this protest against a great wrong,
Franklin died.
[Footnote 101: Brissot's Travels, vol. i. letter 22.]
[Footnote 102: Sparks's Franklin, vol. ii. p. 517.]
Most certainly we shall be aided, at least in our appreciation of
American slavery, when we know that it was likened, by characters like
Wesley, Jay, and Franklin, to the abomination of slavery in Algiers. But
whatever may have been the influence of this parallel on the condition
of the black slaves, it did not check the rising sentiments of the
people against White Slavery.
The country was now aroused. A general contribution was proposed for the
emancipation of our brethren. Their cause was pleaded in churches, and
not forgotten at the festive board. At all public celebrations, the
toasts, "Happiness for all," and "Universal Liberty," were proposed, not
less in sympathy with the efforts for freedom in France than with those
for our own wretched white fellow-countrymen in bonds. On at least one
occasion,[103] they were distinctly remembered in the following toast:
"Our brethren in slavery at Algiers. May the measures adopted for their
redemption be successful, and may they live to rejoice with their
friends in the blessings of liberty."
[Footnote 103: At Portsmouth, N. H., at a public entertainment, April 3,
1795, in honor of French successes.--Boston Independent Chronicle, vol.
xxvii. No. 1469.]
Meanwhile, the earnest efforts of our government were continued. In his
message to Congress, bearing date December 8, 1795, President Washington
said, "With peculiar satisfaction I add, that information has been
received from an agent deputed on our part to Algiers, importing that
the terms of the treaty with the Dey and regency of that country have
been adjusted in such a manner as to authorize the expectation of a
speedy peace, and the restoration of our unfortunate fellow-citizens
from a grievous captivity." This, indeed, had been already effected on
the 5th of September, 1795.[104] It was a treaty full of humiliation for
the _chivalry_ of our country. Besides securing to the Algerine
government a large sum, in consideration of present peace and the
liberation of the captives, it stipulated for an annual tribute from the
United States of twenty-one thousand dollars. But feelings of pride
disappeared in heartfelt satisfaction. It is recorded that a thrill of
joy went through the land when it was announced that a vessel had left
Algiers, having on board all the Americans who had been in captivity
there. Their emancipation was purchased at the cost of upwards of seven
hundred thousand dollars. But the largess of money, and even the
indignity of tribute, were forgotten in gratulations on their new-found
happiness. The President, in a message to Congress, December 7, 1796,
presented their "actual liberation" as a special subject of joy "to
every feeling heart." Thus did our government construct a Bridge of Gold
for freedom.
[Footnote 104: United States Statutes at Large, (Little & Brown's
edit.,) Treaties, vol. viii. p. 133; Lyman's Diplomacy, vol. ii. p.
362.]
This act of national generosity was followed by peace with Tripoli,
purchased November 4, 1796, for the sum of fifty thousand dollars, under
the guaranty of the Dey of Algiers, who was declared to be "the mutual
friend of the parties." By an article in this treaty, negotiated by Joel
Barlow,--out of tenderness, perhaps, to Mohammedanism, and to save our
citizens from the slavery which was regarded as the just doom of
"Christian dogs,"--it was expressly declared that "the government of the
United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian
religion."[105] At a later day, by a treaty with Tunis, purchased after
some delay, but at a smaller price than that with Tripoli, all danger to
our citizens seemed to be averted. In this treaty it was ignominiously
provided, that fugitive slaves, taking refuge on board American merchant
vessels, and even vessels of war, should be restored to their
owners.[106]
[Footnote 105: Article 11; Lyman's Diplomacy, vol. ii. pp. 380, 381;
United States Statutes at Large, vol. viii. p. 154.]
[Footnote 106: Article 6; United States Statutes at Large, vol. viii. p.
157. This treaty has two dates, August, 1797, and March, 1799. William
Eaton and James Leander Cathcart were the agents of the United States at
the latter date.]
[Illustration]
As early as 1787, a treaty of a more liberal character had been entered
into with Morocco, which was confirmed in 1795,[107] at the price of
twenty thousand dollars; while, by a treaty with Spain, in 1799, this
slave-trading empire _expressly declared its desire that the name of
slavery might be effaced from the memory of man_.[108]
[Footnote 107: Lyman's Diplomacy, vol. ii. p. 350; United States
Statutes at Large, vol. viii. p. 100.]
[Footnote 108: History of the War with Tripoli, p. 80.]
But these governments were barbarous, faithless, and regardless of the
duties of humanity and justice. Treaties with them were evanescent. As
in the days of Charles the Second, they seemed made merely to be broken.
They were observed only so long as money was derived under their
stipulations. Our growing commerce was soon again fatally vexed by the
Barbary corsairs, who now compelled even the ships of our navy to submit
to peculiar indignities. In 1801, the Bey of Tripoli formally declared
war against the United States, and in token thereof "our flagstaff
[before the consulate] was chopped down six feet from the ground, and
left reclining on the terrace."[109] Our citizens once more became the
prize of man-stealers. Colonel Humphreys, now at home in retirement, was
aroused. In an address to the public, he called again for united action,
saying, "Americans of the United States, your fellow-citizens are in
fetters! Can there be but one feeling? Where are the gallant remains of
the race who fought for freedom? Where the glorious heirs of their
patriotism? _Will there never be a truce between political parties? Or
must it forever be the fate of_ FREE STATES, _that the soft voice of
union should be drowned in the hoarse clamors of discord?_ No! Let every
friend of blessed humanity and sacred freedom entertain a better hope
and confidence."[110] Colonel Humphreys was not a statesman only; he was
known as a poet also. And in this character he made another appeal to
his country. In a poem on "The Future Glory of the United States," he
breaks forth into an indignant condemnation of slavery, which, whatever
may be the merits of its verse, should not be omitted here.
Teach me curst slavery's cruel woes to paint,
Beneath whose weight our captured freemen faint!
* * * * *
Where am I! Heavens! what mean these dolorous cries?
And what these horrid scenes that round me rise?
Heard ye the groans, those messengers of pain?
Heard ye the clanking of the captive's chain?
Heard ye your free-born sons their fate deplore,
Pale in their chains and laboring at the oar?
Saw ye the dungeon, in whose blackest cell,
That house of woe, your friends, your children, dwell?--
Or saw ye those who dread the torturing hour,
Crushed by the rigors of a tyrant's power?
_Saw ye the shrinking slave, th' uplifted lash,
The frowning butcher, and the reddening gash?
Saw ye the fresh blood where it bubbling broke
From purple scars, beneath the grinding stroke?
Saw ye the naked limbs writhed to and fro,
In wild contortions of convulsing woe?_
Felt ye the blood, with pangs alternate rolled,
Thrill through your veins and freeze with deathlike cold,
Or fire, as down the tear of pity stole,
Your manly breasts, and harrow up the soul?[111]
[Footnote 109: Lyman's Diplomacy, vol. ii. p. 384.]
[Footnote 110: Miscellaneous Works of David Humphreys, p. 75.]
[Footnote 111: Miscellaneous Works of David Humphreys, pp. 52, 53.]