therefore our attack upon it was not a sacrilegious one; it was absolutely
necessary, in order to disabuse the public mind of the false views they
entertained of its character. And it is a perfect mystery to me how men
and women can _conscientiously_ persevere in upholding a society, which
the very objects of its professed benevolence have repeatedly, solemnly,
constantly and universally condemned. To say the least, this is a very
suspicious kind of benevolence, and seems too nearly allied to that, which
induces some southern professors to keep their brethren in bonds _for
their benefit_. Yes, the free colored people are to be exiled, because
public opinion is crushing them into the dust; instead of their friends
protesting against that corrupt and unreasonable prejudice, and living it
down by a practical acknowledgement of their _right_ to _every_ privilege,
social, civil and religious, which is enjoyed by the white man. I have
never yet been able to learn, how our hatred to our colored brother is to
be destroyed by driving him away from us. I am told that when a colored
republic is built up on the coast of Africa, then we shall respect that
republic, and acknowledge that the character of the colored man can be
elevated; we will become connected with it in a commercial point of view,
and welcome it to the sympathies of our hearts. Miserable sophistry!
deceitful apology for present indulgence in sin! What man or woman of
common sense now doubts the intellectual capacity of the colored people?
Who does not know, that with all our efforts as a nation to crush and
‘_annihilate the mind_ of this portion of our race,’ we have never yet
been able to do it? Henry Berry of Virginia, in his speech in the
Legislature of that State, in 1832, expressly acknowledged, that although
slaveholders had ‘as far as possible closed every avenue by which light
might enter their minds,’ yet that they never had found out the process
by which they ‘could extinguish the _capacity_ to see the light.’ No! that
capacity remains--it is indestructible--an integral part of their nature,
as moral and immortal beings.
If it is true that white Americans only need a demonstration of the
colored man’s capacity for elevation, in order to make them willing to
receive him on the same platform of human rights upon which they stand,
why has not the intelligence of the Haytians convinced them? _Their_ free
republic has grown up under the very eye of the slaveholder, and as a
nation we have for many years been carrying on a lucrative trade with her
merchants; and yet we have never recognized her independence, never sent a
minister there, though we have sent ambassadors to European countries
whose commerce is far less important to us than that of St. Domingo.[2]
These professions of a wish to plant the tree of Liberty on the shores of
Africa, in order to convince our Republican Despotism of the high moral
and intellectual worth of the colored man, are perfectly absurd. Hayti
has done that long ago. A friend of mine (not an Abolitionist) whose
business called him to that island for several months, told me that in the
society of its citizens, he often felt his own inferiority. He was
astonished at the elegance of their manners, and the intelligence of their
conversation. Instead of going into an examination of Colonization
principles, I refer thee to the Appeal to the Women of the nominally free
States, issued by the Convention of American Women, in which we set forth
our reasons for repudiating them.
Thou hast given a specimen of the manner in which Abolitionists deal with
their Colonization opponents. Thy friend remarked, after an interview with
an abolitionist, ‘I love truth and sound argument; but when a man comes at
me with a sledge hammer, I cannot help dodging.’ I presume thy friend only
felt the truth of the prophet’s declaration, ‘Is not my word like as a
fire, saith the Lord, and like a _hammer_ that breaketh the rock in
pieces?’ I wonder not that he did _dodge_, when the sledge hammer of truth
was wielded by an abolition army. Many a Colonizationist has been
compelled to dodge, in order to escape the blows of this hammer of the
Lord’s word, for there is no other way to get clear. We must either
_dodge_ the arguments of abolitionists, or like J. G. Birney, Edward C.
Delevan, and many others, be willing to be broken to pieces by them. I
greatly like this specimen of private dealing, and hope it is not the only
instance which has come under thy notice, of Colonizationists
acknowledging the absolute necessity of _dodging_ Anti-Slavery arguments,
when they were unwilling that the _rock of prejudice_ should be broken to
pieces by them.
Thy next complaint is against the _manner_ in which this benevolent
EXPATRIATION Society was attacked. ‘The style in which the thing was done
was at once offensive, inflammatory and exasperating,’--‘the feelings of
many sincere, upright, and conscientious men were harrowed by a sense of
the injustice, the indecorum and the unchristian treatment they received.’
But why, if _they_ were entirely innocent of the charges brought against
Colonizationists? I have been in the habit, for several years past, of
watching the workings of my own mind under true and false charges against
myself; and my experience is, that the more clear I am of the charge, the
less I care about it. If I really feel a sweet assurance that ‘my witness
is in heaven--my record is on high,’ I then realize to its fullest extent
that ‘it is a small thing to be judged of _man’s_ judgment,’ and I can
bear _false_ charges unmoved; but true ones always nettle me, if I am
unwilling to confess that ‘I have sinned;’ if I am, and yield to
conviction, O then! how sweet the reward! Now I am very much afraid that
these sincere, upright and conscientious Colonizationists are something
like the _pious professors_ of the South, who are very angry because
abolitionists say that all slaveholders are men-stealers. Both find it
‘hard to kick against the pricks’ of conviction, and both are unwilling to
repent. A northern man remarked to a Virginia slaveholder last winter,
‘that as the South denied the charges brought against her by
abolitionists, he could not understand why she was so enraged; for,’
continued he, ‘if you were to accuse us at the North of being
sheep-stealers, we should not care about the charge--we should ridicule
it.’ ‘O!’ said the Virginian with an oath, ‘what the abolitionists say
about slaveholders is _too true_, and _that’s the reason_ we are vexed.’
Is not this the reason why our Colonization brethren and sisters are so
angry? Is not what we say of them also _too true_? Let them examine these
things with the bible and prayer, and settle this question between God and
their own souls.
Every true friend of the oppressed American has great cause to rejoice,
that the cloak of benevolence has been torn off from the monster
Prejudice, which could love the colored man _after_ he got to Africa, but
seemed to delight to pour contumely upon him whilst he remained in the
land of his birth. I confess it would be very hard for me to believe that
any association of men and women loved me or my family, if, because we had
become obnoxious to them, they were to meet together, and concentrate
their energies and pour out their money for the purpose of transporting us
back to France, whence our Huguenot fathers fled to this country to escape
the storm of persecutions. Why not let us live in America, if you really
_love_ us? Surely you never want to ‘_get rid_’ of people whom you _love_.
_I_ like to have such near me; and it is because I love the colored
Americans, that I want them to stay in this country; and in order to make
it a happy home to them, I am trying to talk down, and write down, and
live down this horrible prejudice. Sending a few to Africa cannot destroy
it. No--we must dig up the weed by the roots out of each of our hearts.
_It is a sin_, and we must repent of it and forsake it--and then we shall
no longer be so anxious to ‘_be clear of them_,’ ‘_to get rid of them_.’
Hoping, though against hope, that thou mayest one day know how precious is
the reward of those who can love our oppressed brethren and sisters in
this day of their calamity, and who, despising the shame of being
identified with these peeled and scattered ones, rejoice to stand side by
side with them, in the glorious conflict between Slavery and Freedom,
Prejudice and Love unfeigned, I remain thine in the bonds of universal
love,
A. E. GRIMKÉ.
[2] Although there are some who like to discant on the worthless
character of the Haytians, and the miserable condition of the
Island, yet it is an indisputable fact, that a population of nearly
1,000,000 are supported on its soil, and that in 1833, the value of
its exports to the United States exceeded in value those of Prussia,
Sweden, and Norway--Denmark and the Danish West Indies--Ireland and
Scotland--Holland--Belgium--Dutch East Indies--British West
Indies--Spain--Portugal--all Italy--Turkey and the Levant, or any
one Republic in South America.
LETTER VII.
PREJUDICE.
HAVERHILL, Mass., _7th mo. 23, 1837_.
DEAR FRIEND:--Thou sayest, ‘the _best_ way to make a person like a thing
which is disagreeable, is to try in some way to make it agreeable.’ So,
then, instead of convincing a person by sound argument and pointed rebuke
that sin is _sin_, we are to _disguise_ the opposite virtue in such a way
as to make him like that, in preference to the sin he had so dearly loved.
We are to _cheat_ a sinner out of his sin, rather than to compel him,
under the stings of conviction, to give it up from deep-rooted principle.
If this is the course pursued by ministers, then I wonder not at the kind
of converts which are brought into the church at the present day. Thy
remarks on the subject of prejudice, show but too plainly how strongly thy
own mind is imbued with it, and how little thy colonization principles
have done to exterminate this feeling from thy own bosom. Thou sayest, ‘if
a certain class of persons is the subject of unreasonable prejudice, the
peaceful and christian way of removing it would be to endeavor to render
the unfortunate persons who compose this class, so useful, so _humble, so
unassuming_, &c. that prejudice would be supplanted by complacency in
their goodness, and _pity_ and sympathy for their disabilities.’ ‘If the
friends of the blacks had quietly set themselves to work to increase their
intelligence, their usefulness, &c. and then had appealed to the _pity_
and benevolence of their fellow citizens, a very different result would
have appeared.’ Or in other words, if one person is guilty of a sin
against another person, I am to let the sinner go entirely unreproved, but
to persuade the injured party to bear with humility and patience all the
outrages that are inflicted upon him, and thus try to soothe the sinner
‘into complacency with their goodness’ in ‘bearing all things, and
enduring all things.’ Well, suppose I succeed:--is that sinner won from
the evil of his ways by _principle_? No! Has he the principle of love
implanted in his breast? No! Instead of being in love with the virtue
exhibited by the individual, because _it is virtue_, he is delighted with
the personal convenience he experiences from the exercise of that virtue.
He feels kindly toward the individual, _because_ he is an _instrument_ of
his enjoyment, a mere _means_ to promote his wishes. There is _no_
reformation there at all. And so the colored people are to be taught to be
‘very _humble_’ and ‘_unassuming_,’ ‘_gentle_’ and ‘_meek_,’ and then the
‘_pity_ and generosity’ of their fellow citizens are to be appealed to.
Now, no one who knows anything of the influence of Abolitionists over the
colored people, can deny that it has been _peaceful_ and christian; had it
not been so, they never would have seen those whom they had regarded as
their best friends, mobbed and persecuted, without raising an arm in their
defence. Look, too, at the rapid spread of thorough temperance principles
among them, and their moral reform and other laudable and useful
associations; look at the rising character of this people, the new life
and energy which have been infused into them. Who have done it? Who have
exerted by far the greatest influence on these oppressed Americans? I
leave thee to answer. I will give thee one instance of this salutary
influence. In a letter I received from one of my colored sisters, she
incidentally makes this remark:--‘Until very lately, I have lived and
acted more for _myself_ than for the good of others. I confess that I am
_wholly indebted to the Abolition cause_ for arousing me from apathy and
indifference, and shedding light into a mind which has been too long wrapt
in selfish darkness.’ The Abolition cause has exerted a powerful and
healthful influence over this class of our population, and it has been
done by quietly going into the midst of them, and identifying ourselves
with them.
But Abolitionists are complained of, because they, at the same time,
fearlessly exposed the _sin_ of the unreasonable and unholy prejudice
which existed against these injured ones. Thou sayest ‘that reproaches,
rebukes and sneers were employed to convince the whites that their
prejudices were sinful, and _without_ any just cause.’ _Without any just
cause!_ Couldst thou think so, if thou really loved thy colored sisters
_as thyself_? The unmeasured abuse which, the Colonization Society was
heaping upon this despised people, was no _just cause_ for pointed
rebuke, I suppose! The manner in which they are thrust into one corner of
our meeting-houses, as if the plague-spot was on their skins; the rudeness
and cruelty with which they are treated in our hotels, and steamboats,
rail road cars and stages, is _no just cause_ of reproach to a professed
christian community, I presume. Well, all that I can say is, that I
believe if Isaiah or James were now alive, they would pour their
reproaches and rebukes upon the heads and _hearts_ of those who are thus
despising the Lord’s poor, and saying to those whose spirits are clothed
by God in the ‘vile raiment’ of a _colored skin_, ‘Stand thou there in
yonder gallery, or sit thou here in ‘the negro-pew.’ ‘Sneers,’ too, are
complained of. Have abolitionists ever made use of greater sarcasm and
irony than did the prophet Elijah? When things are ridiculous as well as
wicked, it is unreasonable to expect that every cast of mind will treat
them with solemnity. And what is more ridiculous than American prejudice;
to proscribe and persecute men and women, because their _complexions_ are
of a darker hue than our own? Why, it is an outrage upon common sense; and
as my brother Thomas S. Grimké remarked only a few weeks before his death,
‘posterity will laugh at our prejudices.’ Where is the harm, then, if
abolitionists should laugh now at the wicked absurdity?
Thou sayest, ‘this tended to irritate the whites, and to increase their
prejudices against the blacks.’ The _truth always_ irritates the proud,
impenitent sinner. To charge abolitionists with this irritation, is
something like the charge brought against the English government by the
captain of the slaver I told thee of in my second letter, who threw all
his human merchandize overboard, in order to escape detection, and then
charged this horrible wholesale murder upon the government; because, said
he, they had no business to make a law to hang a man if he was found
engaged in the slave trade. So _we_ must bear the guilt of man’s angry
passions, because the _truth_ we preach is like a two-edged sword, cutting
through the bonds of interest on the one side, and the cords of caste on
the other.
As to our increasing the prejudice against color, this is just like the
North telling us that we have increased the miseries of the slave. Common
sense cries out against the one as well as the other. With regard to
prejudice, I believe the truth of the case to be this: the rights of the
colored man _never_ were advocated by any body of men in their length and
breadth, before the rise of the Anti-Slavery Society in this country. The
propagation of these ultra principles has produced in the northern States
exactly the same effect, which the promulgation of the doctrine of
immediate emancipation has done in the southern States. It has _developed_
the latent principles of pride and prejudice, not _produced_ them. Hear
John Green, a Judge of the Circuit Court of Kentucky, in reference to
abolition efforts having given birth to the opposition against
emancipation now existing in the South: ‘I would rather say, it has been
the means of _manifesting_ that opposition, which _previously_ existed,
but _laid dormant_ for want of an exciting cause.’ And just so has it
been with regard to prejudice at the North--when there was no effort to
obtain for the colored man his _rights_ as a man, as an American citizen,
there was no opposition exhibited, because it ‘laid dormant for want of an
exciting cause.’
I know it is alleged that some individuals, who treated colored people
with the greatest kindness a few years ago, have, since abolition
movements, had their feelings so embittered towards them, that they have
withdrawn that kindness. Now I would ask, could such people have acted
from _principle_? Certainly not; or nothing that others could do or say
would have driven them from the high ground they _appeared_ to occupy. No,
my friend, they acted precisely upon the false principle which thou hast
recommended; their _pity_ was excited, their _sentiments of generosity_
were called into exercise, because they regarded the colored man as an
_unfortunate inferior_, rather than as an _outraged_ and _insulted equal_.
Therefore, as soon as abolitionists demanded for the oppressed American
the _very same treatment_, upon the high ground of _human rights_, why,
then it was instantly withdrawn, simply because _it never had been
conceded on the right_ ground; and those who had previously granted it
became afraid, lest, during the æra of abolition excitement, persons would
presume _they_ were acting on the fundamental principle of
abolitionism--the principle of _equal rights_, irrespective of color or
condition, instead of on the mere principle of ‘_pity_ and _generosity_.’
It is truly surprising to find a professing christian excusing the
unprincipled opposition exhibited in New Haven, to the erection of a
College for young men of color. Are we indeed to succumb to a corrupt
public sentiment at the North, and the abominations of slavery at the
South, by refraining from asserting the _right_ of Americans to plant a
literary institution in New Haven, or New York, or _any where_ on the
American soil? Are we to select ‘some retired place,’ where there would be
the least prejudice and opposition to meet, rather than openly and
fearlessly to face the American monster, who, like the horse-leach, is
continually crying give, give, and whose demands are only increased by
compromise and surrender? No! there is a spirit abroad in this country,
which will not consent to barter principle for an _unholy_ peace; a spirit
which seeks to be ‘pure from the blood of all men,’ by a bold and
christian avowal of truth; a spirit which will not hide God’s eternal
principles of right and wrong, but will stand erect in the storm of human
passion, prejudice and interest, ‘holding forth the light of truth in the
midst of a crooked and perverse generation;’ a spirit which will never
slumber nor sleep, till man ceases to hold dominion over his fellow
creatures, and the trump of universal liberty rings in every forest, and
is re-echoed by every mountain and rock.
Art thou not aware, my friend, that this College was projected in the year
1831, previous to the formation of the first Anti-Slavery Society, which
was organized in 1832? How, then, canst thou say that the circumstances
relative to it occurred ‘at a time when the public mind was excited on the
subject?’ I feel quite amused at the _presumption_ which thou appearest to
think was exhibited by the projectors of this institution, in wishing it
to be located in New Haven, where was another College ‘embracing a large
proportion of southern students,’ &c. It was a great offence, to be sure,
for colored men to build a College by the walls of the white man’s
‘College, where half the shoe-blacks and waiters were _colored men_.’ But
why so? The other half of the shoe-blacks and waiters were _white_, I
presume; and if these _white_ servants could be satisfied with _their_
humble occupation _under the roof_ of Yale College, why might not the
colored waiters be contented also, though an institution for the education
of colored Americans might _presume_ to lift its head ‘beside the very
walls of this College?’ Is it possible that any professing christian can
calmly look back at these disgraceful transactions, and tell me that such
opposition was manifested ‘_for the best reasons_?’ And what is still
worse, censure the projectors of a literary institution, in free,
republican, enlightened America, because they did not meekly yield to
‘_such reasonable objections_,’ and refused ‘to soothe the feelings and
apprehensions of those who had been excited’ to opposition and clamor by
the simple fact that some American born citizens wished to give their
children a liberal education in a separate College, only because the white
Americans despised their brethren of a darker complexion, and scorned to
share with them the privileges of Yale College? It was very wrong, to be
sure, for the friends of the oppressed American to consider such
outrageous conduct ‘as a mark of the force of sinful prejudice!’ Vastly
uncharitable! Great complaints are made that ‘the worst motives were
ascribed to some of the most respectable, and venerated, and _pious_ men
who opposed the measure.’ Wonderful indeed, that men should be found so
true to their principles, as to dare in this age of sycophancy to declare
the truth to those who stand in high places, wearing the badges of office
or honor, and fearlessly to rebuke the puerile and unchristian prejudice
which existed against their colored brethren! ‘Pious men!’ Why, I would
ask, how are we to judge of men’s piety--by professions or products? Do
men gather thorns of grapes, or thistles of figs? Certainly not. If, then,
in the lives of men we do not find the fruits of christian principle, we
have no right, according to our Saviour’s criterion, ‘by their fruits ye
shall know them,’ to suppose that men are really pious who can be
perseveringly guilty of despising others, and denying them equal rights,
because they have colored skins. ‘A great deal was said and done that was
calculated to throw the community into an angry ferment.’ Yes, and I
suppose the friends of the colored man were just as guilty as was the
great Apostle, who, by the angry, and excited, and _prejudiced_ Jews, was
accused of being ‘a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition,’ because he
declared himself called to preach the everlasting gospel to the Gentiles,
whom they considered as ‘dogs,’ and utterly unworthy of being placed on
the same platform of human rights and a glorious immortality.
Thy friend,
A. E. GRIMKÉ.
LETTER VIII.
VINDICATION OF ABOLITIONISTS.
GROTON, Mass., _6th month, 1837_.
DEAR FRIEND:--In my last, I commented upon the opposition to the
establishment of a College in New Haven, Conn., for the education of
colored young men. The same remarks are applicable to the persecutions of
the Canterbury School. I leave thee and our readers to apply them. I
cannot help thinking how strange and unaccountable thy soft excuses for
the _sins of prejudice_ will appear to the next generation, if thy book
ever reach their eye.
As to Cincinnati having been chosen as the city in which the
Philanthropist should be published after the retreat of its editor from
Kentucky, thou hast not been ‘sufficiently informed,’ for James G. Birney
pursued exactly the course which _thou_ hast marked out as the most
prudent and least offensive. He edited his paper at New Richmond, in Ohio,
for nearly three months before he went to Cincinnati, and did not go there
until the excitement appeared to have subsided.