Disappointment of English and American Abolitionists--Their failure
attributed to the inherent evils of Slavery--Their want of
discrimination--The differences in the system in the British Colonies
and in the United States--Colored people of United States vastly in
advance of all others--Success of the Gospel among the Slaves--_Democratic
Review_ on African civilization--Vexation of Abolitionists at their
failure--Their apology not to be accepted--Liberia attests its
falsity--The barrier to the colored man's elevation removable only by
Colonization--Colored men begin to see it--Chambers, of Edinburgh--His
testimony on the crushing effects of New England's treatment of colored
people--Charges Abolitionists with insincerity--Approves
Colonization--Abolition violence rebuked by an English clergyman.
The condition of the free colored people can now be understood. The
results, in their case, are vastly different from what was anticipated,
when British philanthropists succeeded in West India emancipation. They
are very different, also, from what was expected by American
abolitionists: so different, indeed, that their disappointment is fully
manifested, in the extracts made from their published documents. As an
apology for the failure, it seems to be their aim to create the belief,
that the dreadful moral depravation, existing in the West Indies, is
wholly owing to the demoralizing tendencies of slavery. They speak of
this effect as resulting from laws inherent in the system, which have no
exceptions, and must be equally as active in the United States as in the
British colonies. But in their zeal to cast odium on slavery, they prove
too much--for, if this be true, it follows, that the slave population of
the United States must be equally debased with that of Jamaica, and as
much disqualified to discharge the duties of freemen, as both have been
subjected to the operations of the same system. This is not all. The
logic of the argument would extend even to our free colored people, and
include them, according to the American Missionary Association, in the
dire effects of "that enduring legacy which, with its foul, pestilential
influences, still blights, like the mildew of death, every thing in
society that should be lovely, virtuous, and of good report." Now, were
it believed, generally, that the colored people of the United States are
equally as degraded as those of Jamaica, upon what grounds could any one
advocate the admission of the blacks to equal social and political
privileges with the whites? Certainly, no Christian family or community
would willingly admit such men to terms of social or political equality!
This, we repeat, is the logical conclusion from the Reports of the
American Missionary Association and the American and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society--a conclusion, too, the more certain, as it makes
no exceptions between the condition of the colored people under the
slavery of Jamaica and under that of the United States.
But in this, as in much connected with slavery, abolitionists have taken
too limited a view of the subject. They have not properly discriminated
between the effects of the original barbarism of the negroes, and those
produced by the more or less favorable influences to which they were
afterward subjected under slavery. This point deserves special notice.
According to the best authorities, the colored people of Jamaica, for
nearly three hundred years, were entirely without the gospel; and it
gained a permanent footing among them, only at a few points, at their
emancipation, twenty-five years ago; so that, when liberty reached them,
the great mass of the Africans, in the British West Indies, were
heathen.[73] Let us understand the reason of this. Slavery is not an
element of human progress, under which the mind necessarily becomes
enlightened; but Christianity is the _primary_ element of progress, and
can elevate the savage, whether in bondage or in freedom, if its
principles are taught him in his youth. The slavery of Jamaica began
with savage men. For three hundred years, its slaves were destitute of
the gospel, and their barbarism was left to perpetuate itself. But in
the United States, the Africans were brought under the influence of
Christianity, on their first introduction, over two hundred and thirty
years since, and have continued to enjoy its teachings, in a greater or
less degree, to the present moment. The disappearance from among our
colored people, of the savage condition of the human mind--the
incapacity to comprehend religious truths--and its continued existence
among those of Jamaica, can now be understood. The opportunities enjoyed
by the former, for advancement, over the latter, have been _six_ to
_one_. With these facts before the mind, it is not difficult to perceive
that the colored population of Jamaica can not but still labor under
the disadvantages of hereditary barbarism and involuntary servitude,
with the superadded misfortune of being inadequately supplied with
Christian instruction, along with their recent acquisition of freedom.
But while all this must be admitted, of the colored people of Jamaica,
it is not true of those of our own country; for, long since, they have
cast off the heathenism of their fathers, and have become enlightened in
a very encouraging degree. Hence it is, that the colored people of the
United States, both bond and free, have made vastly greater progress,
than those of the British West Indies, in their knowledge of moral
duties and the requirements of the gospel; and hence, too, it is, that
Gerrit Smith is right, in asserting that the demoralized condition of
the great mass of the free colored people, in our cities, is
inexcusable, and deserving of the utmost reprobation, because it is
_voluntary_--they knowing their duty but abandoning themselves to
degrading habits.
This brings us to another point of great moment. It will be denied by
but few--and by none maintaining the natural equality of the races--that
the free colored people of the United States are sufficiently
enlightened, to be elevated by education, in an encouraging degree,
where proper restraints from vice, and encouragements to virtue prevail.
A large portion, even, of the slave population, are similarly
enlightened. We speak not of the state of the morals of either class.
As the public are not well informed, in relation to the extent to which
the religious instruction of the slaves at the South prevails, the
following information will prove interesting, and show that a good work
has long been in progress, and has been producing its fruits:
"The South Carolina Methodist Conference have a missionary committee
devoted entirely to promoting the religious instruction of the slave
population, which has been in existence twenty-six years. The Report[74]
of the last year shows a greater degree of activity than is generally
known. They have twenty-six missionary stations in which thirty-two
missionaries are employed. The Report affirms that public opinion in
South Carolina is decidedly in favor of the religious instruction of
slaves, and that it has become far more general and systematic than
formerly. It also claims a great degree of success to have attended the
labors of the missionaries."
The Report of the Missionary Board, of the Louisiana Conference, of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, 1855, says:[75]
"It is stated upon good authority, that the number of colored members in
the Church South, exceeds that of the entire membership of all the
Protestant missions in the world. What an enterprise is this committed
to our care! The position we, of the Methodist Church South, have taken
for the African, has, to a great extent, cut us off from the sympathy of
the Christian Church throughout the world; and it behooves us to make
good this position in the sight of God, of angels, of men, of churches,
and to our own consciences, by presenting before the throne of His glory
multitudes of the souls of these benighted ones abandoned to our care,
as the seals of our ministry. Already Lousiana promises to be one vast
plantation. Let us--we must gird ourselves for this Heaven-born
enterprise of supplying the pure gospel to the slave. The great question
is, How can the greatest number be preached to?--The building roadside
chapels is as yet the best solution of it. In some cases planters build
so as to accommodate adjoining plantations, and by this means the
preacher addresses three hundred or more slaves, instead of one hundred
or less. Economy of this kind is absolutely essential where the labor of
the missionary is so much needed and demanded.
"On the Lafourche and Bayou Black Missionwork, several chapels are in
process of erection, upon a plan which enables the slave, as his master,
to make an offering towards building a house of God. Instead of money,
the hands subscribe labor. Timber is plenty; many of the servants are
carpenters. Upon many of the plantations are saw mills. Here is much
material; what hindereth that we should build a church on every tenth
plantation? Let us maintain our policy steadily. Time and diligence are
required to effect substantial good, especially in this department of
labor. Let us continue to ask for buildings adapted to the worship of
God, and set apart; to urge, when practicable, the preaching to blacks
in the presence of their masters, their overseers, and the neighbors
generally."
"One of the effects of the great revival among colored people has been
the establishment of a regular system of prayer-meetings for their
benefit. Meetings are held every night during the week at the tobacco
factories, the proprietors of which have been kind enough to place those
edifices at the disposal of the colored brethren. The owners of the
several factories preside over these meetings, and the most absolute
good conduct is exhibited."[76]
"In Newbern, N. C., the slaves have a large church of their own, which
is well attended. They pay a salary of $500 per annum to their white
minister. They have likewise a negro preacher in their employ, whom they
purchased from his master.[77]
And Newbern in this respect is not isolated. For in nearly every town of
any size in the Southern States, the colored people have their churches,
and what is more than is always known at the North, _they sustain their
churches and pay their ministers_,[78]
"_Resolved_, that the religious instruction of our _colored population_
be affectionately and earnestly commended to the ministry and eldership
of our churches generally, as opening to us a field of most obligatory
and interesting Christian effort, in which we are called to labor more
faithfully and fully, by our regard for our social interests, as well as
by the higher considerations of duty to God and the souls of our fellow
men.[79]
The following extracts are copied from the _New York Observer_, of the
present year:
The Presbytery of Roanoke, Virginia, (O. S.) has addressed a Pastoral
letter, on the instruction of the colored people, to the churches under
its care, and ordered the same to be read in all the churches of the
Presbytery, in those that are vacant, as well as where there are pastors
or stated supplies. It commences by saying: "Among the important
interests of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, which have claimed
our special attention since the organization of the Presbytery in April
last,--that the work of the Lord may be vigorously and efficiently
carried forward within our bounds,--_the religious instruction of the
colored people_, is hardly to be placed second to any other." After
speaking of the obstacles and encouragements to the work, it gives the
following statistics:
"In the Presbytery of Charleston, S. C., 1637 out of 2889 members, or
considerably over one-half, are colored. In the whole Synod of South
Carolina, 5,009 out of 13,074, are colored members. The Presbyteries of
Mississippi and Central Mississippi, of Tuscaloosa and South Alabama, of
Georgia, of Concord, and Fayetteville, also show many churches with
large proportions of colored communicants, from one-third to one-seventh
of the whole. Our own Presbytery reports 276 out of 1737 members. In the
whole of the above mentioned bodies, there are 9,076 colored, out of
33,667 communicants. Among the churches of these Presbyteries, we find
twenty with an aggregate colored membership of 3,600, or an average of
130 to each. We find also, such large figures as these, 260, 333, 356,
525! These facts speak for themselves and forbid discouragement."
Speaking of the obligations to instruct this class, the letter says:
"But these people are _among_ us, at our doors, in our own fields, and
around our firesides! If they need instruction, then the command of our
Lord, and every obligation of benevolence, call us to the work of
teaching them, with all industry, the doctrines of Christ. The _first
and kindest_ outgoings of our Christian compassion should be toward
them. They are not only near us, but are also entirely _dependent_ upon
us. As to all means of securing religious privileges for themselves, and
as to energy and self-directing power, they are but children,--forced to
look to their masters for every supply. From this arises an obligation,
at once imperative, and of most solemn and momentous significance to us,
to make thorough provision for their religious instruction, to the full
extent that we are able to provide it for ourselves. This obligation
acquires great additional force when it is further considered, that
besides proximity and dependence, they are indeed _members of our_
'_households_.' As the three hundred and eighteen 'trained servants' of
Abraham were 'born in his own house;' i. e., were born and bred as
members of his _household_, so are our servants. Of course no argument
is needed, to show that every man is bound by high and sacred
obligations, for the discharge of which he must give account, to provide
his _family_ suitably, or to the extent of his ability, with the means
of grace and salvation.
After dwelling on the duties of the ministry, the letter goes on:
"But the work of Christianizing our colored population can never be
accomplished by the labors of the ministry alone, unaided by the hearty
co-operation of families, by carrying on a system of _home instruction_.
_We must begin with the children._ For if the children of our servants
be left to themselves during their early years, this neglect must of
necessity beget two enormous evils. Evil habits will be rapidly acquired
and strengthened; since if children are not learning good, they will be
learning what is bad. And having thus grown up both ignorant and
vicious, they will have no inclination to go to the Lord's house; or if
they should go, their minds will be found so dark, so entirely
unacquainted with the rudimental language and truths of the gospel, that
much of the preaching must at first prove unintelligible, unprofitable
at the time, and so uninteresting as to discourage further attendance.
In every regard, therefore, masters are bound to see that religious
instruction is provided at home for their people, especially for the
young.
"If there be no other to undertake the work, (the mistress, or the
children of the family,) the master is bound to deny himself and
discharge the duty. It is for him to see that the thing is properly
done; for the whole responsibility rests on him at last. It usually,
however, devolves upon the mistress, or upon the younger members of the
family, where there are children qualified for it, to perform this
service. Some of our young men, and, _to their praise be it spoken_,
still more of our young women, have willingly given themselves to this
self-denying labor; in aid of their parents, or as a duty which they
themselves owe to Christ their Redeemer, and to their fellow creatures.
We take this occasion, gladly, to bid all these 'God speed' in their
work of love. Co-workers together with us, we praise you for this. We
bid you take courage. Let no dullness, indifference, or neglect, weary
out your patience. You are laboring for Christ, and for precious souls.
You are doing a work the importance of which _eternity_ will fully
reveal. You will be blessed, too, in your deed even now. This labor will
prove to you an important means of grace. You will have something to
pray for, and will enjoy the pleasing consciousness, that you are not
idlers in the Lord's vineyard. You will be winning stars for your crowns
of rejoicing through eternity. Grant that it will cost you much
self-denial. Can you, notwithstanding, consent to see these immortal
beings growing up in ignorance and vice, at your very doors?
"The methods of carrying on the home instruction are various, and we are
abundantly supplied with the needful facilities. We need not name the
reading of the Bible; and judiciously selected sermons, to be read to
the adults when they cannot attend preaching, should not be omitted.
Catechetical instruction, by means of such excellent aids as our own
'Catechism for young children,' and 'Jones' Catechism of Scripture
doctrine and practice,' will of course be resorted to; together with
teaching them _hymns_ and _singing with them_. The reading to them, for
variety, such engaging and instructive stories as are found in the
'Children's column' of some of our best religious papers; and suitable
Sabbath school, or other juvenile books, such as 'The Peep of Day,'
'Line upon Line,' etc., will, in many cases, prove an excellent aid, in
imbuing their minds with religious truth. _Masters should not spare
expense or trouble_, to provide liberally these various helps to those
who take this work in hand, to aid and encourage them to the utmost in
their self-denying toil.
"Brethren, the time is propitious to urge your attention to this
important duty. A deep and constantly increasing interest in the work,
is felt throughout the South. Just at this time, also, extensively
throughout portions of our territory, an unusual awakening has been
showing itself among the colored people. It becomes us, and it is of
vital importance on every account, by judicious instruction, both to
guide the movement, and to improve the opportunity.
"We commend this whole great interest to the Divine blessing; and, under
God, to your conscientious reflection, to devise the proper ways; and to
your faithful Christian zeal, to accomplish whatever your wisdom may
devise and approve."
The _Mobile Daily Tribune_, in referring to the religious training of
the slaves, says:[80]
"Few persons are aware of the efforts that are continually in progress,
in a quiet way, in the various Southern States, for the moral and
religious improvement of the negroes--of the number of clergymen of good
families, accomplished education, and often of a high degree of talent,
who devote their whole time and energies to this work; or of the many
laymen--almost invariably slaveholders themselves--who sustain them by
their purses and by their assistance as catechists, Sunday school
teachers, and the like. These men do not make platform speeches, or talk
in public on the subject of their 'mission,' or theorize about the
'planes' on which they stand: they are too busy for this, but they work
on quietly in labor and self-denial, looking for a sort of reward very
different from the applause bestowed upon stump agitators. Their work is
a much less noisy one, but its results will be far more momentous.
"We have very limited information on this subject, for the very reasons
just mentioned, but enough to give some idea of the zeal with which
these labors are prosecuted by the various Christian denominations.
Thus, among the Old School Presbyterians it is stated that about one
hundred ministers are engaged in the religious instruction of the
negroes exclusively. In South Carolina alone there are forty-five
churches or chapels of the Episcopal Church, appropriated exclusively to
negroes; thirteen clergymen devote to them their whole time, and
twenty-seven a portion of it; and one hundred and fifty persons of the
same faith are engaged in imparting to them catechetical instruction.
There are other States which would furnish similar statistics if they
could be obtained.
"It is in view of such facts as these, that one of our cotemporaries,
(the _Philadelphia Inquirer_,) though not free from a certain degree of
anti-slavery proclivity, makes the following candid admission:
"'The introduction of African slavery into the colonies of North
America, though doubtless brought about by wicked means, may in the end
accomplish great good to Africa; a good, perhaps, to be effected in no
other way. Hundreds and thousands have already been saved, temporally
and spiritually, who otherwise must have perished. Through these and
their descendants it is that civilization and Christianity have been
sent back to the perishing millions of Africa.'"
The Fourteenth Annual Report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist
Episcopal Church South, 1859, says:
"In our colored missions great good has been accomplished by the labors
of the self-sacrificing and zealous missionaries.
"This seems to be at home our most appropriate field of labor. By our
position we have direct access to those for whom these missions are
established. Our duty and obligation in regard to them are evident.
Increased facilities are afforded us, and open doors invite our entrance
and full occupancy. The real value of these missions is often overlooked
or forgotten by _Church census-takers_ and statistic-reporters of our
benevolent associations. We can but repeat that this field, which seems
almost, by common consent, to be left for our occupancy, is one of the
most important and promising in the history of missions. At home even
its very humility obscures, and abroad a mistaken philanthropy
repudiates its claims. But still the fact exists; and when we look at
the large number of faithful, pious, and self-sacrificing missionaries
engaged in the work, the wide field of their labors, and the happy
thousands who have been savingly converted to God through their
instrumentality, we can but perceive the propriety and justice of
assigning to these missions the prominence we have. Indeed, the subject
assumes an importance beyond the conception even of those more directly
engaged in this great work, when it is remembered that these missions
absolutely number more converts to Christianity, according to statistics
given, than all the members of all other missionary societies combined."
The Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in
their Report for 1859, says:
"It is gratifying that so much has been done for the evangelization of
this people. In addition to the missions presented in our report,
thousands of this people are served by preachers in charge of circuits
and stations. But still a great work remains to be accomplished among
the negroes within your limits. New missions are needed, and increased
attention to the work in this department generally demanded. Heaven
devolves an immense responsibility upon us with reference to these sable
sons of Ham. Providence has thrown them in our midst, not merely to be
our household and agricultural servants, but to be served by us with the
blessed gospel of the Son of God. Let us then, in the name of Him who
made it a special sign of his Messiahship that the poor had the gospel
preached unto them--let us in his name go forth, bearing the bread of
life to these poor among us, and opening to them all the sources of
consolation and encouragement afforded by the religion of Jesus."
The Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in their
Report for 1859, say:
"At the last Conference, Gideon W. Cottingham and David W. Fly were
appointed Conference African missionaries, whose duties were to travel
throughout the Conference, visit the planters in person, and organize
missions in regions unsupplied. They report an extensive field open, and
truly white unto the harvest, and have succeeded in organizing several
important missions. All the planters, questioned upon the subject, were
willing to give the missionary access to their servants, to preach and
catechize, not only on the Sabbath, but during the week. And this
willingness was not confined to the professors alone, but the deepest
interest was displayed by many who make no pretensions to religion
whatever. An interest shown not merely by giving the missionary access
to their servants, but by their pledging their prompt support. The
servants themselves receive the word with the utmost eagerness. They are
hungering for the bread of life; our tables are loaded. Shall not these
starving souls be fed? Cases of appalling destitution are found: numbers
who heard for the first time the word of life listened eagerly to the
wonders it unfolded. The Greeks are truly at our doors, heathens growing
up in our midst, revival fire flames around them, a polar frost within
their hearts. God help the Church to take care of these perishing souls!
Our anniversaries are usually scenes of unmingled joy. With our sheaves
in our hands, we come from the harvest field, and though sad that so
little has been done, yet rejoicing that we have the privilege of laying
any pledge of devotion upon the altar."
The Mississippi Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in their
Report for 1859, say:
"We are cheered to see a growing interest among our planters and
slave-owners in our _domestic missions_. Still that interest is not what
the importance of the subject demands. While few are willing to bar
their servants all gospel privileges, there is a great want in many
places of suitable houses for public worship. Too many masters think
that to permit the missionary to come on the plantation, and preach in
the gin, or mill, or elsewhere, as circumstances may dictate, is their
only duty, especially if the missionary gets his bread. None of the
attendant circumstances of a neat church, and suitable Sunday apparel,
etc., to cheer and gladden the heart on the holy Sabbath, and cause its
grateful thanksgiving to go up as clouds of incense before Him, are
thought necessary by many masters.
"Notwithstanding, we are cheered by a brightening prospect. Christian
masters are building churches for their servants. Owners in many places
are adopting the wise policy of erecting their churches so as to bring
two, three, or more plantations together for preaching. This plan is so
consonant with the gospel economy, and so advantageous every way, that
it must become the uniform practice of all our missionary operations
among the slaves. Our late Conference wisely adopted a resolution,
encouraging the building of churches for the accommodation of several
plantations together, wherever it can be done."
The South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in
their Report for 1859, say:
"Meanwhile the increasing claims of the destitute colored population
must not be ignored. New fields are opening before us, the claims of
which are pressed with an earnestness which nothing but deeply-felt
necessity could dictate. And the question is pressed upon us, What shall
we do? Must not the contributions of the Church be more liberal and more
systematic? Must not the friends of the enterprise become more zealous?
Will not the wealthy patrons of our society, whose people are served,
contribute a sum equal in the aggregate to the salary of the
missionaries who serve their people? This done, and every claim urged
upon your Board shall be honored.
"This is wondrous work! God loves it, honors it, blesses it! He has
crowned it with success. The old negro has abandoned his legendary
rites, and has sought and found favor with God through Jesus Christ. The
catechumens have received into their hearts the gracious instructions
given by the missionary, and scores of them are converted annually, and
become worthy members of the Church. Here lies the most inviting field
of labor. To instruct these children of Ham in the plan of salvation, to
preoccupy their minds with "the truth as it is in Jesus," to see them
renounce the superstitions of their forefathers, and embrace salvation's
plan, would make an angel's heart rejoice."
Failing in securing the Reports of the Baptists at the South, we are
unable to exhibit in detail, their operations among the slave
population. The same failure has also occurred in reference to the
Cumberland Presbyterians, and some of the other denominations at the
South. The statistics, taken from the _Southern Baptist Register_, will
indicate the extent of their success. The following statement made up
from the Annual Reports of the Churches named, or from the _Register_,
shows the extent to which the slave population, in the entire South,
have been brought under the influence of the gospel, and led to profess
their faith in the Saviour:
Methodist Episcopal Church South, 188,000
Methodist Episcopal Church North,[81] in Va. and Md., 15,000
Missionary and Anti-Missionary Baptist, 175,000
General Assembly Presbyterian, (O. S.,) 12,000
General Assembly Presbyterian, (N. S.,) estimated 6,000
Cumberland Presbyterians, 20,000
Protestant Episcopal Church, estimated 7,000
Christian Church, 10,000
All other denominations, 20,000
-------
Total 453,000
The remark has been made, in two of the reports quoted, that the number
of slaves brought into the Christian Church, as a consequence of the
introduction of the African race into the United States, exceeds all the
converts made, throughout the heathen world, by the whole missionary
force employed by Protestant Christendom. Newcomb's Encyclopedia of
Missions, 1856, gives the whole number of converts in the Protestant
Christian missions in Asia, Africa, Pacific islands, West Indies, and
North American Indians at 211,389; but more recent estimates make the
number approximate 250,000: thus showing that the number of African
converts in the Southern States, is almost double the whole number of
heathen converts. It is well enough to observe here, that these facts
are not given to prove that slavery should be adopted as a means of
converting the heathen, but to call attention to the mode in which
Divine Providence is working for the salvation of the African race.
Our opinion as to the advancement of the free colored people of the
United States, in general intelligence, does not stand alone. It is
sustained by high authority, not of the abolition school. The
_Democratic Review_, of 1852,[82] when discussing the question of their
ability to conquer and civilize Africa, says:
"The negro race has, among its freemen in this country, a mass of men
who are eminently fitted for deeds of daring. They have generally been
engaged in employments which give a good deal of leisure, and stimulus
toward improvement of the mind. They have associated much more freely
with the cultivated and intelligent white than even with their own color
of the same humble station; and on such terms as to enable them to
acquire much of his spirit, and knowledge, and valor. The free blacks
among us are not only confident and well informed, but they have almost
all seen something of the world. They are pre-eminently locomotive and
perambulating. In rail roads, and hotels, and stages, and steamers, they
have been placed incessantly in contact with the news, the views, the
motives, and the ideas of the day. Compare the free black with ordinary
white men without advantages, and he stands well. Add to this
cultivation, that the negro body is strong and healthy, and the negro
mind keen and bright, though not profound nor philosophical, and you
have at once a formidable warrior, with a little discipline and
knowledge of weapons. There is no doubt that the picked American free
blacks, would be five times, ten times as efficient in the field of
battle as the same number of native Africans."
Why is it then, that the efforts for the moral elevation of the free
colored people, have been so unsuccessful? Before answering this
question, it is necessary to call attention to the fact, that
abolitionists seem to be sadly disappointed in their expectations, as to
the progress of the free colored people. Their vexation at the
stubborness of the negroes, and the consequent failure of their
measures, is very clearly manifested in the complaining language, used
by Gerrit Smith, toward the colored people of the eastern cities, as
well as by the contempt expressed by the American Missionary
Association, for the colored preachers of Canada. They had found an
apology, for their want of success in the United States, in the presence
and influence of colonizationists; but no such excuse can be made for
their want of success in Canada and the West Indies. Having failed in
their anticipations, now they would fain shelter themselves under the
pretense, that a people once subjected to slavery, even when liberated,
can not be elevated in a single generation; that the case of adults,
raised in bondage, like heathen of similar age, is hopeless, and their
children, only, can make such progress as will repay the missionary for
his toil. But they will not be allowed to escape the censure due to
their want of discrimination and foresight, by any such plea; as the
success of the Republic of Liberia, conducted from infancy to
independence, almost wholly by liberated slaves, and those who were born
and raised in the midst of slavery, attests the falsity of their
assumption.
But to return. Why have the efforts for the elevation of the free
colored people, not been more successful? On this point our remarks may
be limited to our own free colored people. The barrier to their progress
here, exists not so much in their want of capacity, as in the absence of
the incitements to virtuous action, which are constantly stimulating the
white man to press onward and upward in the formation of character and
the acquisition of knowledge. There is no position in church or state,
to which the poorest white boy, in the common school, may not aspire.
There is no post of honor, in the gift of his country, that is legally
beyond his reach. But such encouragements to noble effort, do not and
cannot reach the colored man, and he remains with us a depressed and
disheartened being. Persuading him to remain in this hopeless condition,
has been the great error of the abolitionists. They accepted Jefferson's
views in relation to emancipation, but rejected his opinions as to the
necessity of separating the races; and thus overlooked the teachings of
history, that two races, differing so widely as to prevent their
amalgamation by marriage, can never live together, in the same
community, but as superiors and inferiors--the inferior remaining
subordinate to the superior. The encouraging hopes held out to the
colored people, that this law would be inoperative upon them, has led
only to disappointment. Happily, this delusion is nearly at an end; and
some of them are beginning to act on their own judgments. They find
themselves so scattered and peeled, that there is not another half a
million of men in the world, so enlightened, who are accomplishing so
little for their social and moral advancement. They perceive that they
are nothing but branches, wrenched from the great African _banyan_, not
yet planted in genial soil, and affording neither shelter nor food to
the beasts of the forest or the fowls of the air--their roots unfixed in
the earth, and their tender shoots withering as they hang pendent from
their boughs.
That this is no exaggerated picture of the discouragements surrounding
our free colored people, is fully confirmed by the testimony of
impartial witnesses. Chambers, of Edinburgh, who recently made the tour
of the United States, investigated this point very carefully. His
opinions on the subject have been published, and are so discriminating
and truthful, that we must quote the main portion of them. In speaking
of the agitation of the question of slavery, he says:
"For a number of years, as is well known, there has been much angry
discussion on the subject between the Northern and Southern States; and
at times the contention has been so great, as to lead to mutual threats
of a dismemberment of the Union. A stranger has no little difficulty in
understanding how much of this war of words is real, and how much is
merely an explosion of _bunkum_. . . . . I repeat, it is difficult to
understand what is the genuine public feeling on this entangled
question; for with all the demonstrations in favor of freedom in the
North, there does not appear in that quarter to be any practical
relaxation of the usages which condemn persons of African descent to an
inferior social status. There seems, in short, to be a fixed notion
throughout the whole of the States, whether slave or free, that the
colored is by nature a subordinate race; and that, in no circumstances,
can it be considered equal to the white. Apart from commercial views,
this opinion lies at the root of American slavery; and the question
would need to be argued less on political and philanthropic than on
physiological grounds. . . . . I was not a little surprised to find,
when speaking a kind word for at least a very unfortunate, if not
brilliant race, that the people of the Northern States, though
repudiating slavery, did not think more favorably of the negro character
than those further South. Throughout Massachusetts, and other New
England States, likewise in the States of New York, Pennsylvania, etc.,
there is a rigorous separation of the white and black races. . . . . The
people of England, who see a negro only as a wandering curiosity, are
not at all aware of the repugnance generally entertained toward persons
of color in the United States: it appeared to amount to an absolute
monomania. As for an alliance with one of the race, no matter how faint
the shade of color, it would inevitably lead to a loss of caste, as
fatal to social position and family ties as any that occurs in the
Brahminical system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Glad to have had an opportunity of calling attention to many cheering
and commendable features in the social system of the Americans, I
consider it not less my duty to say, that in their general conduct
toward the colored race, a wrong is done which can not be alluded to
except in terms of the deepest sorrow and reproach. I can not think
without shame of the pious and polished New Englanders adding to their
offenses on this score the guilt of hypocrisy. Affecting to weep over
the sufferings of imaginary dark-skinned heroes and heroines;
denouncing, in well-studied platform oratory, the horrid sin of reducing
human beings to the abject condition of chattels; bitterly scornful of
Southern planters for hard-hearted selfishness and depravity; fanatical
on the subject of abolition; wholly frantic at the spectacle of fugitive
slaves seized and carried back to their owners--these very persons are
daily surrounded by manumitted slaves, or their educated descendants,
yet shrink from them as if the touch were pollution, and look as if they
would expire at the bare idea of inviting one of them to their house or
table. Until all this is changed, the Northern abolitionists place
themselves in a false position, and do damage to the cause they espouse.
If they think that negroes are MEN, let them give the world an evidence
of their sincerity, by moving the reversal of all those social and
political arrangements which now, in the free States, exclude persons of
color, not only from the common courtesies of life, but from the
privileges and honors of citizens. I say, until this is done, the uproar
about abolition is a delusion and a snare. . . . .
"While lamenting the unsatisfactory condition, present and prospective,
of the colored population, it is gratifying to consider the energetic
measures that have been adopted by the African Colonization Society, to
transplant, with their own consent, free negroes from America to
Liberia. Viewing these endeavors as, at all events, a means of
encouraging emancipation, checking the slave trade, and, at the same
time, of introducing Christianity and civilized usages into Africa, they
appear to have been deserving of more encouragement than they have had
the good fortune to receive. Successful only in a moderate degree, the
operations of this society are not likely to make a deep impression on
the numbers of the colored population; and the question of their
disposal still remains unsettled."
That the Christian churches of the South are pursuing the true policy
for the moral welfare of the slave population, will be admitted by every
right minded man. The present chapter cannot be more appropriately
closed, than by quoting the language of Rev. J. Waddington, of England,
at a meeting in behalf of the American Missionary Association, held in
Boston, July, 1859. The speakers had been very violent in their
denunciations of slavery, and when Mr. Waddington came to speak, he thus
rebuked their unchristian spirit:
"I have," said Mr. Waddington, "a strong conviction, that freedom can
never come but of vital Christianity. It is not born of the intellect,
it is not the product of the conscience; it can never be the result of
the sword. It was with extreme horror that I heard the assertion made
last night, that it must be through a baptism of blood that freedom must
come. Never! never! The sword can destroy, it can never create. What do
we want for freedom? Expansion of the heart. That we should honor other
men; that we should be concerned for other men. What is it that causes
slavery and oppression? Selfishness, intense, self-destroying
selfishness if you will. Nothing can exorcise that selfishness but the
constraining love of Christ. The gospel alone, by the Spirit of God, can
waken freedom in men, in families, in nations."
Mr. Waddington, also remarked, that "every thing in America was
extremely wonderful and surprising to him; and nothing more surprised
him than the burning words with which his ministerial friends pelted
each other; yet he had no doubt they were the kindest men in the world.
He thought it was not intended that any harm should be done, but only
that the cause of truth should be advanced."[83]
FOOTNOTES:
[73] Rev. Mr. Phillippo, for twenty years a missionary in Jamaica, in
his "Jamaica, its Past and Present Condition."
[74] _New York Evangelist_, 1858.
[75] _New York Observer_, March, 1856.
[76] _Lynchburgh_ (Va.) _Courier_, quoted by _African Repository_,
January, 1858.
[77] _Southern Monitor_, quoted by _African Repository_, January, 1858.
[78] _Express_--Ibid.
[79] Synod of Virginia, quoted by _African Repository_, 1858.
[80] Quoted in _African Repository_, April, 1858.
[81] The Methodist Episcopal Church North, in 1858, had a total of
22,326 of colored members, in all the States.
[82] Page 102.
[83] _American Missionary_, July, 1859.