Failure of free colored people in attaining an
equality with the whites--Their failure also in
checking Slavery--Have they not aided in its
extension? Yes--Facts in proof of this
view--Abolitionists bad Philosophers--Colored
men's influence destructive of their
hopes--Summary manner in which England acts in
their removal--Lord Mansfield's
decision--Granville Sharp's labors and their
results--Colored immigration into
Canada--Information supplied by Major
Lachlan--Demoralized condition of the blacks as
indicated by the crimes they committed--Elgin
Association--Public meeting protesting against its
organization--Negro meeting at Toronto--Memorial
of municipal council--Negro riot at St.
Catherines--Col. Prince and the Negroes--Later
cases of presentation by Grand Jury--Opinion of
the Judge--Darkening prospects of the colored
race--Views of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher--Their
accuracy--The lesson they teach.
BUT little progress, it will be seen, has been made, by the free colored
people, toward an approximation of equality with the whites. Have they
succeeded better in aiding in the abolition of slavery? They have not,
as is abundantly demonstrated by the triumph of the institution. This is
an important point for consideration, as the principal object
influencing them to remain in the country, was, that they might assist
in the liberation of their brethren from bondage. But their agency in
the attempts made to abolish the institution having failed, a more
important question arises, as to whether the free colored people, by
refusing to emigrate, may not have contributed to the advancement of
slavery? An affirmative answer must be given to this inquiry. Nor is a
protracted discussion necessary to prove the assertion.
One of the objections urged with the greatest force against
colonization, is, its tendency, as is alleged, to increase the value of
slaves by diminishing their numbers. "Jay's Inquiry," 1835, presents
this objection at length; and the Report of the "Anti-Slavery Society of
Canada," 1853, sums it up in a single proposition thus:
"The first effect of beginning to reduce the number of slaves, by
colonization, would be to increase the market value of those left
behind, and thereby increase the difficulty of setting them free."
The practical effect of this doctrine, is to discourage all
emancipations; to render eternal the bondage of each individual slave,
unless all can be liberated; to prevent the benevolence of one master
from freeing his slaves, lest his more selfish neighbor should be
thereby enriched; and to leave the whole system intact, until its total
abolition can be effected. Such philanthropy would leave every
individual, of suffering millions, to groan out a miserable existence,
because it could not at once effect the deliverance of the whole. This
objection to colonization can be founded only in prejudice, or is
designed to mislead the ignorant. The advocates of this doctrine do not
practice it, or they would not promote the escape of fugitives to
Canada.
But abolitionists object not only to the colonization of liberated
slaves, as tending to perpetuate slavery; they are equally hostile to
the colonization of the free colored people, for the same reason. The
"American Reform Tract and Book Society," the organ of the
abolitionists, for the publication of anti-slavery works, has issued a
Tract on "Colonization," in which this objection is stated as follows:
"The Society perpetuates slavery, by removing the free laborer, and
thereby increasing the demand for, and the value of, slave labor."
The projectors and advocates of such views may be good philanthropists,
but they are bad philosophers. We have seen that the power of American
slavery lies in the demand for its products; and that the whole country,
North of the sugar and cotton States, is actively employed in the
production of provisions for the support of the planter and his slaves,
and in consuming the products of slave labor. This is the constant
vocation of the whites. And how is it with the blacks? Are they
competing with the slaves, in the cultivation of sugar and cotton, or
are they also supporting the system, by consuming its products? The
latitudes in which they reside, and the pursuits in which they are
engaged, will answer this question.
The census of 1850, shows but 40,900 free colored persons in the nine
sugar and cotton States, including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas,
Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina,
while 393,500 are living in the other States. North Carolina is omitted,
because it is more of a tobacco and wool-growing, than cotton-producing
State.
Of the free colored persons in the first-named States, 19,260 are in the
cities and larger towns; while, of the remainder, a considerable number
may be in the villages, or in the families of the whites. From these
facts it is apparent, that less than 20,000 of the entire free colored
population (omitting those of North Carolina,) are in a position to
compete with slave labor, while all the remainder, numbering over
412,800, are engaged, either directly or indirectly, in supporting the
institution. Even the fugitives escaping to Canada, from having been
producers necessarily become consumers of slave-grown products; and,
worse still, under the Reciprocity Treaty, they must also become growers
of provisions for the planters who continue to hold their brothers,
sisters, wives and children, in bondage.
These are the practical results of the policy of the abolitionists.
Verily, they, also, have dug their ditches on the wrong side of their
breastworks, and afforded the enemy an easy entrance into their
fortress. But, "Let them alone; they be blind leaders of the blind. And
if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."[84]
But we are not yet prepared to estimate the full extent of the
influence, for ill, exerted by the free colored people upon public
sentiment. The picture of their degraded moral condition, drawn by the
abolitionists, is a dark one indeed, and calculated to do but little
toward promoting emancipation, or in placing themselves in a position of
equality with the whites. According to their testimony, the condition of
the slave, under the restraints of Christian masters, must be vastly
more favorable to moral progress, than that of the majority of those who
have received their freedom. While they have all the animal appetites
and passions fully developed, they seem to remain, intellectually,
child-like, with neither the courage nor the foresight enabling them to
seize upon fields of enterprise that would lead to wealth and fame. Look
at the facts upon this point. They were offered a home and government of
their own in Africa, with the control of extensive tropical cultivation;
but they rejected the boon, and refused to leave the land of their
birth, in the vain belief that they could, by remaining here, assist in
wrenching the chains from the slaves of the South. They expected great
aid, too, in their work, from the moral effect of West Indian
emancipation; but that has failed in the results anticipated, and the
free colored laborer is about to be superseded there by imported coolie
labor from abroad. They expected, also, that the emigrants and fugitives
to Canada, rising into respectability under British laws, would do the
race much honor, and show the value of emancipation; but even there the
hope has not been realized, and it will be no uncommon thing should the
Government set its face against them as most unwelcome visitors. A few
scraps of history will be of service, in illustrating the feeling of the
subjects of the British North American colonies, in relation to the
inroads made upon them by the free colored people.
In 1833, an English military officer, thus wrote:
"There is a settlement of negroes a few miles from Halifax, Nova Scotia,
at Hammond's Plains. Any one would have imagined that the Government
would have taken warning from the trouble and expense it incurred by
granting protection to those who emigrated from the States during the
Revolution; 1200 of whom were removed to Sierra Leone in 1792 by their
own request. Again when 600 of the insurgent negroes--the Maroons of
Jamaica--were transported to Nova Scotia in 1796, and received every
possible encouragement to become good subjects, by being granted a
settlement at Preston, and being employed upon the fortifications at
Halifax; yet they, too, soon became discontented, and being unwilling to
earn a livelihood by labor, were, in 1800, removed to the same colony,
after costing the island of Jamaica more than $225,000, and a large
additional expense to the Province, _i. e._ Nova Scotia. Notwithstanding
which, when the runaway slaves were received on board the fleet, off the
Chesapeake, during the late war, permission was granted to them to form
a settlement at Hammond's Plains, where the same system of discontent
arose--many of the settlers professing that they would prefer their
former well-fed life of slavery, in a more congenial climate, and
earnestly petitioning to be removed, were sent to Trinidad in 1821. Some
few of those who remained are good servants and farmers, disposing of
the produce of their lands in the Halifax market; but the majority are
idle, roving, and dirty vagabonds."[85]
Thus it appears, that as late as 1821, the policy of the British
colonies of North America, was to remove the fugitive negroes from their
territories. The 1200 exported from Halifax, in 1792, were fugitive
slaves who had joined the English during the American Revolutionary war,
and had been promised lands in Nova Scotia; but the Government having
failed to meet its pledge, and the climate proving unfavorable, they
sought refuge in Africa. These shipments of the colored people, from the
British colonies at the North to those of the Tropics, was in accordance
with the plan that England had adopted at home, in reference to the same
class of persons--that of removing a people who were a public burden, to
where they could be self-supporting. This is a matter of some interest,
and is deserving of notice in this connection. On the 22d of May, 1772,
Lord Mansfield decided the memorable Somerset case, and pronounced it
unlawful to hold a slave in Great Britain. The close of that decision
reads thus:
"Immemorial usage preserves a positive law, after the occasion or
accident which gave rise to it, has been forgotten; and tracing the
subject to natural principles, the claim of slavery never can be
supported. The power claimed was never in use here, or acknowledged by
the law. Upon the whole, we can not say the cause returned is sufficient
by the law; therefore the man must be discharged."
Previous to this date, many slaves had been introduced into English
families, and, on running away, the fugitives had been delivered up to
their masters, by order of the Court of King's Bench, under Lord
Mansfield; but now the poor African, no longer hunted as a beast of
prey, in the streets of London, slept under his roof, miserable as it
might be, in perfect security.[86]
To Granville Sharp belonged the honor of this achievement. By the
decision, about 400 negroes were thrown upon their own resources. They
flocked to Mr. Sharp as their patron; but considering their numbers, and
his limited means, it was impossible for him to afford them adequate
relief. To those thus emancipated, others, discharged from the army and
navy, were afterward added, who, by their improvidence, were reduced to
extreme distress. After much reflection, Mr. Sharp determined to
colonize them in Africa; but this benevolent scheme could not be
executed at once, and the blacks--indigent, unemployed, despised,
forlorn, vicious--became such nuisances, as to make it necessary they
should be sent somewhere, and no longer suffered to infest the streets
of London.[87] Private benevolence could not be sufficiently enlisted in
their behalf, and fifteen years passed away, when Government, anxious to
remove what it regarded as injurious, at last came to the aid of Mr.
Sharp, and supplied the means of their transportation and support. In
April, 1787, these colored people, numbering over 400, were put on
shipboard for Africa, and in the following month were landed in Sierra
Leone.[88]
But to return to Canada. We have at hand a flood of information, to
enable us to present a true picture of the colored population of that
Province, and to discern the feelings entertained toward them by the
white inhabitants. On the 27th April, 1841, the Assistant Secretary to
Government, addressed MAJOR ROBERT LACHLAN, Chairman of the Quarter
Sessions for the Western District, requesting information relating to
the colored immigrants in that quarter. Major Lachlan replied at length
to the inquiries made, and kept a record of his Report. This volume he
has had the goodness to place in our hands, from which to make such
extracts as may be necessary to a true understanding of this question.
The Major entered the public service of the British Government in 1805,
and was connected with the army in India for twenty years. Having
retired from that service, he settled in Canada in 1835, with the
intention of devoting himself to agriculture; but he was again called
into public life, as sheriff, magistrate, colonel of militia, Chairman
of the Quarter Sessions, and Associate Judge at the Assizes. In 1857 he
removed to Cincinnati, where he now resides. A true Briton, he is an
enemy of the system of slavery; but having been a close observer of the
workings of society, under various circumstances, systems of law,
degrees of intelligence, and moral conditions, he is opposed to placing
two races, so widely diverse as the blacks and whites, upon terms of
legal equality; not that he is opposed to the elevation of the colored
man, but because he is convinced that, in his present state of ignorance
and degradation, the two races cannot dwell together in peace and
harmony. This opinion, it will be seen, was the outgrowth of his
experience and observation in Canada, and not the result of a prejudice
against the African race. The Western District, the field of his
official labors, is the main point toward which nearly all the
emigration from the States is directed; and the Major had, thus, the
best of opportunities for studying this question. Besides the facts of
an official nature, in the volume from which we quote, it has a large
amount of documentary testimony, from other sources, from which liberal
extracts have also been made.
FOOTNOTES:
[84] Matthew's Gospel, xv: 14.
[85] "A Subaltern's Furlough," by Lt. Coke, 45th Regiment, being a
description of scenes in various parts of America, in 1833.
[86] Clarkson's History of the Slave Trade.
[87] Wadstrom, page 220.
[88] Memoirs of Granville Sharp.
_To the Honorable S. B. Harrison, Secretary, etc., etc._
COLCHESTER, 28th _May_, 1841.
"SIR:--I have to apologize for being thus late in
acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Assistant
Secretary Hopkirk's letter of the 27th ult.,
requesting me to furnish Government with such
information as I might be able to afford,
'respecting the colored people settled in the
Western District;'[89] and beg to assure you that
the delay has neither arisen from indifference to
the task, nor indisposition to comply with the
wishes of Government upon the subject--being one
upon which I have long and anxiously bent my most
serious reflections,--but owing to bad health, and
want of leisure, coupled with the difficulty I
have experienced, (without entering into an
extended correspondence,) in arriving at any thing
like a correct account of the gradual _increase_
of these people, or even a fair estimate of their
present numbers. I trust, therefore, that should
the particulars furnished by me upon these heads,
be found more meager and defective than might be
expected, it will either be assigned to these
causes, or to others which may be given in the
course of the following remarks: and if these
remarks, themselves, be found to be drawn up with
more of loose unmethodical freedom than official
conciseness, I trust that that feature will rather
be regarded in their favor than otherwise.
"The exact period at which the colored people
began to make their appearance in the Western
District, _as settlers_, I have not been able to
ascertain to my satisfaction; but it is generally
believed to have been about the time of the War
with the Americans, in 1812. Before then, however,
there had been a few scattered about, who,
generally speaking, had, prior to the passing of
the Emancipation Bill, been slaves to different
individuals in the District. From 1813 to 1821,
the increase was very trifling; and they were
generally content to hire themselves out as
domestic or farm servants; but about the latter
period the desire of several gentlemen residing
near Sandwich and Amherstburgh to place settlers
on their lands, induced them, in the absence of
better, to resort to the unfortunate, impolitic
expedient of leasing out or selling small portions
of land to colored people on such inviting
conditions as not only speedily allowed many of
those who had already settled in the country to
undertake 'farming on their own account,' but
encouraged many more to escape from their American
masters, to try their fortunes in this now
far-famed 'land of liberty and promise.' The
stream having thus begun to flow, the secret
workings of the humane, but not unexceptionable
abolitionist societies, existing in the American
States, speedily widened and deepened the channel
of approach, until a flood of colored immigrants,
of the very worst classes, has been progressively
introduced into the District, which had, last
year, reached an aggregate of about 1500 souls,
and which threatens to be doubled in the course of
a very short time, unless it be within the power
of the Government to counteract it;--but which,
_if suffered to roll on unchecked_, will sooner or
later lead to the most serious, if not most
lamentable consequences.
"From my making so strong an observation at the
very threshold of my remarks, it will be readily
perceived that my opinion of these unfortunate
people is unfavorable. I am therefore anxious,
before proceeding further, to shield myself from
the imputation of either groundless antipathy or
pre-indisposition toward men of color, and to have
it thoroughly understood that, as far as I can
judge of my own feelings, _they_ are the very
reverse, having not only been warmly in favor of
the poor enslaved negro, but having for near
twenty years of my life been surrounded by free
colored people, and retained my favorable leaning
toward even the African race, till some time after
my arrival in this Province. Unfortunately,
however, for this pre-disposition, as well as for
the character of this ill-fated race, my attention
was shortly after directed by particular
circumstances to the quiet study of their
disposition and habits, and ended in a thorough
conviction that without a radical change they
would ere long, like the snake in the bosom of the
husbandman, prove a curse, instead of a benefit to
the country which fosters and protects them.
"The first time that I had occasion to express
myself thus strongly on the subject, in an
official way, was less than two years after my
arrival in the District, while holding the office
of sheriff,--when, in corresponding with Mr.
Secretary Joseph, during the troubles in January,
1838, I, in a postscript to a letter in which I
expressed unwillingness to call in aid from other
quarters, while our own population were allowed to
remain inactive, was led to add the following
remarkable words: 'My vote has been equally
decided against employing the colored people,
except on a similar emergency;--in fact, though a
cordial friend to the emancipation of the poor
African, I regard the rapidly increasing
population rising round us, as destined to be a
bitter curse to the District; and do not think our
employing them as our _defenders_ at all likely to
retard the progress of such an event;'--an opinion
which all my subsequent observation and
experience, whether as a private individual, as
Sheriff of the District, as a local Magistrate, as
Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, or as an anxious
friend to pure British immigration, have only the
more strongly confirmed."
After these preliminary remarks, the Records of
Major Lachlan, proceed to the details of the
various points upon which he was required by
Government to report. Much of this, though the
whole is interesting, must be omitted in our
extracts. In speaking of the several townships to
which the colored immigration was directed, he
says of Amherstburgh:
"That place may now be regarded as the Western
rendezvous of the colored race,--being the point
to which all the idle and worthless, as well as
the well disposed, first direct their steps,
before dispersing over other parts of the
District,--a distinction of which it unfortunately
bears too evident marks in the great number of
petty crimes committed by or brought home to these
people,--to the great trouble of the investigating
local magistrates, and the still greater annoyance
of the inhabitants generally,--arising from the
constant nightly depredations committed on their
orchards, barns, granaries, sheep-folds, fowl-yards,
and even cellars." . . . . "In Gosfield, I am given
to understand their general character is rather
above par; . . . . while in the next adjoining
township of Mersea, so much are they disliked by
the inhabitants, that they are, in a manner,
proscribed by general consent--a colored man being
there scarcely suffered to travel along the
highroads unmolested.
"The first thing that forcibly struck me, in these
people, was a total absence of that modest and
unpresuming demeanor which I had been some how led
to expect, and the assumption, instead, of a 'free
and easy' independence of manner as well as
language toward all white inhabitants, except
their immediate employers, together with an
apparent utter indifference to being hired on
reasonable average wages, though, as already
stated, seemingly without any visible means of a
livelihood, and their also, at all times,
estimating the value of their labor on a par, if
not above that of the white man. And I had
scarcely recovered from my surprise, at such
conduct, as a private individual, when, as a
magistrate, I was still more astonished at the
great amount of not only petty offenses, but of
crime of the most atrocious dye, perpetrated by so
small a body of strangers compared with the great
bulk of the white population: and such still
continuing to be the unabating case, Session after
Session, Assize after Assize, it at length became
so appalling to my feelings, that on being placed
in the chair of the Quarter Sessions, I could not
refrain from more than once pointing to it in
strong language in my charges to the Grand Juries.
In July last year, for instance, I was led, in
connection with a particular case of larceny, to
observe . . . . 'The case itself will, I trust,
involve no difficulty so far as the Grand Jury is
concerned; but it affords the magistrates another
opportunity of lamenting that there should so
speedily be furnished no less than five additional
instances of the rapid increase of crime in this
(hitherto in that respect highly fortunate)
District, arising solely from the recent great
influx of colored people into it from the
neighboring United States,--and who unfortunately
not only furnish the major part of the crime
perpetrated in the District, but also thereby a
very great portion of its rapidly increasing
debt,--from the expense attending their
maintenance in jail before trial, as well as after
conviction! . . . .
"In spite of these solemn admonitions, a large
proportion of the criminals tried at the ensuing
September Assizes were colored people; and among
them were two aggravated cases of rape and arson;
the former wantonly perpetrated on a respectable
farmer's wife, in this township, to whom the
wretch was a perfect stranger; the latter
recklessly committed at a merchant's store in the
vicinity of Sandwich, for the mere purpose of
opening a hole through which to convey away his
plunder. And, notwithstanding 'the general jail
delivery' that then took place, the greater part
of the crimes brought before the following mouth's
Quarter Sessions (chiefly larceny and assaults)
were furnished by the same people!--a circumstance
of so alarming and distressing a character, that I
was again led to comment upon it in my charge to
the Grand Jury in the following terms. 'Having
disposed of the law relating to these offenses, I
arrive at a very painful part of nay observations,
in once more calling the particular attention of
the Grand Jury, as well as the public at large, to
the remarkable and appalling circumstance that
among a population of near 20,000 souls,
inhabiting this District, the greater portion of
the crime perpetrated therein should be committed
by less than 2,000 refugees from a life of _abject
slavery_, to a land of _liberty, protection and
comfort_,--and from whom, therefore, if there be
such generous feelings as thankfulness and
gratitude, a far different line of conduct might
reasonably be expected. I allude to the alarming
increase of crime still perpetrated by the colored
settlers, and who, in spite of the late numerous,
harrowing, _convicted examples_, unhappily furnish
_the whole of the offenses now likely to be
brought before you_!'. . . . .
"But, sir, the wide spreading current of crime
among this unfortunate race was not to be easily
arrested;--and I had long become so persuaded that
it must sooner or later force itself upon the
notice of the Legislature, that on feeling it my
duty to draw the attention of my brother
magistrates to the embarrassed state of the
District finances, and to the greater portion of
its expenses arising from this disreputable
source, I was led, in framing the report of a
special committee (of which I was chairman)
appointed to investigate our pecuniary
difficulties, to advert once more to the great
undue proportion of our expenses arising from
crime committed by so small a number of colored
people, compared with the great body of the
inhabitants, in the following strong but
indisputable language: 'It is with pain and regret
that your committee, in conclusion, feel bound to
recur to the great additional burthen thrown upon
the District, as well as the undeserved stigma
cast upon the general character of its population,
whether native or immigrant British, by the late
great influx of colored people of the worst
description from the neighboring States--a great
portion of whom appear to have no visible means of
gaining a livelihood,--and who, therefore, not
only furnish a large proportion of the basest
crimes perpetrated in the country, such as murder,
rape, arson, burglary, and larceny, besides every
other description of minor offense,--untraceable
to the _color_ of the perpetrators in a
miscellaneous published calendar; but also,
besides the constant trouble they entail upon
magistrates who happen to reside in their
neighborhood, produce a large portion of the debt
incurred by the District, from the great number
committed to and subsisted in prison, etc.; and
they would with all respect for the liberty of the
subject, and the sincerest good will toward their
African brethren generally,--whom they would wish
to regard with every kindly feeling, venture to
suggest, for the consideration of Government,
whether any legislative check can possibly be
placed upon the rapid importation of the most
worthless of this unfortunate race, such, as the
good among themselves candidly lament, has of late
inundated this devoted section of the Province, to
the great detriment of the claims of the poor
emigrant from the mother country upon our
consideration, the great additional and almost
uncontrollable increase of crime, and the
proportionate demoralization of principle among
the inhabitants of the country.' . . . . . .
"Notwithstanding all these strenuous endeavors,
added to the most serious and impressive
admonitions to various criminals after conviction
and sentence, no apparent change for the better
occurred; for at the Quarter Sessions of last
January, the usual preponderance of negro crime
struck me so forcibly as again to draw from me, in
my charge to the Grand Jury, the following
observations: 'I am extremely sorry to be unable
to congratulate you or the country on a light
calendar, the matters to be brought before you
embracing no less than three cases of larceny, and
one of enticing soldiers to desert, besides
several arising from that ever prolific source,
assaults, etc. I cannot, however, pass the former
by altogether without once more emphatically
remarking, that it is as much to the disgrace of
the free colored settlers in our District, as it
is creditable to the rest of our population, that
the greater part of the culprits to be brought
before us are still men of color: and I lament
this the more, as I was somewhat in hopes that the
earnest admonitions that I had more than once felt
it my duty to address to that race, would have
been attended with some good effect.'. . . . .
"In spite of all these reiterated, anxious
endeavors, the amount of crime exhibited in the
Calendar of the following Quarter Sessions, in
April last, consisted solely (I think) of five
cases of larceny, perpetrated by negroes; and at
the late Assizes, held on the 20th instant, out of
five criminal cases, one of enticing soldiers to
desert, and two of theft, were, as usual,
committed by men of color!!!
"Having thus completed a painful retrospect of the
appalling amount of crime committed by the colored
population in the District at large, compared with
the general mass of the white population, I now
consider it my duty to advert more particularly to
what has been passing more immediately under my
own observation in the township of Colchester."
The record from which we quote, has, under this head, the statement of
the township collector, as to the moral and social condition of the
colored people of the township, in which he says, "that, in addition to
the black women there were fourteen yellow ones, and fifteen _white_
ones--that they run together like beasts, and that he did not suppose
one third of them were married; and further, that they would be a curse
to this part of Canada, unless there is something done to put a stop to
their settling among the white people.'
In referring to the enlistment of the blacks as soldiers, to the
prejudice of the legitimate prospects of the deserving European
emigrants, the record says: "With regard to continuing to employ the
colored race to discharge--in some instances exclusively, as is now the
case at Chatham--the duties of regular soldiers, in such times as these,
_in a country peopled by BRITONS_, I regard it as not only impolitic in
the extreme, but even _dangerous_ also,--besides throwing a stigma of
degradation on the honorable profession of which I was for twenty-four
years of my life a devoted member. And I even put it to yourself, sir,
what would have been your feelings, if, amid the great political
excitement prevalent during the late Kent election,[90] there had been a
serious disturbance and some unthinking magistrate had called in '_the
aid of the military_' to quell it, and blood had been shed!--for the
thing was within possibility, and for some time gave me much uneasiness.
Had such been the case,--what would have been the appalling, and
probable, nay, almost _certain_ result,--if I may judge from the well
known feelings of the white population generally,--_that that
unfortunate company would have been instantly turned upon, by men of all
parties, and massacred on the spot with their own weapons!_" . . . . .
"Allow me, therefore, at all events briefly to remark, that before any
thing can be accomplished connected with the moral and religious
improvement of the negro settlers, they must be rescued from the hands
of the utterly ignorant and uneducated, yet conceited coxcombs of their
own color, who assume to themselves the grave character and holy office
of ministers and preachers of the gospel, and lead their still more
ignorant followers into all the extravagancies of 'Love Feasts' and
'Camp Meetings,' without at all comprehending their import, and at the
same time utterly neglecting all other essentials!--an object well
deserving of the most serious and anxious consideration of an
enlightened Government, as far as those who are already settled in the
country are concerned; while it would be a most sound and politic
measure to take every lawful step to discourage as much as possible, if
we can not altogether _prevent_ the further introduction of so
objectionable and deleterious a class of settlers into a BRITISH
_colony_. ". . . . "Perhaps one of the wisest measures that could be
devised--(since our friends, the American abolitionists, will insist on
peopling Canada with run-away negro slaves)--will be to throw every
possible obstacle in the way of the sadly deteriorating _amalgamation of
color_ already in progress, by Government allotting, at least, a
distinct and separate location to all negro settlers, except those who
choose to occupy the humble but useful station of farm and domestic
servants; and even, if possible, purchasing back at the public expense,
on almost any terms, whatever scattered landed property they may have
elsewhere acquired in different parts of the Province."
The Report of Major Lachlan is very extensive, and embraces many topics
connected with the question of negro immigration into Canada. His
response to Government led to further investigation, and to some
legislative action in the Canadian Parliament. The latest recorded
communications upon the subject, from his pen, are dated November 9th,
1849, and June 4th, 1850, from which it appears that up to that date,
there had been no abatement of the hostile feeling of the whites toward
the blacks, nor any improvement in the social and moral condition of the
blacks themselves.
In 1849, the Elgin Association went into operation. Its object was to
concentrate the colored people at one point, and thus have them in a
more favorable position for intellectual and moral culture. A large body
of land was purchased in the Township of Raleigh, and offered for sale
in small lots to colored settlers. The measure was strongly opposed, and
called out expressions of sentiment adverse to it, from the people at
large. A public meeting, held in Chatham, August 18, 1849, thus
expressed itself:
"The Imperial Parliament of Great Britain has forever banished slavery
from the Empire. In common with all good men, we rejoice at the
consummation of this immortal act; and we hope, that all other nations
may follow the example. Every member of the human family is entitled to
certain rights and privileges, and no where on earth are they better
secured, enjoyed, or more highly valued, than in Canada. Nature,
however, has divided the same great family into distinct species, for
good and wise purposes, and it is no less our interest, than it is our
duty, to follow her dictates and obey her laws. Believing this to be a
sound and correct principle, as well as a moral and a Christian duty, it
is with alarm we witness the fast increasing emigration, and settlement
among us of the African race; and with pain and regret, do we view the
establishment of an association, the avowed object of which is to
encourage the settlement in old, well-established communities, of a race
of people which is destined by nature to be distinct and separate from
us. It is also with a feeling of deep resentment that we look upon the
selection of the Township of Raleigh, in this District, as the first
portion of our beloved country, which is to be cursed, with a systematic
organization for setting the laws of nature at defiance. Do communities
in other portions of Canada, feel that the presence of the negro among
them is an annoyance? Do they feel that the increase of the colored
people among them, and amalgamation its necessary and hideous attendant,
is an evil which requires to be checked? With what a feeling of horror,
would the people of any of the old settled townships of the eastern
portion of this Province, look upon a measure which had for its avowed
object, the effect of introducing several hundreds of Africans, into the
very heart of their neighborhood, their families interspersing
themselves among them, upon every vacant lot of land, their children
mingling in their schools, and all claiming to be admitted not only to
political, but to social privileges? and when we reflect, too, that many
of them must from necessity, be the very worst species of that neglected
race; the fugitives from justice; how much more revolting must the
scheme appear? How then can you adopt such a measure? We beseech our
fellow subjects to pause before they embark in such an enterprise, and
ask themselves, 'whether they are doing by us as they would wish us to
do unto them.' . . . . Surely our natural position is irksome enough
without submitting to a measure, which not only holds out a premium for
filling up our district with a race of people, upon whom we can not look
without a feeling of repulsion, and who, having been brought up in a
state of bondage and servility, are totally ignorant both of their
social and political duties; but at the same time makes it the common
receptable into which all other portions of the Province are to void the
devotees of misery and crime. Look at your prisons and your
penitentiary, and behold the fearful preponderance of their black over
their white inmates in proportion to the population of each. . . . . We
have no desire to show hostility toward the colored people, no desire to
banish them from the Province. On the contrary, we are willing to assist
in any well-devised scheme for their moral and social advancement. Our
only desire is, that they shall be separated from the whites, and that
no encouragement shall hereafter be given to the migration of the
colored man from the United States, or any where else. The idea that we
have brought the curse upon ourselves, through the establishment of
slavery by our ancestors, is false. As Canadians, we have yet to learn
that we ought to be made a vicarious atonement for European sins.
"Canadians: The hour has arrived when we should arouse from our
lethargy; when we should gather ourselves together in our might, and
resist the onward progress of an evil which threatens to entail upon
future generations a thousand curses. Now is the day. A few short years
will put it beyond our power. Thousands and tens of thousands of
American negroes, with the aid of the abolition societies in the States,
and with the countenance given them by our philanthropic institutions,
will continue to pour into Canada, if resistance is not offered. Many of
you who live at a distance from this frontier, have no conception either
of the number or the character of these emigrants, or of their poisonous
effect upon the moral and social habits of a community. You listen with
active sympathy to every thing narrated of the sufferings of the poor
African; your feelings are enlisted, and your purse strings unloosed,
and this often by the hypocritical declamation of some self-styled
philanthropist. Under such influences many of you, in our large cities
and towns, form yourselves into societies, and, without reflection, you
supply funds for the support of schemes prejudicial to the best
interests of our country. Against such proceedings, and especially
against any and every attempt to settle any township in this District
with negroes, we solemnly protest, and we call upon our countrymen, in
all parts of the Province, to assist in our opposition.
"Fellow Christians: Let us forever maintain the sacred dogma, that all
men have equal, natural, and inalienable rights. Let us do every thing
in our power, consistent with international polity and justice, to
abolish the accursed system of slavery in the neighboring Republic. But
let us not, through a mistaken zeal to abate the evil of another land,
entail upon ourselves a misery which every enlightened lover of his
country must mourn. Let the slaves of the United States be free, but let
it be in their own country. Let us not countenance their further
introduction among us; in a word, let the people of the United States
bear the burthen of their own sins.
"What has already been done, can not now be avoided; but it is not too
late to do justice to ourselves, and retrieve the errors of the past.
Let a suitable place be provided by the Government, to which the colored
people may be removed, and separated from the whites, and in this scheme
we will cordially join. We owe it to them, but how much more do we owe
it to ourselves? But we implore you that you will not, either by your
counsel, or your pecuniary aid, assist those who have projected the
association for the settlement of a horde of ignorant slaves in the town
of Raleigh. It is one of the oldest and most densely settled townships,
in the very center of our new and promising District of Kent, and we
feel that this scheme, if carried into operation, will have the effect
of hanging like a dead weight upn our rising prosperity. What is our
case to-day, to-morrow may be yours; join us then, in endeavoring to put
a stop to what is not only a general evil, but in this case an act of
unwarrantable injustice; and when the time may come when you shall be
similarly situated to us, we have no doubt that, like us, you will cry
out, and your appeal shall not be in vain."
On the 3d of September, 1849, the colored people of Toronto, Canada,
held a meeting, in which they responded at length to the foregoing
address. The spirit of the meeting can be divined from the following
resolutions, which were unanimously passed:
"1st. _Resolved_, That we, as a portion of the inhabitants of Canada,
conceive it to be our imperative duty to give an expression of sentiment
in reference to the proceedings of the late meeting held at Chatham,
denying the right of the colored people to settle where they please.
"2d. _Resolved_, That we spurn with contempt and burning indignation,
any attempt, on the part of any person, or persons, to thrust us from
the general bulk of society, and place us in a separate and distinct
classification, such as is expressly implied in an address issued from
the late meeting above alluded to.
"3d. _Resolved_, That the principle of selfishness, as exemplified in
the originators of the resolutions and address, we detest, as we do
similar ones emanating from a similar source; and we can clearly see the
workings of a corrupt and depraved heart, arranged in hostility to the
heaven-born principle of _liberty_, in its broadest and most
unrestricted sense."
On the 9th of October, 1849, the Municipal Council of the Western
District, adopted a Memorial to His Excellency, the Governor General,
protesting against the proposed Elgin Association, in which the
following language occurs:
. . . . . "Clandestine petitions have been got up, principally, if not
wholly, signed by colored people, in order to mislead Government and the
Elgin Association. These petitions do not embody the sentiments or
feelings of the respectable, intelligent, and industrious yeomanry of
the Western District. We can assure your Excellency that any such
statement is false, that there is but one feeling, and that is of
disgust and hatred, that they, the negroes, should be allowed to settle
in any township where there is a white settlement. Our language is
strong; but when we look at the expressions used at a late meeting held
by the colored people of Toronto, openly avowing the propriety of
amalgamation, and stating that it must, and will, and shall continue, we
cannot avoid so doing. . . . . . The increased immigration of foreign
negroes into this part of the Province is truly alarming. We cannot omit
mentioning some facts for the corroboration of what we have stated. The
negroes, who form at least one-third of the inhabitants of the township
of Colchester, attended the township meeting for the election of parish
and township officers, and insisted upon their right to vote, which was
denied them by every individual white man at the meeting. The
consequence was, that the Chairman of the meeting was prosecuted and
thrown into heavy costs, which costs were paid by subscription from
white inhabitants. In the same township of Colchester, as well as in
many others, the inhabitants have not been able to get schools in many
school sections, in consequence of the negroes insisting on their right
of sending their children to such schools. No white man will ever act
with them in any public capacity; this fact is so glaring, that no
sheriff in this Province would dare to summons colored men to do jury
duty. That such things have been done in other quarters of the British
dominions we are well aware of, but we are convinced that the Canadians
will never tolerate such conduct."
A Toronto paper of December 24, 1847, says: "The white inhabitants are
fast leaving the vicinity of the proposed colored settlement, for the
United States."
The _St. Catharines Journal_, June, 1852, under the head of "the fruits
of having colored companies and colored settlements," says: "On the
occasion of the June muster of the militia, a pretty large turn out took
place at St. Catharines. We regret exceedingly that the day did not pass
over without a serious riot. It seems that on the parade ground some
insult was offered to the colored company, which was very properly
restrained by Colonel Clark, and others. If the affair had ended here,
it would have been fortunate; but the bad feeling exhibited on the
parade ground was renewed, by some evil-minded person, and the colored
population, becoming roused to madness, they proceeded to wreak their
vengeance on a company in Stinson's tavern, after which a general melee
took place, in which several men were wounded, and it is likely some
will die of the injuries received. The colored village is a ruin, and
much more like a place having been beseiged by an enemy than any thing
else. This is the reward which the colored men have received for their
loyalty, and the readiness with which they turned out to train, and no
doubt would if the country required their services. This is a most
painful occurrence, and must have been originated by some very ignorant
persons. How any man possessing the common feelings of humanity, to say
nothing of loyalty, could needlessly offer insult to so many men, so
cheerfully turning out in obedience to the laws of the country, exceeds
belief, if it were not a matter of fact. Too much credit cannot be given
to those worthy citizens who used their best efforts to restrain the
excitement, and prevented any further blood-shedding."
But here we have testimony of a later date. Hon. Colonel Prince, member
of the Canadian Parliament in 1857, had resided among the colored people
of the Western District; and, like other humane men, had sympathized
with them, at the outset, and shown them many favors. Time and
observation changed his views, and, in the course of his parliamentary
duties, we find him taking a stand adverse to the further increase of
the negro population in Canada. Hear him, as reported at the time:
"On the order of the day for the third reading of the emigrants' law
amendment bill being called, Hon. Col. Prince said he was wishful to
move a rider to the measure. The black people who infested the land were
the greatest curse to the Province. The lives of the people of the West
were made wretched by the inundation of these animals, and many of the
largest farmers in the county of Kent have been compelled to leave their
beautiful farms, because of the pestilential swarthy swarms.--What were
these wretches fit for? Nothing. They cooked our victuals and shampooned
us; but who would not rather that these duties should be performed by
white men? The blacks were a worthless, useless, thriftless set of
beings--they were too indolent, lazy and ignorant to work, too proud to
be taught; and not only that, if the criminal calendars of the country
were examined, it would be found that they were a majority of the
criminals. They were so detestable that unless some method were adopted
of preventing their influx into this country by the "underground rail
road," the people of the West would be obliged to drive them out by open
violence. The bill before the House imposed a capitation tax upon
emigrants from Europe, and the object of his motion was to levy a
similar tax upon blacks who came hither from the States. He now moved,
seconded by Mr. Patton, that a capitation tax of 5_s_ for adults, and
3_s_ 9_d_ for children above one year and under fourteen years of age,
be levied on persons of color emigrating to Canada from any foreign
country.
"Ought not the Western men to be protected from the rascalities and
villainies of the black wretches? He found these men with fire and food,
and lodging when they were in need; and he would be bound to say that
the black men of the county of Essex would speak well of him in this
respect. But he could not admit them as being equal to white men; and,
after a long and close observation of human nature, he had come to the
conclusion that the black man was born to and intended for slavery, and
that he was fit for nothing else. [Sensation.] Honorable gentlemen might
try to groan him down, but he was not to be moved by mawkish sentiment,
and he was persuaded that they might as well try to change the spots of
the leopard as to make the black a good citizen. He had told black men
so, and the lazy rascals had shrugged their shoulders and wished they
had never ran away from their "good old massa" in Kentucky. If there was
any thing unchristian in what he had proposed, he could not see it, and
he feared that he was not born a Christian."
The _Windsor Herald_, of July 3d, 1857, contains the proceedings of an
indignation meeting, held by the colored people of Toronto, at which
they denounced Colonel Prince in unmeasured terms of reproach. The same
paper contains the reply of the Colonel, copied from the _Toronto
Colonist_, and it is given entire, as a specimen of the spicy times they
have, in Canada, over the negro question. The editor remarks, in
relation to the reply of Colonel Prince, that it has given general
satisfaction in his neighborhood. It is as follows:
"DEAR SIR:--Your valuable paper of yesterday has afforded me a rich
treat and not a little fun in the report of an indignation meeting of
'the colored citizens' of Toronto, held for the purpose of censuring me.
Perhaps I ought not to notice their proceedings--perhaps it would be
more becoming in me to allow them to pass at once into the oblivion
which awaits them; but as it is the fashion in this country not
unfrequently to assume that to be true which appears in print against an
individual, unless he flatly denies the accusation, I shall, at least,
for once, condescend to notice these absurd proceedings. They deal in
generalities, and so shall I. Of the colored citizens of Toronto I know
little or nothing; no doubt, some are respectable enough in their way,
and perform the inferior duties belonging to their station tolerably
well. Here they are kept in order--in their proper place--but their
'proceedings' are evidence of their natural conceit, their vanity, and
their ignorance; and in them the cloven foot appears, and evinces what
they would do, if they could. I believe that in this city, as in some
others of our Province, they are looked upon as necessary evils, and
only submitted to because white servants are so scarce. But I now deal
with these fellows as a body, and I pronounce them to be, as such, the
_greatest curse_ ever inflicted upon the two magnificent western
counties which I have the honor to represent in the Legislative Council
of this Province! and few men have had the experience of them that I
have. Among the many _estimable_ qualities they possess, a systematic
habit of _lying_ is not the least prominent; and the 'colored citizens'
aforesaid seem to partake of that quality in an eminent degree, because
in their famous _Resolutions_ they roundly assert that during the
Rebellion 'I walked arm and arm with colored men'--that 'I owe my
election to the votes of colored men'--and that I have 'accumulated much
earthly gains,' as a lawyer, among 'colored clients.' All Lies! Lies!
Lies! from beginning to end. I admit that one company of blacks did
belong to my contingent battalion, but they made the very worst of
soldiers, and were, comparatively speaking, unsusceptible of drill or
discipline, and were conspicuous for one act only--a stupid sentry shot
the son of one of our oldest colonels, under a mistaken notion that he
was thereby doing his duty. But I certainly never did myself the honor
of 'walking arm in arm' with any of the colored gentlemen of that
distinguished corps. Then, as to my election. Few, very few blacks voted
for me. _I never canvassed them_, and hence, I suppose, they supported,
as a body, my opponent. They took compassion upon '_a monument of
injured innocence_,' and they sustained the monument for a while, upon
the pedestal their influence erected. But the monument fell, and the
fall proved that such influence was merely ephemeral, and it sank into
insignificant nothingness, as it should, and I hope ever will do; or God
help this noble land. Poor Blackies! Be not so bold or so conceited, or
so insolent hereafter, I do beseech you.
"Then how rich I have become among my 'colored clients!' I assert,
without the fear of contradiction, that I have been the friend--the
steady friend of our western 'Darkies' for more than twenty years; and
amidst difficulties and troubles innumerable, (for they are a litigious
race,) I have been their adviser, and I never made twenty pounds out of
them in that long period! The fact is that the poor creatures had never
the ability to pay a lawyer's fee.
"It has been my misfortune, and the misfortune of my family, to live
among those blacks, (and they have lived _upon_ us,) for twenty-four
years. I have employed _hundreds_ of them, and, with the exception of
one, (named Richard Hunter,) not one has ever done for us a week's
honest labor. I have taken them into my service, have fed and clothed
them, year after year, on their arrival from the States, and in return I
have generally found them rogues and thieves, and a graceless,
worthless, thriftless, lying set of vagabonds. That is my very plain and
very simple description of the darkies as a body, and it would be
indorsed by all the western white men with very few exceptions.
"I have had scores of their George Washingtons, Thomas Jeffersons, James
Madisons, as well as their Dinahs, and Gleniras, and Lavinias, in my
service, and I understand them thoroughly, and I include the whole batch
(old Richard Hunter excepted) in the category above described. To
conclude, you 'Gentlemen of color,' East and West, and especially you
'colored citizens of Toronto,' I thank you for having given me an
opportunity to publish my opinion of your race. Call another indignation
meeting, and there make greater fools of yourselves than you did at the
last, and then 'to supper with what appetite you may.'
"Believe me to remain,
Mr. Editor,
Yours very faithfully,
=JOHN PRINCE.=
Toronto, 26th June, 1857."
It is impracticable to extract the whole of the important facts referred
to in Maj. Lachlan's Report, as it would make a volume of itself. In
many places he takes occasion to urge the necessity of education for the
colored people, as the only possible means of their elevation; and also
presses upon the attention of the better classes of that race, the duty
of co-operating with the magistrates in their efforts for the
suppression of crime, as well as the advantages to be derived from the
formation of associations for their intellectual and moral advancement.
On the 23d of May, 1847, he addressed the Right Honorable, the Earl of
Elgin, the Governor of Canada, on the subject of the causes checking the
prosperity of the Western District, the fourth one of which he states to
be "the unfortunate influx into its leading townships of swarms of
run-away negro slaves, of the worst description, from the American
States." After referring to the facts contained in his report of 1841, a
portion of which are presented in the preceding pages, he says: "I shall
therefore rest content with stating, in connection with these extracts,
the simple fact, that on the Province gradually recovering from the
shock given to immigration by the late rebellion, and the stream of
British settlers beginning once more to flow toward the Province, a
considerable number of emigrants of the laboring classes made their way
to the Western District, and for some time wandered about in search of
employment; but with the exception of those who had come to join
relations and friends, and a few others, the greater portion, finding
themselves unable to obtain work, from the ground which they naturally
expected to occupy being already monopolized by negroes, and there being
no public works of any kind on which they could be engaged, became
completely disheartened, and were ultimately forced to disperse
themselves elsewhere; and, most generally, found a refuge in the
neighboring States of Michigan and Ohio. And such, it may be added, has
ever since continued to be the case; while, on the other hand, the
influx of negroes has been greatly on the increase. . . . . Far,
however, be it for me to suppose it possible to abridge for one moment
that noble constitutional principle--that slavery and _British Rule_ and
_British feeling are incompatible_; but still I consider it no trifling
evil that any part of an essentially _British_ colony should be thereby
exposed to be made the receptable of the worst portion of the lowest
grade of the human race, from every part of the American Union, to the
evident serious injury of its own inhabitants, and equally serious
prejudice to the claims of more congenial settlers."
This statement shows, very clearly, how the negro immigration into
Canada operates injuriously to its prosperity by repelling the white
immigrants.
What was true of the colored population of the "Western District of
Canada, in 1841, while Major Lachlan filled the chair of the Quarter
Sessions, seems to be equally true in 1859. The _Essex Advocate_,
contains the following extract from the Presentment of the Grand Jury,
at the Essex Assizes, November 17, 1859, in reference to the jail: "We
are sorry to state to your Lordship the great prevalence of the colored
race among its occupants, and beg to call attention to an accompanying
document from the Municipal Council and inhabitants of the Township of
Anderdon, which we recommend to your Lordship's serious consideration.
"'_To the Grand Jury of the County of Essex, in Inquest assembled_: We,
the undersigned inhabitants of the Township of Anderdon, respectfully
wish to call the attention of the Grand Inquest of the County of Essex
to the fearful state of crime in our township. That there exists
organized bands of thieves, too lazy to work, who nightly plunder our
property! That nearly all of us, more or less, have suffered losses; and
that for the last two years the stealing of sheep has been most
alarming, one individual having had nine stolen within that period. We
likewise beg to call your attention to the fact, that seven colored
persons are committed to stand trial at the present assizes on the
charge of sheep stealing, and that a warrant is out against the eighth,
all from the Town of Anderdon. We beg distinctly to be understood, that
although we are aware that nine-tenths of the crimes committed in the
County of Essex, according to the population, are so committed by the
colored people, yet we willingly extend the hand of fellowship and
kindness to the emancipated slave, whom Great Britain has granted an
asylum to in Canada We therefore hope the Grand Jury of the County of
Essex will lay the statement of our case before his Lordship, the Judge
at the present assizes, that some measure may be taken by the Government
to protect us and our property, or persons of capital will be driven
from the country.'"
We find it stated in the _Cincinnati Daily Commercial_, that the "Court,
in alluding to this presentment, remarked that 'he was not surprised at
finding prejudice existing against them (the negroes) among the
respectable portion of the people, for they were indolent, shiftless and
dishonest, and unworthy of the sympathy that some mistaken parties
extended to them; they would not work when opportunity was presented,
but preferred subsisting by thieving from respectable farmers, and
begging from those benevolently inclined.'"
In September, 1859, Mr. Stanley, a government agent from the West
Indies, visited Canada with the view of inducing the colored people of
that Province to emigrate to Jamaica. The _Windsor Herald_, in noticing
the movement, gives the details of the arguments presented, at the
meeting in Windsor, to influence them to accept the offer. To men of
intelligence and foresight, the reasons would have been convincing; but
upon the minds of the colored people, they seem to have had scarcely any
weight whatever--only one man entering his name, as an emigrant, at the
close of the lecture. They were assured that in Jamaica they could
obtain employment at remunerative salaries, and in three years become
owners of property, besides possessing all the advantages of British
subjects. Only a stipulated number were called for at the present time,
they were told, but if the experiment proved successful, the gates would
be thrown open for a general emigration. The Governor of the Island
guaranteed them occupations on their arrival, or a certain stipend until
such were found, and also their passage thither gratis. Four hundred
emigrants were wanted to commence the experiment, and if they succeeded
in getting the number required, they designed starting for Jamaica in
the space of a month.
The indisposition of the colored people to accept the liberal offer of
the authorites of Jamaica, created some surprise among the whites; but
the mystery was explained when the agent visited Chatham, and made
similar offers to the colored people of that town. As already stated, in
the Preface to this work, they not only rejected the offered boon with
contempt, but gave as their reason, that events would shortly transpire
in the United States, which would demand their aid in behalf of their
fellow countrymen there.[91] This was thirteen days before the Harper's
Ferry outbreak, and Chatham was the town in which John Brown and his
associates concocted their insurrectionary movement. The chief reason
why the Jamaica emigration scheme was rejected, must have been the
determination of the blacks of Canada to co-operate in the Brown
insurrection.
Here, now, are all the results of the Canada experiment, as presented
by the official action of its civil officers and public men. Need it be
said, that the prospects of the African race have only been rendered the
more dark and gloomy, by the conduct of the free colored men of that
Province. And when we couple the results there with those of the West
Indies, it must be obvious to all, that what has been attempted for the
colored race is wholly impracticable; that in its present state of
advancement from barbarism, the attainment of civil and social equality,
with the enlightened white races, is utterly impossible.
It would appear, then, that philanthropists have committed a grave error
in their policy, and the sooner they retrace their steps the better for
the colored people. The error to which we refer, is this: they found a
small portion of colored men, whose intelligence and moral character
equaled that of the average of the white population; and, considering it
a great hardship that such men should be doomed to a degraded condition,
they attempted to raise them up to the civil and social position which
their merits would entitle them to occupy. But in attempting to secure
equal rights to the enlightened negro, the philanthropists claimed the
same privilege for the whole of that race. In this they failed to
recognize the great truth, that free government is not adapted to men in
a condition of ignorance and moral degradation. By taking such broad
ground--by securing the largest amount of liberty for a great mass of
the most degraded of humanity--they have altogether failed in convincing
the world, that freedom is a boon worth the bestowal upon the African in
his present condition. The intelligent colored man, who could have been
lifted up to a suitable hight, and maintained his position, if he had
been taken alone, could not be elevated at all when the whole race were
fastened to his skirts. And this mistake was a very natural one for men
who think but superficially. Despotic government is repugnant to
enlightened men: hence, in rejecting it for themselves, they repudiate
it as a form of rule for all others. This decision, plausible as it may
appear, is not consistent with the philosophy of human nature as it now
is; nor is it in accordance with the sentiments of the profound
statesmen who framed the American Constitution. They held that only men
of intelligence and moral principle were capable of self-government;
and, hence, they excluded from citizenship the barbarous and
semi-barbarous Indians and Africans, who were around them and in their
midst.
In discussing the results of emancipation in the United States, in a
preceding chapter, it is stated that one principal cause, operating to
check the further liberation of the slaves, at an early day in our
history, was, that freedom had proved itself of little value to the
colored man, while the measure had greatly increased the burdens of the
whites; and that until he should make such progress as would prove that
freedom was the best condition for the race, while intermingled with the
whites, any further movements toward general emancipation were not to be
expected. This view is now indorsed by some of the most prominent
abolitionists. Listen to the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher on this subject. In
his sermon in reference to the Harper's Ferry affair, he says:
"If we would benefit the African at the South, we must _begin at home_.
This is to some men the most disagreeable part of the doctrine of
emancipation. It is very easy to labor for the emancipation of beings a
thousand miles off; but when it comes to the practical application of
justice and humanity to those about us, it is not so easy. The truths of
God respecting the rights and dignities of men, are just as important to
free colored men, as to enslaved colored men. It may seem strange for me
to say that the lever with which to lift the load of Georgia is in New
York; but it is. I do not believe the whole free North can tolerate
grinding injustice toward the poor, and inhumanity toward the laboring
classes, without exerting an influence unfavorable to justice and
humanity in the South. No one can fail to see the inconsistency between
our treatment of those among us, who are in the lower walks of life, and
our professions of sympathy for the Southern slaves. How are the free
colored people treated at the North? They are almost without education,
with but little sympathy for their ignorance. They are refused the
common rights of citizenship which the whites enjoy. They can not even
ride in the cars of our city rail roads. They are snuffed at in the
house of God, or tolerated with ill-disguised disgust. Can the black man
be a mason in New York? Let him be employed as a journeyman, and every
Irish lover of liberty that carries the hod or trowel, would leave at
once, or compel him to leave! Can the black man be a carpenter? There is
scarcely a carpenter's shop in New York in which a journeyman would
continue to work, if a black man was employed in it. Can the black man
engage in the common industries of life? There is scarcely one in which
he can engage. He is crowded down, down, down through the most menial
callings, to the bottom of society. We tax them and then refuse to allow
their children to go to our public schools. We tax them and then refuse
to sit by them in God's house. We heap upon them moral obloquy more
atrocious than that which the master heaps upon the slave. And
notwithstanding all this, we lift ourselves up to talk to the Southern
people about the rights and liberties of the human soul, and especially
the African soul! It is true that slavery is cruel. But it is not at all
certain that there is not more love to the race in the South than in the
North. . . . . . Whenever we are prepared to show toward the lowest, the
poorest, and the most despised, an unaffected kindness, such as led
Christ, though the Lord of glory, to lay aside his dignities and take on
himself the form of a servant, and to undergo an ignominious death, that
he might rescue men from ignorance and bondage--whenever we are prepared
to do such things as these, we may be sure that the example at the North
will not be unfelt at the South. Every effort that is made in Brooklyn
to establish churches for the free colored people, and to encourage them
to educate themselves and become independent, is a step toward
emancipation in the South. The degradation of the free colored men in
the North will fortify slavery in the South!"
We think we may safely guarantee, that whenever Northern abolitionists
shall carry out Mr. Beecher's scheme, of spending their time and money
for the moral and intellectual culture of the free colored people, the
South will at once emancipate every slave within her limits; because we
will then be in the midst of the millenium. Intelligent free colored men
will agree with us in opinion, as they have tested them upon this
subject.
One point more remains to be noticed:--the influence which the results
in Canada and Jamaica have exerted upon the prospects of the free
colored man in the United States. We mean, of course, his prospects for
securing the civil and social equality to which he has been aspiring.
His own want of progress has been the main cause of checking the
extension of emancipation. This is now admitted even by Rev. H. W.
Beecher, himself. Then, again, the fact that much less advancement has
been made by the negroes in the British Provinces, than by those in the
United States, operates still more powerfully in preventing any further
liberation of the slaves. These two causes, combined, have dealt a
death-blow to the hope of emancipation, in the South, by any moral
influence coming from that quarter; and has, in fact, put back that
cause, so far as the moral power of the negro is concerned, to a period
hopelessly distant. Loyal Britons may urge upon us the duty of
emancipation as strongly as they please; but so long as they denounce
the influx of colored men as a curse to Canada, just so long they will
fail in persuading Americans that an increase of free negroes will be a
blessing to the United States. The moral power of the free negro, in
promoting emancipation, is at an end; but how is it with his prospects
of success in the employment of force? The Harper's Ferry movement is
pronounced, by anti-slavery men themselves, as the work of a madman; and
no other attempt of that kind can be more successful, as none but the
insane and the ignorant will ever enlist in such an enterprise. The
power of the free colored people in promoting emancipation, say what
they will, is now at an end.
But these are not all the results of the movements noticed. They have
not only rendered the free colored people powerless in emancipation, but
have acted most injuriously upon themselves, as a class, in both the
free and the slave States. In the Northwestern free States, every new
Constitution framed, and every old one amended, with perhaps one
exception, exclude the free negroes from the privileges of citizenship.
In the slave States, generally, efforts are making not only to prevent
farther emancipations, but to drive out the free colored population from
their territories.
Thus, at this moment, stands the question of the capacity of the free
colored people of the United States, to influence public opinion in
favor of emancipation. And where are their champions who kindled the
flame which is now extinguished? Many of them are in their graves; and
the Harper's Ferry act, but applied the match that exploded the existing
organizations. One chieftain--always truthful, ever in earnest--is,
alas, in the lunatic asylum; another--whose zeal overcomes his judgment,
at times--backs down from the position he had taken, that rifles were
better than bibles in the conflict with slavery; another--coveting not
the martyr's crown, yet a little--has left his editorial chair, to put
the line dividing English and American territory between himself and
danger; another--whose life could not well be spared, as he, doubtless,
thought--after helping to organize the conspiracy at Chatham, in
Canada, immediately set out to explore Africa: perhaps to select a home
for the Virginia slaves, and be ready to receive them when Brown should
set them free. These forces can never be re-combined. As for others, so
far as politicians are concerned, the colored race have nothing to hope.
The battle for free territory, in the sense in which they design to be
understood, is a contest to keep the blacks and whites entirely
separate. It is a determination to carry out the policy of Jefferson, by
separating the races where it can be accomplished--a policy that will be
adhered to in the free States, and which the Canadians would gladly
adopt, if the mother country would permit them to carry out their
wishes.
Free colored men of the United States! "in the days of adversity
consider." Are not the signs of the times indicative of the necessity of
a change of policy?
FOOTNOTES:
[89] The testimony here offered is the more important, as the Western
District is the center of emigration from the United States.
[90] The Hon. Mr. Harrison was one of the candidates at the time alluded
to.
[91] See the resolution copied into the Preface to the present edition.