THE MORAL RELATIONS OF PERSONS HOLDING THE _PER SE_ DOCTRINE, ON THE
SUBJECT OF SLAVERY, TO THE PURCHASE AND CONSUMPTION OF SLAVE LABOR
PRODUCTS.
Moral relations of Slavery--Relations of the
consumer of Slave labor products to the
system--Grand error of all Anti-Slavery
effort--Law of _particeps criminis_--Daniel
O'Connell--_Malum in se_ doctrine--Inconsistency
of those who hold it--English
Emancipationists--Their commercial
argument--Differences between the position of
Great Britain and the United States--Preaching
versus practice by Abolitionists--Cause of their
want of influence over the Slaveholder--Necessity
of examining the question--Each man to be judged
by his own standard--Classification of opinions in
the United States, in regard to the morality of
Slavery--Three Views--A case in
illustration--Apology of _per se_ men for using
Slave grown products insufficient--Law relating to
"confusion of goods"--_Per se_ men _participes
criminis_ with Slaveholders--Taking Slave grown
products under _protest_ absurd--World's Christian
Evangelical Alliance--Amount of Slave labor Cotton
in England at that moment--Pharisaical
conduct--The Scotchman taking his wife under
protest--Anecdote--American Cotton more acceptable
to Englishmen than Republican principles--Secret
of England's policy toward American Slavery--The
case of robbery again cited, and the English
Satirized--A contrast--Causes of the want of moral
power of Abolitionists--Slaveholders no cause to
cringe--Other results--Effect of the adoption of
the _per se_ doctrine by ecclesiastical
bodies--Slaves thus left in all their moral
destitution--Inconsistency of _per se_ men
denouncing others--What the Bible says of similar
conduct.
HAVING noticed the political and economical relations of slavery, it may
be expected that we shall say something of its moral relations. In
attempting this, we choose not to traverse that interminable labyrinth,
without a thread, which includes the moral character of the system, as
it respects the relation between the master and the slave. The only
aspect in which we care to consider it, is in the moral relations which
the consumers of slave labor products sustain to slavery: and even on
this, we shall offer no opinion, our aim being only to promote inquiry.
This view of the question is not an unimportant one. It includes the
germ of the grand error in nearly all anti-slavery effort; and to which,
chiefly, is to be attributed its want of moral power over the conscience
of the slaveholder. The abolition movement, was designed to create a
public sentiment, in the United States, that should be equally as potent
in forcing emancipation, as was the public opinion of Great Britain. But
why have not the Americans been as successful as the English? This is an
inquiry of great importance. When the Anti-Slavery Convention, which
met, December 6, 1833, in Philadelphia, declared, as a part of its
creed: "That there is no difference in principle, between the African
slave trade, and American slavery," it meant to be understood as
teaching, that the person who purchased slaves imported from Africa, or
who held their offspring as slaves, was _particeps criminis_--partaker
in the crime--with the slave trader, on the principle that he who
receives stolen property, knowing it be such, is equally guilty with the
thief.
On this point Daniel O'Connell was very explicit, when, in a public
assembly, he used this language: "When an American comes into society,
he will be asked, 'are you one of the thieves, or are you an honest man?
If you are an honest man, then you have given liberty to your slaves; if
you are among the thieves, the sooner you take the outside of the house,
the better.'"
The error just referred to was this: they based their opposition to
slavery on the principle, that it was _malum in se_--a sin in
itself--like the slave trade, robbery and murder; and, at the same time,
continued to use the products of the labor of the slave as though they
had been obtained from the labor of freemen. But this seeming
inconsistency was not the only reason why they failed to create such a
public sentiment as would procure the emancipation of our slaves. The
English emancipationists began their work like philosophers--addressing
themselves, respectfully to the power that could grant their requests.
Beside the moral argument, which declared slavery a crime, the English
philanthropists labored to convince Parliament, that emancipation would
be advantageous to the commerce of the nation. The commercial value of
the Islands had been reduced one-third, as a result of the abolition of
the slave trade. Emancipation, it was argued, would more than restore
their former prosperity, as the labor of freemen was twice as productive
as that of slaves. But American abolitionists commenced their crusade
against slavery, by charging those who sustained it, and who alone, held
the power to manumit, with crimes of the blackest dye. This placed the
parties in instant antagonism, causing all the arguments on human
rights, and the sinfulness of slavery, to fall without effect upon the
ears of angry men. The error on this point, consisted in failing to
discriminate between the sources of the power over emancipation in
England and in the United States. With Great Britain, the power was in
Parliament. The masters, in the West Indies, had no voice in the
question. It was the voters in England alone who controlled the
elections, and, consequently, controlled Parliament. But the condition
of things in the United States is the reverse of what it was in England.
With us, the power of emancipation is in the States, not in Congress.
The slaveholders elect the members to the State Legislatures; and they
choose none but such as agree with them in opinion. It matters not,
therefore, what public sentiment may be at the North, as it has no power
over the Legislatures of the South. Here, then, is the difference: with
us the slaveholder controls the question of emancipation, while in
England the consent of the master was not necessary to the execution of
that work.
Our anti-slavery men seem to have fallen into their errors of policy, by
following the lead of those of England, who manifested a total ignorance
of the relations existing between our General Government and the State
Governments. On the abolition platform, slaveholders found themselves
placed in the same category with slave traders and thieves. They were
told that all laws, giving them power over the slave, were void in the
sight of heaven; and that their appropriation of the fruits of the labor
of the slave, without giving him compensation, was robbery. Had the
preaching of these principles produced conviction, it must have promoted
emancipation. But, unfortunately, while these doctrines were held up to
the gaze of slaveholders, in the one hand of the exhorter, they beheld
his other hand stretched out, from beneath his cloak of seeming
sanctity, to clutch the products of the very robbery he was professing
to condemn! Take a fact in proof of this view of the subject.
At the date of the declarations of Daniel O'Connell, on behalf of the
English, and by the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Convention, on the part of
Americans, the British manufacturers were purchasing, annually, about
300,000,000 lbs. of cotton, from the very men denounced as equally
criminal with slave traders and thieves; and the people of the United
States were almost wholly dependent upon slave labor for their supplies
of cotton and groceries. It is no matter for wonder, therefore, that
slaveholders, should treat, as fiction, the doctrine that slave labor
products are the fruits of robbery, so long as they are purchased
without scruple, by all classes of men, in Europe and America. The
pecuniary argument for emancipation, that free labor is more profitable
than slave labor, was also urged here, but was treated as the greatest
absurdity. The masters had, before their eyes, the evidence of the
falsity of the assertion, that, if emancipated, the slaves would be
doubly profitable as free laborers. The reverse was admitted, on all
hands, to be true in relation to our colored people.
But this question, of the moral relations which the consumers of slave
labor products sustain to slavery, is one of too important a nature to
be passed over without a closer examination; and, beside, it is involved
in less obscurity than the morality of the relation existing between the
master and the slave. Its consideration, too, affords an opportunity of
discriminating between the different opinions entertained on the broad
question of the morality of the institution, and enables us to judge of
the consistency and conscientiousness of every man, by the standard
which he himself adopts.
The prevalent opinions, as to the morality of the institution of
slavery, in the United States, may be classified under three heads: 1.
That it is justified by Scripture example and precept. 2. That it is a
great civil and social evil, resulting from ignorance and degradation,
like despotic systems of government, and may be tolerated until its
subjects are sufficiently enlightened to render it safe to grant them
equal rights. 3. That it is _malum in se_, like robbery and murder, and
can not be sustained, for a moment, without sin; and, like sin, should
be immediately abandoned.
Those who consider slavery sanctioned by the Bible, conceive that they
can, consistently with their creed, not only hold slaves, and use the
products of slave labor, without doing violence to their consciences,
but may adopt measures to perpetuate the system. Those who consider
slavery merely a great civil and social evil, a despotism that may
engender oppression, or may not, are of opinion that they may purchase
and use its products, or interchange their own for those of the
slaveholder, as free governments hold commercial and diplomatic
intercourse with despotic ones, without being responsible for the moral
evils connected with the system, But the position of those who believe
slavery _malum in se_, like the slave trade, robbery and murder, is a
very different one from either of the other classes, as it regards the
purchase and use of slave labor products. Let us illustrate this by a
case in point.
A company of men hold a number of their fellow men in bondage under the
laws of the commonwealth in which they live, so that they can compel
them to work their plantations, and raise horses, cattle, hogs, and
cotton. These products of the labor of the oppressed, are appropriated
by the oppressors to their own use, and taken into the markets for sale.
Another company proceed to a community of freemen, on the coast of
Africa, who have labored voluntarily during the year, seize their
persons, bind them, convey away their horses, cattle, hogs, and cotton,
and take the property to market. The first association represents the
slaveholders; the second a band of robbers. The commodities of both
parties, are openly offered for sale, and every one knows how the
property of each was obtained. Those who believe the _per se_ doctrine,
place both these associations in the same moral category, and call them
robbers. Judged by this rule, the first band are the more criminal, as
they have deprived their victims of personal liberty, forced them into
servitude, and then "despoiled them of the fruits of their labor."[92]
The second band have only deprived their victims of liberty, while they
robbed them; and thus have committed but two crimes, while the first
have perpetrated three. These parties attempt to negotiate the sale of
their cotton, say in London. The first company dispose of their cargo
without difficulty--no one manifesting the slightest scruple at
purchasing the products of slave labor. But the second company are not
so fortunate. As soon as their true character is ascertained, the police
drag its members to Court, where they are sentenced to Bridewell. In
vain do these robbers quote the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Convention,
and Daniel O'Connell, to prove that their cotton was obtained by means
no more criminal than that of the slaveholders, and that, therefore,
judgment ought to be reversed. The Court will not entertain such a
plea, and they have to endure the penalty of the law. Now, why this
difference, if slavery be _malum in se_? And if the receiver of stolen
property is _particeps criminis_ with the thief, why is it, that the
Englishman, who should receive and sell the cotton of the robbers, would
run the risk of being sent to prison with them, while if he acted as
agent of the slaveholders, he would be treated as an honorable man? If
the master has no moral right to hold his slaves, in what respect can
the products of their labor differ from the property acquired by
robbery? And if the property be the fruits of robbery, how can any one
use it, without violating conscience?
We have met with the following sage exposition of the question, in
justification of the use of slave labor products, by those who believe
the _per se_ doctrine: The master owns the lands, gives his skill and
intelligence to direct the labor, and feeds and clothes the slaves. The
slaves, therefore, are entitled only to a part of the proceeds of their
labor, while the master is also justly entitled to a part of the crop.
When brought into the market, the purchaser can not know what part
belongs, rightfully, to the master, and what to his slaves, as the whole
is offered in bulk. He may, therefore, purchase the whole, innocently,
and throw the sinfulness of the transaction upon the master, who sells
what belongs to others. But if the _per se_ doctrine be true, this
apology for the purchaser is not a justification. Where a "confusion of
goods" has been made by one of the owners, so that they can not be
separated, he who "confused" them can have no advantage, in law, from
his own wrong, but the goods are awarded to the innocent party. On this
well known principle of law, this most equitable rule, the master
forfeits his right in the property, and the purchaser, knowing the
facts, becomes a party in his guilt. But aside from this, the "confusion
of goods," by the master, can give him no moral right to dispose of the
interest of his slaves therein for his own benefit; and the persons
purchasing such property, acquire no moral right to its possession and
use. These are sound, logical views. The argument offered, in
justification of those who hold that slavery is _malum in se_, is the
strongest that can be made. It is apparent, then, from a fair analysis
of their own principles, that they are _participes criminis_ with
slaveholders.
Again, if the laws regulating the institution of slavery, be morally
null and void, and not binding on the conscience, then the slaves have a
moral right to the proceeds of their labor. This right can not be
alienated by any act of the master, but attaches to the property
wherever it may be taken, and to whomsoever it may be sold. This
principle, in law, is also well established. The recent decision on the
"Gardiner fraud," confirms it; the Court asserting, that the money paid
out of the Treasury of the United States, under such circumstances,
continued its character as the money and property of the United States,
and may be followed into the hands of those who cashed the orders of
Gardiner, and subsequently drew the money, but who are not the true
owners of the said fund; and decreeing that the amount of funds, thus
obtained, be collected off the estate of said Gardiner, and off those
who drew funds from the treasury, on his orders.
These principles of law are so well understood, by every man of
intelligence, that we can not conceive how those advocating the _per se_
doctrines, if sincere, can continue in the constant use of slave grown
products, without a perpetual violation of conscience and of all moral
law. Taking them under _protest_, against the slavery which produced
them, is ridiculous. Refusing to fellowship the slaveholder, while
eagerly appropriating the products of the labor of the slave, which he
brings in his hand, is contemptible. The most noted case of the kind, is
that of the British Committee, who had charge of the preliminary
arrangements for the admission of members to the World's Christian
Evangelical Alliance. One of the rules it adopted, but which the
Alliance afterward modified, excluded all American clergymen, suspected
of a want of orthodoxy on the _per se_ doctrine, from seats in that
body. Their language, to American clergymen, was virtually, "Stand
aside, I am holier than thou;" while, at the same moment, their
parishioners, the manufacturers, had about completed the purchase of
624,000,000 lbs. of cotton, for the consumption of their mills, during
the year; the bales of which, piled together, would have reached
mountain-high, displaying, mostly, the brands, "New Orleans," "Mobile,"
"Charleston."
As not a word was said, by the Committee, against the Englishmen who
were buying and manufacturing American cotton, the case may be viewed as
one in which the fruits of robbery were taken under _protest_ against
the robbers themselves. To all intelligent men, the conduct of the
people of Britain, in protesting against slavery, as a system of
robbery, while continuing to purchase such enormous quantities of the
cotton produced by slaves, appears as Pharasaical as the conduct of the
_conscientious_ Scotchman, in early times, in Eastern Pennsylvania, who
married his wife under protest against the constitution and laws of the
Government, and especially, against the authority, power, and right of
the magistrate who had just tied the knot.[93]
Such pliable consciences, doubtless, are very convenient in cases of
emergency. But as they relax when selfish ends are to be subserved, and
retain their rigidity only when judging the conduct of others, the
inference is, that the persons possessing them are either hypocritical,
or else, as was acknowledged by Parson D., in similar circumstances,
they have mistaken their _prejudices_ for their _consciences_.
So far as Britain is concerned, she is, manifestly, much more willing to
receive American slave labor cotton for her factories, than American
republican principles for her people. And why so? The profits derived by
her, from the purchase and manufacture of slave labor cotton, constitute
so large a portion of the means of her prosperity, that the Government
could not sustain itself were the supplies of this article cut off. It
is easy to divine, therefore, why the people of England are boundless in
their denunciation of American slavery, while not a single remonstrance
goes up to the throne, against the importation of American cotton.
Should she exclude it, the act would render her unable to pay the
interest on her national debt; and many a declaimer against slavery,
losing his income, would have to go supperless to bed.
Let us contrast the conduct of a pagan government with that of Great
Britain. When the Emperor of China became fully convinced of his
inability to resist the prowess of the British arms, in the famous
"Opium War," efforts were made to induce him to legalize the traffic in
opium, by levying a duty on its import, that should yield him a heavy
profit. This he refused to do, and recorded his decision in these
memorable words:
"It is true, I can not prevent the introduction of the flowing poison.
Gain-seeking and corrupt men will, for profit and sensuality, defeat my
wishes, but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and
misery of my people."[94]
Let us revert a moment to the case of robbery, before cited, in further
illustration of this subject. The prisoners serve out their term in
Bridewell, and, after a year or two, again visit London with a cargo of
cotton. The police recognize them, and they are a second time arraigned
before the court for trial. The judge demands why they should have dared
to revisit the soil of England, to offer for sale the products of their
robbery. The prisoners assure his honor that they have neither outraged
the public sentiment of the kingdom, nor violated its laws. "While in
your prison, sir," they go on to say, "we became instructed in the
morals of British economics. Anxious to atone for our former fault, and
to restore ourselves to the confidence and respect of the pious subjects
of your most gracious Queen, no sooner were we released from prison,
than we hastened to the African coast, from whence our former cargo was
obtained, and seizing the self-same men whom we had formerly robbed, we
bore them off, bodily, to the soil of Texas. They resisted sturdily, it
is true, but we mastered them. We touched none of the fruits of their
previous labors. Their cotton we left in the fields, to be drenched by
the rains or drifted by the winds; because, to have brought it into your
markets would have subjected us, anew, to a place in your dungeons. In
Texas, we brought our prisoners under the control of the laws, which
there give us power to hold them as slaves. Stimulated to labor, under
the lash of the overseer, they have produced a crop of cotton, which is
now offered in your markets as a lawful article of commerce. We are not
subjects of your Government, and, therefore, not indictable under your
laws against slave trading. Your honor, will perceive, then, that our
moral relations are changed. We come now to your shores, not as dealers
in stolen property, but as slaveholders, with the products of slave
labor. We are aware that _bunkum_ speakers, at your public assemblies,
denounce the slaveholder as a thief, and his appropriation of the fruits
of the labor of his slaves, as robbery. We comprehend the motives
prompting such utterances. We come not to attend meetings of
Ecclesiastical Conventions, representing the republican principles of
America, to unsettle the doctrines upon which the throne of your kingdom
is based. But we come as cotton planters, to supply your looms with
cotton, that British commerce may not be abridged, and England, the
great civilizer of the world, may not be forced to slack her pace in the
performance of her mission. This is our character and position; and your
honor will at once see that it is your duty, and the interest of your
Government, to treat us as gentlemen and your most faithful allies." The
judge at once admits the justice of their plea, rebukes the police,
apologizes to the prisoners, assures them that they have violated no law
of the realm; and that, though the public sentiment of the nation
denounces the slaveholder as a thief, yet the public necessity demands a
full supply of cotton from the planter. He then orders their immediate
discharge, and invites them to partake of the hospitalities of his house
during their stay in London.
This is a fair example of British consistency, on the subject of
slavery, so far as the supply of cotton is concerned. The English
manufacturers are under the absolute necessity of procuring it; but as
free labor is incapable of increasing its production, slave labor must
be made to remedy the defect.
The reason can now be clearly comprehended, why abolitionists have had
so little moral power over the conscience of the slaveholder. Their
practice has been inconsistent with their precepts; or, at least, their
conduct has been liable to this construction. Nor do we perceive how
they can exert a more potent influence, in the future, unless their
energies are directed to efforts such as will relieve them from a
position so inconsistent with their professions, as that of constantly
purchasing products which they, themselves, declare to be the fruits of
robbery. While, therefore, things remain as they are, with the world so
largely dependent upon slave labor, how can it be otherwise, than that
the system will continue to flourish? And while its products are used by
all classes, of every sentiment, and country, nearly, how can the
slaveholder be brought to see any thing, in the practice of the world,
to alarm his conscience, and make him cringe, before his fellow-men, as
a guilty robber?
But, has nothing worse occurred from the advocacy of the _per se_
doctrine, than an exhibition of inconsistency on the part of
abolitionists, and the perpetuation of slavery resulting from their
conduct? This has occurred. Three highly respectable religious
denominations, now limited to the North, had once many flourishing
congregations in the South. On the adoption of the _per se_ doctrine, by
their respective Synods, their congregations became disturbed, were soon
after broken up, or the ministers in charge had to seek other fields of
labor. Their system of religious instruction, for the family, being
quite thorough, the slaves were deriving much advantage from the
influence of these bodies. But when they resolved to withhold the gospel
from the master, unless he would emancipate, they also withdrew the
means of grace from the slave; and, so far as they were concerned, left
him to perish eternally! Whether this course was proper, or whether it
would have been better to have passed by the morality of the legal
relation, in the creation of which the master had no agency, and
considered him, under Providence, as the moral guardian of the slave,
bound to discharge a guardian's duty to an immortal being, we shall not
undertake to determine. Attention is called to the facts, merely to show
the practical effects of the action of these churches upon the slave,
and what the _per se_ doctrine has done in depriving him of the gospel.
Another remark, and we have done with this topic. Nothing is more
common, in certain circles, than denunciations of the Christian men and
ministers, who refuse to adopt the _per se_ principle. We leave others
to judge whether these censures are merited. One thing is certain: those
who believe that slavery is a great civil and social evil, entailed upon
the country, and are extending the gospel to both master and slave, with
the hope of removing it peacefully, can not be reproached with acting
inconsistently with their principles; while those who declare slavery
_malum in se_, and refuse to fellowship the Christian slaveholder,
because they consider him a robber, but yet use the products of slave
labor, may fairly be classified, on their own principles, with the
hypocritical people of Israel, who were thus reproached by the Most
High: "What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou
shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth? . . . . . When thou sawest a
thief, then thou consentedst with him."[95]
FOOTNOTES:
[92] This is the phrase, nearly verbatim, used by Mr. Sumner in his
speech on the Fugitive Slave Bill. Language, a little more to the point,
is used in "The Friendly Remonstrance of the People of Scotland, on the
Subject of Slavery," published in the _American Missionary_, September,
1855. In depicting slavery it speaks of it as a system "which robs its
victims of the fruits of their toil."
[93] An anecdote, illustrative of the pliability of some consciences, of
this apparently rigid class, where interest or inclination demands it,
has often been told by the late Governor Morrow, of Ohio. An old Scotch
"Cameronian," in Eastern Pennsylvania, became a widower, shortly after
the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. He refused to
acknowledge either the National or State Government, but pronounced them
both unlawful, unrighteous, and ungodly. Soon he began to feel the want
of a wife, to care for his motherless children. The consent of a woman
in his own Church was gained, because to take any other would have been
like an Israelite marrying a daughter of the land of Canaan. On this
point, as in refusing to swear allegiance to Government, he was
controlled by conscience. But now a practical difficulty presented
itself. There was no minister of his Church in the country--and those of
other denominations, in his judgment, had no Divine warrant for
exercising the functions of the sacred office. He repudiated the whole
of them. But how to get married, that was the problem. He tried to
persuade his intended to agree to a marriage contract, before witnesses,
which could be confirmed whenever a proper minister should arrive from
Scotland. But his "lady-love" would not consent to the plan. She must be
married "like other folk," or not at all--because "people would talk
so." The Scotchman for want of a wife, like Great Britain for want of
cotton, saw very plainly that his children must suffer; and so he
resolved to get married at all hazards, as England buys her cotton, but
so as not to violate conscience. Proceeding with his intended to a
magistrate's office, the ceremony was soon performed, and they twain
pronounced "one flesh." But no sooner had he "kissed the bride," the
sealing act of the contract at that day, than the good Cameronian drew a
written document from his pocket, which he read aloud before the officer
and witnesses; and in which he entered his solemn protest against the
authority of the Government of the United States, against that of the
State of Pennsylvania, and especially against the power, right, and
lawfulness of the acts of the magistrate who had just married him. This
done, he went his way, rejoicing that he had secured a wife without
recognizing the lawfulness of ungodly governments, or violating his
conscience.
[94] _National Intelligencer_, 1854.
[95] Psalm 1: 16, 18.
CONCLUSION.
IN concluding our labors, there is little need of extended observation.
The work of emancipation, in our country, was checked, and the extension
of slavery promoted:--first, by the neglect of the free colored people
to improve the advantages afforded them; second, by the increasing value
imparted to slave labor; third, by the mistaken policy into which the
English and American abolitionists have fallen. Whatever reasons might
now be offered for emancipation, from an improvement of our free colored
people, is far more than counterbalanced by its failure in the West
Indies, and the constantly increasing value of the labor of the slave.
If, when the planters had only a moiety of the markets for cotton, the
value of slavery was such as to arrest emancipation, how must the
obstacles be increased, now, when they have the monopoly of the markets
of the world? And, besides all this, a more deadly blow, than has been
given by all other causes combined, is now levelled at negro freedom
from a quarter the least suspected. The failure of the Canadian
immigrants to improve the privileges afforded them under British law,
proves, conclusively, that the true laws of progress for the African
race, do not consist in a mere escape from slavery.
We propose not to speak of remedies for slavery. That we leave to
others. Thus far this very perplexing question, has baffled all human
wisdom. Either some radical defect must have existed, in the measures
devised for its removal, or the time has not yet come for successfully
assailing the institution. Our work is completed, in the delineation we
have given of its varied relations to our agricultural, commercial, and
social interests. As the monopoly of the culture of cotton, imparts to
slavery its economical value, the system will continue as long as this
monopoly is maintained. Slave labor products have now become necessities
of human life, to the extent of more than half the commercial articles
supplied to the Christian world. Even free labor, itself, is made
largely subservient to slavery, and vitally interested in its
perpetuation and extension.
Can this condition of things be changed? It may be reasonably doubted,
whether any thing efficient can be speedily accomplished: not because
there is lack of territory where freemen may be employed in tropical
cultivation, as all Western and Central Africa, nearly, is adapted to
this purpose; not because intelligent free labor, under proper
incentives, is less productive than slave labor; but because freemen,
whose constitutions are adapted to tropical climates, will not avail
themselves of the opportunity offered for commencing such an enterprise.
KING COTTON cares not whether he employs slaves or freemen. It is the
_cotton_, not the _slaves_, upon which his throne is based. Let freemen
do his work as well, and he will not object to the change. The efforts
of his most powerful ally, Great Britain, to promote that object, have
already cost her people many hundreds of millions of dollars, with total
failure as a reward for her zeal; and she is now compelled to resort to
the expedient of employing the slave labor of Africa, to meet the
necessities of her manufacturers. One-sixth of the colored people of the
United States are free; but they shun the cotton regions, and have been
instructed to detest emigration to Liberia. Their improvement has not
been such as was anticipated; and their more rapid advancement can not
be expected, while they remain in the country. The free colored people
of the British West Indies, can no longer be relied on to furnish
tropical products, for they are resting contented in a state of almost
savage indolence; and the introduction of coolie labor has become
indispensable as a means of saving the Islands from ruin, as well as of
forcing the negro into habits of industry. Hayti is not in a more
promising condition; and even if it were, its population and territory
are too limited to enable it to meet the increasing demand. HIS MAJESTY,
KING COTTON, therefore, is forced to continue the employment of his
slaves; and, by their toil, is riding on, conquering and to conquer! He
receives no check from the cries of the oppressed, while the citizens of
the world are dragging forward his chariot, and shouting aloud his
praise!
KING COTTON is a profound statesman, and knows what measures will best
sustain his throne. He is an acute mental philosopher, acquainted with
the secret springs of human action, and accurately perceives who can
best promote his aims. He has no evidence that colored men can grow his
cotton, except in the capacity of slaves. Thus far, all experiments made
to increase the production of cotton, by emancipating the slaves
employed in its cultivation, have been a total failure. It is his
policy, therefore, to defeat all schemes of emancipation. To do this, he
stirs up such agitations as lure his enemies into measures that will do
him no injury. The venal politician is always at his call, and assumes
the form of saint or sinner, as the service may demand. Nor does he
overlook the enthusiast, engaged in Quixotic endeavors for the relief of
suffering humanity, but influences him to advocate measures which tend
to tighten, instead of loosing the bands of slavery. Or, if he can not
be seduced into the support of such schemes, he is beguiled into efforts
that waste his strength on objects the most impracticable; so that
slavery receives no damage from the exuberance of his philanthropy. But
should such a one, perceiving the futility of his labors, and the evils
of his course, make an attempt to avert the consequences; while he is
doing this, some new recruit, pushed forward into his former place,
charges him with lukewarmness, or pro-slavery sentiments, destroys his
influence with the public, keeps alive the delusions, and sustains the
supremacy of KING COTTON in the world.
In speaking of the economical connections of slavery, with the other
material interests of the world, we have called it a _tripartite
alliance_. It is more than this. It is _quadruple_. Its structure
includes four parties, arranged thus: The Western Agriculturists; the
Southern Planters; the English Manufacturers; and the American
Abolitionists! By this arrangement, the abolitionists do not stand in
direct contact with slavery; they imagine, therefore, that they have
clean hands and pure hearts, so far as sustaining the system is
concerned. But they, no less than their allies, aid in promoting the
interests of slavery. Their sympathies are with England on the slavery
question, and they very naturally incline to agree with her on other
points. She advocates _Free Trade_, as essential to her manufactures and
commerce; and they do the same, not waiting to inquire into its bearings
upon _American slavery_. We refer now to the people, not to their
leaders, whose integrity we choose not to indorse. The free trade and
protective systems, in their bearings upon slavery, are so well
understood, that no man of general reading, especially an editor, or
member of Congress, who professes anti-slavery sentiments, at the same
time advocating free trade, will ever convince men of intelligence,
pretend what he may, that he is not either woefully perverted in his
judgment, or emphatically, a "dough-face" in disguise! England, we were
about to say, is in alliance with the cotton planter, to whose
prosperity free trade is indispensable. Abolitionism is in alliance with
England. All three of these parties, then, agree in their support of the
free trade policy. It needed but the aid of the Western farmer,
therefore, to give permanency to this principle. His adhesion has been
given, the _quadruple alliance_ has been perfected, and slavery and free
trade _nationalized_!
Slavery, thus intrenched in the midst of such powerful allies, and
without competition in tropical cultivation, has become the sole
reliance of KING COTTON. Lest the sources of his aggrandisement should
be assailed, we can well imagine him as being engaged constantly, in
devising new questions of agitation, to divert the public from all
attempts to abandon free trade and restore the protective policy. He now
finds an ample source of security, in this respect, in agitating the
question of slavery extension. This exciting topic, as we have said,
serves to keep politicians of the abolition school at the North in his
constant employ. But for the agitation of this subject, few of these men
would succeed in obtaining the suffrages of the people. Wedded to
England's free trade policy, their votes in Congress, on all questions
affecting the tariff, are always in perfect harmony with Southern
interests, and work no mischief to the system of slavery. If Kansas
comes into the Union as a slave State, he is secure in the political
power it will give him in Congress; but if it is received as a free
State, it will still be tributary to him, as a source from whence to
draw provisions to feed his slaves. Nor does it matter much which way
the controversy is decided, so long as all agree not to disturb slavery
in the States where it is already established by law. Could KING COTTON
be assured that this position will not be abandoned, he would care
little about slavery in Kansas; but he knows full well that the public
sentiment in the North is adverse to the system, and that the present
race of politicians may readily be displaced by others who will pledge
themselves to its overthrow in all the States of the Union, Hence he
wills to retain the power over the question in his own hands.
The crisis now upon the country, as a consequence of slavery having
become dominant, demands that the highest wisdom should be brought to
the management of national affairs. Slavery, nationalized, can now be
managed only as a national concern. It can now be abolished only with
the consent of those who sustain it. Their assent can be gained only by
employing other agents to meet the wants it now supplies. It must be
superseded, then, if at all, by means that will not injuriously affect
the interests of commerce and agriculture, to which it is now so
important an auxiliary. None other will be accepted, for a moment, by
the slaveholder. To supply the existing demand for tropical products,
except by the present mode, is impossible. To make the change, is not
the work of a day, nor of a generation. Should the influx of foreigners
continue, such a change may, one day, be possible. But to effect the
transition from slavery to freedom, on principles that will be
acceptable to the parties who control the question; to devise and
successfully sustain such measures as will produce this result; must be
left to statesmen of broader views and loftier conceptions than are to
be found among those at present engaged in this great controversy.
Take a more particular view of this subject, in the light of the
commercial operations of the United States, for the year 1859, as best
indicating the relations of the North and the South, and their mutual
dependence upon each other. The total value of the imports of foreign
commodities, including specie, was $338,768,130.[96] Of this $20,895,077
were re-exported, leaving for home consumption, $317,873,053--an amount
more than eleven times greater than the whole foreign commerce of Great
Britain one hundred and fifty-six years ago, and more than four times
greater than her exports eighty-six years ago.[97]
Let us inquire how this immense foreign commerce is sustained; how these
$317,873,000 of foreign imports are paid for by the American people; and
how far the Northern and Southern States respectively have contributed
to its payment. More than one-half the amount, or $161,434,923, was paid
in raw cotton, and more than one-third of the remainder, or $57,502,305,
in the precious metals; leaving less than $100,000,000 to be paid in the
other productions of the country. More than one-third of this remainder
was paid in cotton fabrics, tobacco, and rice; while the products of the
forest, of the sea, and of various minor manufactures, swelled up our
credits, so that the exports of breadstuffs and provisions, needed to
liquidate the debt, only amounted to a little over $38,000,000.[98] Of
this amount the exports, from the Northern States, of wheat and wheat
flour, made up only $15,262,769, and the corn and corn meal but
$2,206,396. "King Hay," so much lauded for his magnitude and money
value, never once ventured on board a merchant vessel, to seek a foreign
land, so as to aid in paying for the commodities which we imported.[99]
In a word, the products of the forest and of agriculture, exported by
the free States, amounted in value to about $45,300,000; while the same
classes of products, supplied for export by the Slave States, amounted
to more than $193,400,000.[100]
The economical relations of the North and the South can now be
understood more clearly than they could be from the statistics referred
to in the body of this work. The facts, in relation to the commerce of
the United States, for 1859, were not accessible until after the
stereotyping had been completed; and they are only crowded in here by
omitting two or three pages of remarks of another kind, but of less
importance, which closed the volume. By consulting Table XII, and two or
three of the others, which contain similar facts, covering the
commercial operations of the country since the year 1821, the whole
question of the relations of the North and the South can be fully
comprehended. It will be seen that the exports of tobacco, which are
mainly from the South, have equaled in value considerably more than
one-third the amount of that of breadstuffs and provisions; and that, in
the same period, the exports of cotton have exceeded in value those of
breadstuffs and provisions to the amount of $1,421,482,261.[101] Here,
now, a just conception can be formed of the importance of cotton to the
commerce of the country, as compared with our other productions. The
amount exported, of that article, in the last thirty-nine years, has
exceeded in value the exports of breadstuffs and provisions to the
extent of _fourteen hundred and twenty-one millions of dollars_! Verily,
Cotton is King!
Another point needs consideration. It is a fact, not to be questioned,
that the productions of the Northern States amount to an immense sum,
above those of the Southern States, when valued in dollars and cents;
but the proportion of the products of the former; exported to foreign
countries, is very insignificant, indeed, when compared with the value
of the exports from the latter.[102] And, yet, the North is acquiring
wealth with amazing rapidity. This fact could not exist, unless the
Northern people produce more than they consume--unless they have a
surplus to sell, after supplying their own wants. They must, therefore,
find a permanent and profitable market, somewhere, for the surplus
products that yield them their wealth. As that market is not in Europe,
it must be in the Southern States. But the extent to which the South
receive their supplies from the North, cannot be determined by any data
now in the possession of the public. It must, however, be very large in
amount, and, if withheld, would greatly embarrass the Southern people,
by lessening their ability to export as largely as hitherto. So, on the
other hand, if the Northern people were deprived of the markets afforded
by the South, they would find so little demand elsewhere for their
products, that it would have a ruinous effect upon their prosperity. All
that can be safely said upon this subject is, that the interests of both
sections of the country are so intimately connected, so firmly blended
together, that a dissolution of the Union would be destructive to all
the economical interests of both the North and the South. Cut off from
the South all that the North supplies to the planters, in such articles
as agricultural implements, furniture, clothing, provisions, horses, and
mules, and cotton culture would at once have to be abandoned to a great
extent. But would the South alone be the sufferer? Could the Northern
agriculturist, manufacturer, and mechanic, remain prosperous, and
continue to accumulate wealth, without a market for their products?
Could Northern merchants dwell in their palaces, and roll in luxury,
with a foreign commerce contracted to one-third of its present extent,
and a domestic demand for merchandize reduced to one-half its present
amount? Certainly not.
And if the mere necessity of self supply, of food and clothing, such as
existed in 1820, would now be disastrous to the South, and react
destructively upon the North, what would be the effect of emancipation
upon the country at large? What would be the effect of releasing from
restraint three and a half millions of negroes, to bask in idleness,
under the genial sunshine of the South, or to emigrate hither and
thither, at will, with none to control their actions? It is too late to
insist that free labor would be more profitable than slave labor, when
negroes are to be the operatives: Jamaica has solved that problem. It is
too late to claim that white labor could be made to take the place of
black labor, while the negroes remain upon the ground: Canada, and the
Northern States, demonstrate that the two races cannot be made to labor
together peacefully and upon terms of equality. Nothing is more certain,
therefore, than that emancipation would inevitably place the Southern
States in a similar position to that of Jamaica. On this point take a
fact or two.
The _Colonial Standard_,[103] of the 13th January, 1859, in speaking of
the present industrial condition of that Island, says, that there are
not more than twenty thousand laborers who employ themselves in sugar
cultivation for wages. This will seem astonishing to those who expected
so much from emancipation, when it is stated that the black population
of Jamaica, when liberated from slavery, numbered three hundred and
eleven thousand, six hundred and ninety two; and that the exports of
sugar from the Island, in 1805, before the slave trade was prohibited,
amounted to 237,751,150 lbs.;[104] while, in 1859, the exports of that
staple commodity, only amounted to 44,800,000 lbs.[105] It will thus be
seen that the exports of sugar from Jamaica is now less than one-fifth
of what it was in the prosperous days of slavery; and so it must be as
to cotton, in the South, were emancipation forced upon this country. And
what would be the condition of our foreign commerce, and what the effect
upon the country, generally, were the exports of the South diminished to
less than one-fifth of their present amount? Would the lands of the
Northern farmers still continue to advance in price, if the markets for
the surplus products of the soil no longer existed? Would those of the
Southern planters rise in value, in the event of emancipation, to an
equality with the lands at the North, when no laborers could be found to
till the soil? No man entitled to the name of statesman--no man of
practical common sense--could imagine that such a result would follow
the liberation of the slaves in the Southern States. Under the
philanthropic legislation of Great Britain, no such result followed the
passage of the act for the abolition of slavery in her colonies; but, on
the contrary, the value of their real estate soon became reduced to a
most ruinous extent; and such must inevitably be the result under the
adoption of similar measures in the United States. This is the
conviction of the men of the South, and they will act upon their own
judgment.
There are strong indications that the views presented in the first
edition of this work, and reported in the subsequent issues, are rapidly
becoming the views of intelligent and unprejudiced men everywhere. At a
late date in the British Parliament, Lord Brougham made a strong
anti-American cotton and anti-American slavery speech. The _London
Times_, thus "takes the backbone all out of his argument, and leaves
him nothing but his sophistries to stand on," thus:
"Lord Brougham and the veterans of the old Anti-Slavery Society do not
share our delight at this great increase in the employment of our home
population. Their minds are still seared by those horrible stories which
were burnt in upon them in their youth, when England was not only a
slave-owning, but even a slave-trading State. Their remorse is so great
that the ghost of a black man is always before them. They are benevolent
and excellent people; but if a black man happened to have broken his
shin, and a white man were in danger of drowning, we much fear that a
real anti-slavery zealot would bind up the black man's leg before he
would draw the white man out of the water. It is not an inconsistency,
therefore, that while we see only cause of congratulation in this
wonderful increase of trade, Lord Brougham sees in it the exaggeration
of an evil he never ceases to deplore.
"We, and such as we, who are content to look upon society as Providence
allows it to exist--to mend it when we can, but not to distress
ourselves immoderately for evils which are not of our creation--we see
only the free and intelligent English families who thrive upon the wages
which these cotton bales produce. Lord Brougham sees only the black
laborers who, on the other side of the Atlantic, pick the cotton pods in
slavery. Lord Brougham deplores that in this tremendous exportation of a
thousand millions of pounds of cotton, the lion's share of the profits
goes to the United States, and has been produced by slave labor. Instead
of twenty-three millions, the United States now send us eight hundred
and thirty millions, and this is all cultivated by slaves. It is very
sad that this should be so, but we do not see our way to a remedy. There
seems to be rather a chance of its becoming worse.
"If France, who is already moving onwards in a restless, purblind state,
should open her eyes wide, should give herself fair-play, by accepting
our coals, iron, and machinery, and, under the stimulus of a wholesome
competition, should take to manufacturing upon a large scale, even these
three millions of slaves will not be enough. France will be competing
with us in the foreign cotton markets, stimulating still further the
produce of Georgia and South Carolina. The jump which the consumption of
cotton in England has just made is but a single leap, which may be
repeated indefinitely. There are a thousand millions of mankind on the
globe, all of whom can be most comfortably clad in cotton. Every year
new tribes and new nations are added to the category of cotton-wearers.
There is every reason to believe that the supply of this universal
necessity will, for many years yet to come, fail to keep pace with the
demand, and in the interest of that large class of our countrymen to
whom cotton is bread, we must continue to hope that the United States
will be able to supply us in years to come with twice as much as we
bought of them in years past. 'Let us raise up another market,' says the
anti-slavery people. So say we all. . . . . .
"But even Lord Brougham would not ask us to believe that there is any
proximate hope that the free cotton raised in Africa will, within any
reasonable time, drive out of culture the slave-grown cotton of America.
If this be so, of what use can it be to make irritating speeches in the
House of Lords against a state of things by which we are content to
profit? Lord Brougham and Lord Grey are not men of such illogical minds
as to be incapable of understanding that it is the demand of the English
manufacturers which stimulates the produce of slave-grown American
cotton. They are, neither of them, we apprehend, so reckless or so
wicked as to close our factories and to throw some two millions of our
manufacturing population out of bread. Why, then, these inconsequent and
these irritating denunciations? Let us create new fields of produce of
we can; but, meanwile, it is neither just nor dignified to buy the raw
material from the Americans, and to revile them for producing it."
We have said that the more popular belief, in reference to the moral
character of slavery, now prevailing throughout the world, ranks it as
identical in principle with despotic forms of government. Here arises a
question of importance. Can despotism be acknowledged by Christians as a
lawful form of government? Those who hold the view of slavery under
consideration, answer in the affirmative. The necessity of civil
government, they say, is denied by none. Society can not exist in its
absence. Republicanism can be sustained only where the majority are
intelligent and moral. In no other condition can free government be
maintained. Hence, despotism establishes itself, of necessity, more or
less absolutely, over an ignorant or depraved people; obtaining the
acquiescence of the enlightened, by offering them security to person and
property. Few nations, indeed, possess moral elevation sufficient to
maintain republicanism. Many have tried it, have failed, and relapsed
into despotism. Republican nations, therefore, must forego all
intercourse with despotic governments, or acknowledge them to be lawful.
This can be done, it is claimed, without being accountable for moral
evils connected with their administration. Elevated examples of such
recognitions are on record. Christ paid tribute to Cæsar; and Paul, by
appealing to Cæsar's tribunal, admitted the validity of the despotic
government of Rome, with its thirty millions of slaves. To deny the
lawfulness of despotism, and yet hold intercourse with such governments,
is as inconsistent as to hold the _per se_ doctrine, in regard to
slavery, and still continue to use its products.
How far masters in general escape the commission of sin, in the
treatment of their slaves, or whether any are free from guilt, is not
the point at issue, in this view of slavery. The mere possession of
power over the slave, under the sanction of law, is held not to be
sinful; but, like despotism, may be used for the good of the governed.
That Southern masters are laboring for the good of the slave, to an
encouraging extent, is apparent from the missionary efforts they are
sustaining among the slave population. And when it is considered that
the African race, under American slavery, have made much greater
progress than they have ever done in any other part of the world; and
that the elevating influences are now greatly increased among them; it
is to be expected that dispassionate men will be disposed to leave the
present condition of things undisturbed, rather than to rush madly into
the adoption of measures that may prove fatal to the existence of the
Union.
FOOTNOTES:
[96] See Table XII, in Appendix.
[97] See Speech of Edmund Burke, in Appendix.
[98] See Table VIII, in Appendix.
[99] It has been denied that "Cotton is King," and claimed that Hay is
entitled to that royal appellation; because its estimated value exceeds
that of Cotton. The imperial character of Cotton rests upon the fact,
that it enters so largely into the manufactures, trade, and commerce of
the world, while hay is only in demand at home.
[100] See Table XII, in Appendix, for the statistics on this subject.
[101] See Table VIII, in Appendix.
[102] See Table XII.
[103] This paper is published at Kingston, Jamaica, and in confirmation
of the views of the _London Economist_, quoted in the body of the work,
the following extract is copied from its columns:
"Barbadoes, we all know, is prosperous because she possesses a native
population almost as dense as that of China, with a very limited extent
of superficial soil. In Barbadoes, therefore, population presses on the
means of subsistence, in the same way, if not to the same extent, as in
England, and the people are industrious from necessity. Trinidad and
British Guiana, on the other hand, have taken steps to produce this
pressure artificially, by large importations of foreign labor. The
former colony, by the importation of eleven thousand coolies, has
trebled her crops since 1854, while the latter has doubled hers by the
introduction of twenty-three thousand immigrants.
"While Jamaica is the single instance of retrogression, she affords also
the solitary example of non-immigration.
"Mauritius, by importing something like one hundred and seventy thousand
laborers, has increased her exports of sugar from 70,000,000 lbs. in
1844, to 250,000,000 lbs. in 1858. Jamaica, by depending wholly on
native labor, has fallen from an export of 69,000 hhds. in 1848, to one
of 28,000 hhds. in 1859.
"It is believed that there are not at this moment above twenty thousand
laborers who employ themselves in sugar cultivation for wages."
[104] Martin's British Colonies. See also Ethiopia, by the author, page
132, for full details on this question.
[105] The hhd. of sugar, as in Martin's tables, is here estimated at
1,600 lbs. See foot note on page 222.
APPENDIX.
EARLY MOVEMENTS IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
SENTIMENTS have been quoted from the proceedings of the public meetings
held by the fathers of the Revolution, which, when taken in connection
with the language of the Declaration of Independence, seem to favor the
opinion that it was their purpose to extend to the colored people all
the privileges to be secured by that struggle. An examination of the
historical records, leads to the conclusion, that no such intention
existed on the part of the statesmen and patriots of that day. The
opinions expressed, with scarcely an exception, show that they viewed
the slave trade and slavery as productive of evils to the colonies, and
calculated to retard their prosperity, if not to prevent their
acquisition of independence. The question of negro slavery was one of
little moment, indeed, in the estimation of the colonists, when compared
with the objects at which they aimed; and the resolutions adopted, which
bound them not to import any more slaves, or purchase any imported by
others, was a blow aimed at the commerce of the mother country, and
designed to compel Parliament to repeal its obnoxious laws. But the
resolutions themselves must be given, as best calculated to demonstrate
what were the designs of those by whom they were adopted. Before doing
this, however, it is necessary to ascertain what were the relations
which the North American Colonies bore to the commerce of the British
Empire, and why it was, that the refusal any longer to purchase imported
slaves would be so ruinous to Great Britain, and her other colonies.
When this is done, and not till then, can the full meaning of the
resolutions be determined. Such were the links connecting these colonies
with England--with the West Indies--and with the African slave trade,
conducted by British merchants--that more than one-half of the commerce
of the mother country was directly or indirectly under their control.
The facts on this subject are extracted from the debates in the British
Parliament, and especially from the speech of Hon. EDMUND BURKE, on his
resolutions, of March 22d, 1775, for conciliation with America.[106] He
said:--
"I have in my hand two accounts; one, a comparative statement of the
export trade of England to its colonies, as it stood in the year 1704,
and as it stood in the year 1772. The other, a state of the export trade
of this country to its colonies alone, as it stood in 1772, compared
with the whole trade of England to all parts of the world, (the colonies
included,) in the year 1704. They are from good vouchers; the latter
period from the accounts on your own table, the earlier, from an
original manuscript of Davenant, who first established the Inspector
General's Office, which has been, ever since his time, so abundant a
source of Parliamentary information.
"The export trade to the colonies, consists of three great branches. The
African, which, terminating almost wholly in the colonies, must be put
to the account of their commerce; the West Indian, and the North
American. All these are so interwoven, that the attempt to separate them
would tear to pieces the contexture of the whole; and if not entirely
destroy, would very much depreciate the value of all the parts. I,
therefore, consider these three denominations to be, what in effect they
are, one trade.
"The trade to the colonies, taken on the export side, at the beginning
of this century, that is, in the year 1704, stood thus:
"Exports to North America and the West Indies $2,416,325
To Africa 433,325
----------
$2,849,650
"In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year, between the highest
and lowest of those lately laid on your table, the account was as
follows:
"To North America and the West Indies $23,958,670
To Africa 4,331,990
To which, if you add the export trade from
Scotland, which had, in 1704, no existence 1,820,000
-----------
$30,110,660
"From a little over two millions and three quarters, it has grown to
over thirty millions.[107] It has increased no less than twelve fold.
This is the state of the colony trade, as compared with itself at these
two periods, within this century; and this is matter for meditation. But
this is not all. Examine my second account. See how the export trade to
the colonies alone, in 1772, stood in the other point of view, that is,
as compared to the whole trade of England, in 1704.
"The whole trade of England, including that
to the colonies, in 1704 $32,545,000
Export to the colonies alone, in 1772 30,120,000
-----------
Difference $2,425,000
"The trade with America alone, is now within less than two millions and
a half of being equal to what this great commercial nation, England,
carried on at the beginning of this century with the whole world! If I
had taken the largest year of those on your table, it would rather have
exceeded. But, it will be said, is not this American trade an unnatural
protuberance, that has drawn the juices from the rest of the body? The
reverse. It is the very food that has nourished every other part into
its present magnitude. Our general trade has been greatly augmented; and
augmented more or less in almost every part to which it ever extended;
but with this material difference, that of the thirty-two millions and a
half, which, in the beginning of the century, constituted the whole mass
of our export commerce, the colony trade was but one-twelfth part; it is
now considerably more than a third of the whole--[which is $80,000,000.]
This is the relative proportion of the importance of the colonies at
these two periods; and all reasoning concerning our mode of treating
them, must have this proportion as its basis; or it is a reasoning,
weak, rotten, and sophistical."
It is easy to perceive, from what is said by Mr. Burke, the
embarrassments that must fall upon the mother country, in the event of a
rebellion in the North American colonies. Take another illustration of
this point. More than one-third of the exports of Great Britain were
made to North America, the West Indies, and Africa. They stood thus
during the three years ending at Christmas, 1773:
Annual average exports to North America $17,500,000
To the West Indies 6,500,000
To Africa 3,500,000
----------
Total value of exports $27,500,000
But this is not all. The total value of the exports of Great Britain to
all the world, at this date, was $80,000,000. These exports were made
up, in part, of colonial products, tobacco, rice, sugar, etc., to the
amount of $15,000,000;--$5,000,000 to foreign countries, and $10,000,000
to Ireland,--which, when added to the $27,500,000, paid for by the
colonies, exhibits them as sustaining more than one-half of the commerce
of the mother country.[108]
The immediate cause of the alarm which led to the examination of this
subject by the Hon. Edmund Burke, and others, of the British Parliament,
was the adoption, by the North American colonies, of the policy of
non-importation and non-consumption of all English products, whether
from the mother country, or any of her colonies; and the non-exportation
of any North American products to Great Britain, the West Indies, or any
of the dependencies of the crown. This agreement was adopted as a
measure of retaliation upon Parliament, for the passage of the Boston
Port Bill, which ordered the closing of Boston harbor to all commerce.
The measure was first proposed at a meeting of the citizens of Boston,
held on May 13, 1774. It was soon seconded by all the principal cities,
towns, and counties, throughout the colonies; and when the Continental
Congress met at Philadelphia, the terms of the league were drawn up and
adopted, October 20, 1774, and went into operation.
A few extracts from memorials to Parliament, praying that the
difficulties with North America might be adjusted, and the threatened
evils averted, will show how the slave trade was then interwoven with
the commerce and national prosperity of Great Britain, and to what
extent the American league could affect that prosperity.
In the House of Commons, January 23, 1775: "Mr. Burke then presented a
petition of the Master, Wardens, and Commonalty, of the Society of
Merchants Venturers of the city of Bristol, under their common seal;
which was read, setting forth, That a very beneficial and increasing
trade to the British colonies in America, has been carried on from the
port of Bristol, highly to the advantage of the kingdom in general, and
of the said city in particular; and that the exports from the said port
to America, consist of almost every species of British manufactures,
besides East India goods, and other articles of commerce; and the
returns are made not only in many valuable and useful commodities from
thence, but also, by a circuitous trade, carried on with Ireland, and
most parts of Europe, to the great emolument of the merchant, and
improvement of his Majesty's revenue; and that the merchants of the said
port are also deeply engaged in the trade to the West India islands,
which, by the exchange of their produce with America, for provisions,
lumber, and other stores, are thereby almost wholly maintained, and
consequently, become dependent upon North America for support; and that
the trade to Africa, which is carried on from the said port to a very
considerable extent, is also dependent upon the flourishing state of the
West India islands, and America; and that these different branches of
commerce give employment not only to a very numerous body of artists and
manufacturers, but also to a great number of ships, and many thousand
seamen, by which means a very capital increase is made to the naval
strength of Great Britain. . . . . . The passing certain acts of
Parliament, and other measures lately adopted, caused such a great
uneasiness in the minds of the inhabitants of America, as to make the
merchants apprehensive of the most alarming consequences, and which, if
not speedily remedied, must involve them in utter ruin. And the
petitioners, as merchants deeply interested in measures which so
materially affect the commerce of this kingdom, and not less concerned
as Englishmen, in every thing that relates to the general welfare,
cannot look without emotion on the many thousands of miserable objects,
who, by the total stop put to the export trade of America, will be
discharged from their manufactories for want of employment, and must be
reduced to great distress."[109]
January 26, 1775. A petition of the merchants and tradesmen of the port
of Liverpool, was presented to the House, and read, setting forth: "That
an extensive and most important trade has been long carried on, from
said town to the continent and islands of America; and that the exports
from thence infinitely exceed in value the imports from America, from
whence an immense debt arises, and remains due to the British merchant;
and that every article which the laborer, manufacturer, or more
ingenious artist, can furnish for use, convenience, or luxury, makes a
part in these exports, for the consumption of the American; and that
those demands, as important in amount as various in quality, have for
many seasons been so constant, regular, and diffusive, that they are now
become essential to the flourishing state of all their manufactures, and
of consequence to every ndividual in these kingdoms; and that the bread
of thousands in Great Britain, principally and immediately depends upon
this branch of commerce, of which a temporary interruption will reduce
the hand of industry to idleness and want, and a longer cessation of it
would sink the now opulent trader in indigence and ruin; and that at
this particular season of the year, the petitioners have been accustomed
to send to North America many ships wholly laden with the products of
Britain; but by the unhappy differences at present subsisting, from
whatever source they flow, the trade to these parts is entirely at a
stand; and that the present loss, though great, is nothing, when
compared with the dreadful mischiefs which will certainly ensue, if some
effectual remedy is not speedily applied to this spreading malady, which
must otherwise involve the West India islands, and the trade to Africa,
in the complicated ruin; but that the petitioners can still, with
pleasing hopes, look up to the British Parliament, from whom they trust
that these unhappy divisions will speedily be healed, mutual confidence
and credit restored, and the trade of Britain again flourishing with
undecaying vigor."[110]
March 16, 1775. To the question "From what places do the sugar colonies
draw food for subsistence?" the answer, given before Parliament, was, in
part, as follows: "I confine myself at present to necessary food.
Ireland furnishes a large quantity of salted beef, pork, butter, and
herrings, but no grain. North America supplies all the rest, both corn
and provisions. North America is truly the granary of the West Indies;
from whence they draw the great quantities of flour and biscuit for the
use of one class of people, and of Indian corn for the support of all
the others; for the support, not of man only, but of every animal . . .
. . . North America also furnishes the West Indies with rice . . . . . .
North America not only furnishes the West Indies with bread, but with
meat, with sheep, with poultry, and some live cattle; but the demand for
these is infinitely short of the demand for the salted beef, pork, and
fish. Salted fish, (if the expression may be permitted in contrast with
bread,) is the meat of all the lower ranks in Barbadoes and the Leeward
Islands. It is the meat of all the slaves in the West Indies. Nor is it
disdained by persons in better condition. The North American colonies
also furnishes the sugar colonies with salt from Turks' Island, Sal
Tortuga, and Anguilla; although these islands are themselves a part of
the West Indies. The testimony which some experience has enabled me to
bear, you will find confirmed, Sir, by official accounts. The same
accounts will distinguish the source of the principal, the great supply
of corn and provisions. They will fix it precisely in the middle
colonies of North America; in those colonies who have made a public
agreement in their Congress, to withhold all their supplies after the
tenth of next September. How far that agreement may be precipitated in
its execution, may be retarded or frustrated, it is for the wisdom of
Parliament to consider: but if it is persisted in, I am well founded to
say, that nothing will save Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands from the
dreadful consequences of absolute famine. I repeat, the famine will not
be prevented. The distress will fall upon them suddenly; they will be
overwhelmed with it, before they can turn themselves about to look for
relief. What a scene! when rapine, stimulated by hunger, has broken down
all screens, confounded the rich with the poor, and leveled the freeman
with his slave! The distress will be sudden. The body of the people do
not look forward to distant events; if they should do this, they will
put their trust in the wisdom of Parliament. Suppose them to be less
confident in the wisdom of Parliament, they are destitute of the means
of purchasing an extraordinary stock. Suppose them possessed of the
means; a very extraordinary stock is not to be found at market. There is
a plain reason in the nature of the thing, which prevents any
extraordinary stock at market, and which would forbid the planter from
laying it in, if there was; it is, that the objects of it are
perishable. In those climates, the flour will not keep over six or eight
weeks; the Indian corn decays in three months; and all the North
American provisions are fit only for present use."[111]
To the question, what are the advantages of the sugar colonies to Great
Britain? it was answered: "The advantage is not that the profits all
centre here; it is, that it creates, in the course of attaining those
profits, a commerce and navigation in which multitudes of your people,
and millions of your money are employed; it is that the support which
the sugar colonies received in one shape, they give in another. In
proportion to their dependence on North America, and upon Ireland, they
enable North America and Ireland to trade with Great Britain. By their
dependence upon Great Britain for hands to push the culture of the
sugar-cane, they uphold the trade of Great Britain to Africa. A trade
which in the pursuit of negroes, as the principal, if not the only
intention of the adventurer, brings home ivory and gold as secondary
objects. In proportion as the sugar colonies consume, or cause to be
consumed, among their neighbors, Asiatic commodities, they increase the
trade of the English East India Company. In this light I see the India
goods which are carried to the coast of Guinea.[112]
To the question, what proportion of land in the Leeward Islands, being
applied to raising provisions, would supply the negroes with provisions,
on an estate of two hundred hogsheads, for instance? it was answered:
"The native products of the Islands are very uncertain; all so, but
Guinea corn; therefore, much more land would be applied to this purpose
than would be necessary to raise the supply for the regular constant
consumption. They must provide against accidents, such as hurricanes,
excess of wet weather, or of dry weather, the climate being very
uncertain; it is, therefore, impossible to answer this question
precisely; but this I can say, that if they were obliged to raise their
own food, that their food then must be their principal object, and sugar
only a secondary object; it would be but the trifle, which provisions
are now."[113]
The testimony in reference to Jamaica, was very similar to that quoted
in relation to Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands; except that as
Jamaica had more unimproved land, and greater diversity of soil and
climate, it might, in time, stand prepared to meet the shock. But as the
emergency was likely to be sudden and unexpected, much suffering must
ensue in the outset of the non-intercourse policy.
It is only necessary to add a few remarks, from the speech of Mr.
Glover, in summing up the testimony. He said: "From this ground see what
is put in hazard; not merely a monied profit, but our bulwark of
defense, our power in offense--the acts and industry of our Nation.
Instead of thousands and tens of thousands of families in comfort, a
navigation extensive and enlarging, the value and rents of lands yearly
rising, wealth abounding, and at hand for further improvements, see or
foresee, that this third of our whole commerce, that sole basis of our
Empire, and this third in itself the best, once lost, carries with it a
proportion of our national faculties, our treasure, our public revenue,
and the value of land, succeeded in its fall by a multiplication of
taxes to reinstate that revenue, an increasing burden on every
increasing estate, decreasing by the reduced demand of its produce for
the support of Manufactures, and menaced with a heavier calamity
still--the diminution of our Marine, of our seamen, of our general
population, by the emigration of useful subjects, strengthening that
very country you wish to humble, and weakening this in the sight of
rival powers, who wish to humble us.
"To recapitulate the heads of that material evidence delivered before
you, would be tedious in me, unnecessary in itself. Leaving it,
therefore, to its own powerful impression, I here add only, in a general
mode of my own, that of the inhabitants of those Islands, above four
hundred thousand are blacks, from whose labor the immense riches there,
so distinctly proved at your bar, are derived, with such immense
advantage to these kingdoms. How far these multitudes, if their
intercourse with North America is stopped, may be exposed to famine, you
have heard. One-half in Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands, say one
hundred thousand negroes, in value at least twenty millions of dollars,
possibly, it grieves me to say probably, may perish. The remainder must
divert to provisions the culture of the produce so valuable to Great
Britain. The same must be the practice in great part throughout Jamaica
and the new settled acquisitions. They may feel a distress just short of
destruction, but must divert for subsistence so much labor as, in
proportion, will shorten their rich product."[114]
The North American colonies could not have devised a measure so alarming
to Great Britain, and so well calculated to force Parliament into the
repeal of her obnoxious laws, as this policy of non-intercourse. It
would deprive the West Indies of their ordinary supplies of provisions,
and force them to suspend their usual cultivation, to produce their own
food. It would cause not only the cessation of imports from Great
Britain into the West Indies, on account of the inability of its people
to pay, but would, at once, check all demand for slaves, both in the
sugar Islands and in North America--thus creating a loss, in the
African trade alone, of three and a half millions of dollars, and
putting in peril one-half of the commerce of England.
We are now prepared to introduce the resolutions, passed by the North
American colonies, on the subject of the slave trade and slavery. It is
not considered necessary to burden our pages with a repetition of the
whole of the accompanying resolutions. They embraced every item of
foreign commodities, excepting in a few instances where medicines,
saltpetre, and other necessaries, were exempted from the prohibition. In
a few counties, though they condemned the slave trade, they excepted
negroes, and desired to retain the privilege of procuring them. This was
in the early part of the movement. When the Continental Congress came to
act upon it, no such exemption was made.
On May 17, 1774, the citizens of Providence, Rhode Island, met and
acquiesced in the Boston resolutions. Their proceedings closed with this
declaration: "Whereas, the inhabitants of America are engaged in the
preservation of their rights and liberties; and as personal liberty is
an essential part of the natural rights of mankind, the deputies of the
town are directed to use their endeavors to obtain an act of the General
Assembly, prohibiting the importation of negro slaves in this colony;
and that all negroes born in the colony should be free at a certain
age."
Prince George county, Virginia, June 1774, responded to Boston, and
added this resolution: "_Resolved_, That the African trade is injurious
to this colony, obstructs the population of it by freemen, prevents
manufacturers and other useful emigrants from Europe from settling among
us, and occasions an annual balance of trade against the colony."[115]
Culpepper County, Virginia, July 7, 1774 acquiesced in the
non-intercourse policy, and added this resolution: "_Resolved_, That the
importing slaves and convict servants, is injurious to this colony, as
it obstructs the population of it with freemen and useful manufacturers,
and that we will not buy such slave or convict hereafter to be
imported."[116]
The Provincial Convention, at Charleston, South Carolina, July 6, 7, 8,
1774, resolved to acquiesce in the Boston non-intercourse measures, and
the merchants agreed not to import goods or slaves, until the grievances
were redressed.[117]
Nansemond County Virginia, July 11, 1774, gave full assent to the Boston
measures, and also "_Resolved_, That the African trade is injurious to
this colony, obstructs the population of it by freemen, prevents
manufacturers and other useful emigrants from Europe from settling among
us, and occasions an annual increase of the balance of trade against the
colony ."[118]
Caroline County, Virginia, July 14, 1774, cordially acceded to the
Boston policy, and also "_Resolved_, That the African trade is injurious
to this colony, obstructs our population by freemen, manufacturers, and
others, who would emigrate from Europe and settle here, and occasions a
balance of trade against the country that ought to be associated
against."[119]
Surry County, Virginia, July 6, 1774, decided to sustain the Bostonians
and also "_Resolved_, That as the population of this colony, with
freemen and useful manufacturers, is greatly obstructed by the
importation of slaves and convict servants, we will not purchase any
such slaves or servants, hereafter to be imported."[120]
Fairfax County, Virginia, July 18, 1774, took ground strongly with
Boston, and further "_Resolved_, That it is the opinion of this meeting,
that during our present difficulties and distress, no slaves ought to be
imported into any of the British colonies on the continent; and we take
this opportunity of declaring our most earnest wishes to see an entire
stop forever put so such a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade."[121]
Hanover county, Virginia, July 20, 1774, sustained the Boston
resolutions, and also "_Resolved_, That the African trade for slaves, we
consider as most dangerous to virtue and the welfare of this country; we
therefore most earnestly wish to see it totally discouraged."[122]
Prince Ann County, Virginia, July 27, 1784, adopted the Boston policy,
most distinctly, and also "_Resolved_, That our Burgesses be instructed
to oppose the importation of slaves and convicts as injurious to this
colony, by preventing the population of it by freemen and useful
manufacturers."[123]
The Virginia Convention of Delegates, which met at Williamsburgh, August
1, 1774, fully indorsed the non-intercourse policy, medicines excepted,
and in their resolutions declared: "We will neither ourselves import,
nor purchase any slave or slaves imported by any other person, after the
first day of November next, either from Africa, the West Indies, or any
other place."[124]
The North Carolina Convention of Delegates, which met at Newbern, August
24, 1774, fully indorsed the non-intercourse policy, and also passed
this among their other resolutions: "_Resolved_, That we will not import
any slave or slaves, or purchase any slave or slaves, imported or
brought into this Province by others, from any part of the world, after
the first day of November next."[125]
And, finally, the Continental Congress, which met at Philadelphia, Sept.
5, 1774, in passing its non-importation, non-exportation, and
non-consumption Agreement, included the following as the second article
of that document:
"That we will neither import nor purchase any slave imported after the
first day of December next; after which time we will wholly discontinue
the slave trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will
we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manfactures to those
who are concerned in it."[126]
To afford a clear view of the reasons which prompted the colonies to
adopt such stringent measures to compel Parliament to repeal its
oppressive acts, it is only necessary to quote the very brief summary of
grievances of which they complained, as drawn up by the Pennsylvania
Convention, which met in Philadelphia, July 15, 1774:
"The legislative authority claimed by Parliament over these colonies,
consists of two heads: first, a general power of internal legislation;
and, secondly, a power of regulating our trade; both, she contends, are
unlimited. Under the first may be included, among other powers, those of
forbidding us to worship our Creator in the manner we think most
acceptable to him--imposing taxes on us--collecting them by their own
officers--enforcing the collection by Admiralty Courts, or Courts
Martial--abolishing trials by jury--establishing a standing army among
us in time of peace, without consent of our Assemblies--paying them with
our money--seizing our young men for recruits--changing constitutions of
government--stopping the press--declaring any action, even a meeting of
the smallest number, to consider of peaceable modes to obtain redress of
grievances, high treason--taking colonists to Great Britain to be
tried--exempting 'murderers' of colonists from punishment, by carrying
them to England, to answer indictments found in the colonies--shutting
up our ports--prohibiting us from slitting iron to build our houses,
making hats to cover our heads, or clothing to cover the rest of our
bodies, etc."[127]
It was in the midst of grievances such as these, and of efforts of
redress such as the adoption of the Non-Intercourse Agreement was
expected to afford, that the resolutions against the slave trade and
slavery were passed. What, then, was their true import? Did the patriots
of the Revolution contemplate the enfranchisement of the negro, in the
event of securing their own independence? Did their views of free
institutions include the idea that barbarism and civilization could
coalesce and co-exist in harmony and safety? Or did they not hold, as a
great fundamental truth, that a high degree of intelligence and moral
principle was essential to the success of free government? And was it
not on this very principle, that they opposed the further introduction
of negroes from Africa, and afterwards, by a special clause in the
Constitution, excluded the Indians from citizenship?
The resolutions which have been quoted, have given rise to much
discussion, and have often been misrepresented. By severing them from
their connection with the circumstances under which they were adopted,
and associating them with the phrase in the Declaration of Independence,
that "all men are created equal," the impression has been made that the
negroes were to be included in the rights therein claimed. But as they
have not been made participants in the benefits of the Revolution, it
has been argued that the nation has broken its covenant engagements, and
must expect that the judgments of Heaven will be poured out upon her.
Now, what are the facts? The colonists were aiming at a high degree of
mental and moral culture, and were desirous of developing the resources
of the country, by encouraging the influx of freemen from Europe, and
especially of mechanics and manufacturers. They were anxiously looking
forward to the time when they could cast off the yoke of oppression
which the mother country had forced upon their necks. The multiplication
of the negro population was considered as a barrier to the success of
their measures, and as most dangerous to virtue and the welfare of the
country. It was increasing the indebtedness of the citizens to foreign
merchants, and augmenting the balance of trade against the colonies. But
there was no settled policy in reference to the future disposition of
the colored population. Feelings of pity were manifested toward them,
and some expressed themselves in favor of emancipation. The Continental
Congress, in addition to its action in the Non-Intercourse Agreement,
_Resolved_, April 6, 1776, "That no slaves be imported into any of the
thirteen United Colonies."[128] The Delaware Convention, August 27,
1776, adopted, as the 26th article of its Constitution, that "No person
hereafter imported into this State from Africa, ought to be held in
slavery on any pretense whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave
ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the
world."[129]
There was more of meaning in this action, than the resolution, standing
alone, would seem to indicate. On the 11th of July, preceding, Gen.
Washington wrote to the Massachusetts Assembly, that the enemy had
excited the slaves and savages to arms against him;[130] and on November
7th, 1775, Lord Dunmore had issued a proclamation, declaring the
emancipation of all slaves "that were able and willing to bear arms,
they joining his Majesty's troops, as soon as may be, for the more
speedy reducing the colonists to their duty to his Majesty's crown and
dignity."[131]
Previous to the commencement of hostilities, the resolutions of the
colonists, adverse to the slave trade and slavery, were designed to
operate against British commerce; but, after that event, the measures
adopted had reference, mainly, to the prevention of the increase of a
population that had been, and might continue to be, employed against the
liberties of the colonies. That such a course formed a part of the
policy of Great Britain, is beyond dispute; and that she considered the
prosecution of the slave trade as necessary to her purposes, was clearly
indicated by the Earl of Dartmouth, who declared, as a sufficient reason
for turning a deaf ear to the remonstrances of the colonists against the
further importation of slaves, that "Negroes cannot become
republicans--they will be a power in our hands to restrain the unruly
colonists." That such motives prompted England to prosecute the
introduction of slaves into the colonies, was fully believed by American
statesmen; and their views were expressed, by Mr. Jefferson, in a clause
in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, but which was
afterward omitted.
That the emancipation of the negroes was not contemplated, by those in
general, who voted for the resolutions quoted, is evident from the
subsequent action of Virginia, where the greater portion of the meetings
were held. They could not have intended to enfranchise men, whom they
declared to be obstacles in the way of public prosperity, and as
dangerous to the virtues of the people. Nor could the signers of the
Declaration of Independence have designed to include the Indians and
negroes in the assertion that all men are created equal, because these
same men, in afterwards adopting the Constitution, deliberately
excluded the Indians from citizenship, and forever fixed the negro in a
condition of servitude, under that Constitution, by including him, as a
slave, in the article fixing the ratio of Congressional representation
on the basis of five negroes equaling three white men. The phrase--"all
men are created equal"--could, therefore, have meant nothing more than
the declaration of a general principle, asserting the equality of the
colonists, before God, with those who claimed it as a divine right to
lord it over them. The Indians were men as well as the negroes. Both
were within the territory over which the United Colonies claimed
jurisdiction. The exclusion of both from citizenship under the
Constitution, is conclusive that neither were intended to be embraced in
the Declaration of Independence.
That the colonists were determined, at any sacrifice, to achieve their
own liberties, even at the sacrifice of their slave property, seems to
have been the opinion of intelligent Englishmen. Burke, in his speech
already quoted, thus dissipates the hopes of those who expected to find
less resistance at the South than at the North.
"There is, however, a circumstance attending the [Southern] colonies,
which, in my opinion, fully counterbalances this difference, and makes
the spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in those to the
Northward. It is that in Virginia and the Carolinas, they have a vast
multitude of slaves. Where this is the case, in any part of the world,
those who are free, are by far the most proud and jealous of their
freedom. Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a kind of rank
and privilege. Not seeing there that freedom, as in countries where it
is a common blessing, and as broad and general as the air, may be united
with much abject toil, with great misery with all the exterior of
servitude, liberty looks, among them, like something that is more noble
and liberal. I do not mean, sir, to commend the peculiar morality of
this sentiment, which has at least as much pride as virtue in it; but I
can not alter the nature of man. The fact is so; and these people of the
Southern colonies are much more strongly, and with a higher and more
stubborn spirit, attached to liberty, than those to the Northward. Such
were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our Gothic ancestors; such
in our days were the Poles; and such will be all masters of slaves, who
are not slaves themselves. In such a people the haughtiness of
domination combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and
renders it invincible."
FOOTNOTES:
[106] See American Archives, vol i. folio 1749.
[107] His estimates are in pounds sterling. It is here, for sake of
uniformity, reduced to dollars, the pound being estimated at five
dollars.
[108] Investigations before the Committee on the Petition of the West
India Planters. See American Archives, vol i. folio 1736.
[109] American Archives, vol. i. folio 1519.
[110] American Archives, vol. i. folio 1531.
[111] Testimony of Geo. Walker, Esq, American Archives, vol. i. folios
1723-24.
[112] Testimony of Geo. Walker, Esq, American Archives, vol. i. folios
1728-29,
[113] Testimony of Geo. Walker, Esq, American Archives, vol. i. folio
1730.
[114] American Archives, vol i. folio 1737.
[115] American Archives, vol. i. folio 494.
[116] American Archives, vol. i. folio 523.
[117] American Archives, vol. i. folio 525.
[118] American Archives, vol. i. folio 530.
[119] American Archives, vol. i. folio 541.
[120] American Archives, vol. i. folio 593.
[121] American Archives, vol. i. folio 600.
[122] American Archives, vol. i. folio 616.
[123] American Archives, vol. i. folio 641.
[124] American Archives, vol. i. folio 687.
[125] American Archives, vol. i. folio 735.
[126] American Archives, vol. i. folio 914.
[127] American Archives, vol i. folio 573.
[128] American Archives, 4th series, vol. iii. folio 11.
[129] American Archives, 5th series, vol. i. folio 1178.
[130] American Archives, 5th series, vol. i. folio 192.
[131] American Archives, 4th series, vol. iii. folio 1385.
FREE COLORED POPULATION.
WHEN the author was carefully collating the facts from the Record of
MAJOR LACHLAN, in reference to the fugitive slaves in Canada, he was not
aware that he should be so fortunate as to obtain, from other sources,
any testimony in their support. Canada has all along been a sealed book
to the public of the States, so far as the condition of blacks, who had
escaped thither, were concerned. Since the completion of the
stereotyping of the volume, and just as it was about ready for the
press, the _New York Herald_, of January 5, reached us. It embraces a
detailed report on this important subject, which was prepared by a
special agent, who visited the settlements he describes. It is very
interesting to find, that the opinions and predictions of Major Lachlan,
made in 1841 to 1850, as to the results of colored immigration into
Canada, should be so fully sustained and fulfilled, by a report upon the
actual facts in 1859.
It may be remarked, here, that we believe a crisis has arrived in the
history of the free colored people of the United States, which demands
the most calm and serious consideration; and we would remind the more
intelligent colored men, that the honor of conducting their fellow-men
in the road to a high civilization, will be as great as are the honors
heaped upon the few of the white race, who have been the master spirits
in bringing up their fellow-men to the pinnacle of greatness upon which
they now stand. More than one field, for the accomplishment of this
object, now presents itself; and, as the darkest hour is said to be that
which immediately proceeds the dawn of day; it may be hoped that the
lowering clouds now overshadowing their prospects, will soon be
dissipated by a brighter sun, that shall reveal the highway of their
deliverance.
But to the extracts from the _Herald_. After giving a detailed account
of the whole subject of negro immigration into Canada, together with the
particulars of the results of the several attempts at founding
settlements for the refugees, the _Herald's_ reporter sums up the whole
matter thus:
"THE SOCIAL AND MORAL EFFECT OF THE IMPORTATION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES INTO
CANADA.
"While, as we have seen, the British abolitionists in Canada are
laboring with the republican abolitionists of America to entice away the
slave property of the South, and to foment a servile insurrection in the
Southern States, and a disruption of the Union, there are men of sense
and of honor among our neighbors over the borders, who deplore this
interference of their countrymen in the affairs of the republic, and
appreciate the terrible catastrophe to which, if persevered in, it must
eventually lead. I conversed with a prominent abolitionist in Chatham,
holding a public position of trust and honor, who told me that the first
suggestion of the Harper's Ferry attack was made to Brown by British
abolitionists in Chatham, and who assured me that he had himself
subscribed money to aid Brown in raising men for the service in Ohio and
elsewhere in the States. In reply to some questions I put to him, he
stated that he and his associates on the other side looked with
expectation and hope to the day, not far distant, when a disruption of
the Union would take place; for that, in that case, the British
abolitionists would join the republican abolitionists of America in open
warfare upon the slaveholding States. When I reminded him that the
patriotic men of the North would raise a barrier of brave hearts,
through which such traitors would find it difficult to reach the
Southern States, he replied--'Oh, we have often talked over and
calculated upon that; but you forget that we should have the negroes of
the South to help us in their own homes against their oppressors, with
the knife and the fire-brand.'
"I conversed on the other hand with conservative, high-minded men, who
expressed the most serious apprehension that the bold and unjustifiable
association of Canadian abolitionists with the negro stealers and
insurrectionists of America would eventually plunge the two countries
into war.
"We have seen that the immigration of fugitive slaves into Canada is
unattended by any social or moral good to the negro. It is injurious,
also, to the white citizens of Canada, inasmuch as it depresses the
value of their property, diminishes their personal comfort and safety,
and destroys the peace and good order of the community. Mr. Sheriff
Mercer, of Kent county, assured me that the criminal statistics of that
county prove that nine-tenths of the offenses against the laws are
committed by colored persons. The same proportion holds good in Essex
county, and the fact is the more startling when it is remembered that
the blacks do not at present number more than one-fourth of the whole
population.
"In the township of Anderdon, Essex county, this fall, nearly every
sheep belonging to the white farmers has been stolen. The fact was
presented in the return of the Grand Jury of the county, and some twelve
negro families, men, women and children, were committed to jail on the
charge of sheep stealing. The cases of petit larceny are incredibly
numerous in every township containing negro settlements, and it is a
fact that frequently the criminal calendars would be bare of a
prosecution but for the negro prisoners.
"The offenses of the blacks are not wholly confined to those of a light
character. Occasionally some horrible crime startles the community, and
is almost invariably attended by a savage ferocity peculiar to the
vicious negro. If a murder is committed by a black, it is generally of
an aggravated and brutal nature. The offense of rape is unfortunately
peculiarly prevalent among the negroes. Nearly every assize is marked by
a charge of this character. A prominent lawyer of the Province, who has
held the position of public prosecutor, told me that his greatest dread
was of this offense, for that experience had taught him that no white
woman was safe at all times, from assault, and those who were rearing
daughters in that part of Canada, might well tremble at the danger by
which they are threatened. He told me that he never saw a really brutal
look on the human face until he beheld the countenances of the negroes
charged with the crime of rape. When the lust comes over them they are
worse than the wild beast of the forest. Last year, in broad daylight, a
respectable white woman, while walking in the public road within the
town of Chatham, was knocked down by a black savage and violated. This
year, near Windsor, the wife of a wealthy farmer, while driving alone
in a wagon, was stopped by a negro in broad daylight, dragged out into
the road, and criminally assaulted in a most inhuman manner. It was
impossible to hear the recital of these now common crimes without a
shudder.
"The fugitive slaves go into Canada as beggars, and the mass of them
commit larceny and lay in jail until they become lowered and debased,
and ready for worse crimes. Nor does there seem at present a prospect of
education doing much to better their condition, for they do not appear
anxious to avail themselves of school privileges as a general rule. The
worse class of blacks are too poor and too indolent to clothe their
children in the winter, and their services are wanted at home in the
summer. The better class affect airs as soon as they become tolerably
well to do, and refuse to send their little ones to any but white
schools. In Windsor there are two public colored schools, but the
negroes of that place choose to refuse to allow their children to attend
these institutions, and sent them to the schools for whites. They were
not admitted, and two of the black residents, named Jones and Green,
tested the question at law, to try whether the trustees or teachers had
a right to exclude their children. It was decided that the trustees had
such power, when separate schools were provided for colored persons.
"That property is seriously depreciated in all neighborhoods in which
the negroes settle is a well known fact. Mr. S. S. Macdonnel, a resident
of Windsor, and a gentleman of high social and political position, is
the owner of a large amount of real estate in that place. The Bowyer
farm, a large tract of land belonging to him, was partitioned into lots
some few years since, and sold at auction. Some of the lots were bid in
by negroes of means, among others, by a mulatto named De Baptiste,
residing in Detroit. As soon as the white purchasers found that negroes
were among the buyers, they threw up their lots, and since then the
value of the property has been much depressed. In several instances Mr.
Macdonnel paid premiums to the negroes to give up their purchases, where
they had happened to buy in the midst of white citizens. At a subsequent
sale of another property, cut up into very fine building lots, by the
same gentleman, one of the conditions of sale announced was, that no bid
should be received from colored persons. De Baptiste attended and bid in
a lot. When his bid was refused, he endeavored to break up the auction
in a row, by the aid of other negroes, and failing in this, brought an
action at law against Mr. Macdonnel. This Mr. M. prepared to defend, but
it was never pressed to a trial. These incidents, together with the
attempt of the Windsor negroes to force their children into the schools
for whites, illustrate the impudent assumption of the black, as soon as
he becomes independent, and the deeply seated antipathy of the whites in
Canada to their dark skinned neighbors. At the same time it is
observable that the 'free negro' in Canada--that is, the black who was
free in the States--endeavors to hold his head above the 'fugitive,' and
has a profound contempt for the escaped slave.
"As I desired to obtain the views of intelligent Canadians upon the
important questions before me, I requested a prominent and wealthy
citizen of Windsor to favor me with a written statement of his
observations on the effect of the negro immigration and received the
following hastily prepared and brief communication, in reply. The
opinions expressed are from one of the most accomplished gentlemen in
the Province, and are worthy of serious consideration, although the
public position he occupies renders it proper that I should not make
public use of his name:--
"'WINDSOR, Dec. 23, 1859.
"'MY DEAR SIR--In reply to your request, I beg to
say that I would cheerfully give you my views at
length upon the important topics discussed at our
interview, did not my pressing engagements just
now occupy too much of my time to make it possible
that I should do more than hastily sketch down
such thoughts as occur to me in the few moments I
can devote to the subject.
"'The constant immigration of fugitives from
slavery into the two western counties of the
Province of Canada, Kent and Essex, has become a
matter for serious consideration to the landed
proprietors in those counties, both as it effects
the value and salability of real estate, and as
rendering the locality an undesirable place of
abode.
"'It is certain that ever since large numbers of
fugitive slaves have, by means of the organization
known here and in the States as "the Underground
Railroad," and of such associations as the Dawn
and Elgin Institutes and the Refugee Home Society,
been annually introduced into these two counties,
no settlers from the old country, from the States,
or from the eastern part of Canada, have taken up
lands there. And there is every reason to assign
the fact of there being a large colored
population, and that population constantly on the
increase, as the chief cause why these counties do
not draw a portion at least of the many seeking
Western homes.
"'Kent and Essex have been justly styled "the
Garden of Upper Canada." The soil in most parts of
the counties cannot be excelled in richness and
fertility, and the climate is mild and delightful.
There are thousands of acres open for sale at a
moderate price, but it now seldom happens that a
lot of wild land is taken up by a new comer. The
farmer who has achieved the clearing of the land
that years ago was settled upon may wish to extend
his possessions for the sake of his sons who are
growing up, by the acquisition of an adjoining or
neighboring piece of wild land; but seldom or
never is the uncleared forest intruded upon now by
the encampment of emigrant families.
"'It may be broadly asserted, first, in general,
that the existence of a large colored population
in Kent and Essex has prevented many white
settlers from locating there who otherwise would
have made a home in one of those counties; and,
secondly, that in particular instances it
constantly occurs that the sale of a lot of land
is injuriously affected by reason of the near
settlement of colored people.
"'Next, as to the general feeling of the gentry
and farmers who live in the midst of this
population: All regard it with dissatisfaction,
and with a foreboding--an uncomfortable
anticipation for the future, as they behold the
annual inpouring of a people with whom they have
few or no sympathies in common, many of whose
characteristics are obnoxious and bad, and who
have to make a commencement here, in the
development of their better nature, should they
possess any, from perhaps the lowest point to
which the human mind can be degraded,
intellectually and morally.
"'There is undoubtedly hardly a well thinking
person whose heart is not touched with a feeling
of pity for the unfortunates who present
themselves as paupers, in the name of liberty, to
become denizens of our country. And it would,
doubtless, be a great moral spectacle to witness
these escaped slaves, as they are sometimes
pictured by professional philanthropists,
rendering themselves happy in their freedom,
acquiring property, surrounding themselves with
the comforts, if not the elegancies of life, and
advancing themselves intellectually, socially and
politically. But, alas for human nature! If the
negro is really fitted by the Creator to enjoy
freedom as we enjoy it, the habits of mind and of
action, however baneful they may be, that have
been long exercised, are not to be suddenly broken
or changed; and the slave who was idle, and lying,
and thievish in the South, will not obtain
opposite qualities forthwith by crossing the line
that makes him free.
"'This is not said in a spirit of malevolence
toward the colored people that are here and are
brought here, but as presenting their case as it
really is, and as explaining the position in which
residents of these counties are placed, or will be
placed, if this continuous flow from the slave
States is poured in by means of the organizations
and societies formed for that purpose in many of
the Northern States of America, and fostered and
aided by many indiscreet men in our own country.
"'The main argument in favor of the free school
system is, that it is a benefit to all to be
surrounded by an intelligent and moral community,
and for such a benefit every property holder
should be glad to contribute his quota. Is there,
then, any need of asking the question, if the
people of these counties desire the sort of
population that comes to them from the Southern
States?
"'What is the condition of the negroes on their
arrival here? What their progress in the
acquisition of property and knowledge, and their
conduct as citizens?