Your communication, dated London, December 31, 1833, was received some
time since, by one of the officers of the Baptist General Convention;
but as the Convention, to which it was chiefly addressed, will not
convene till April, 1835, the communication was, after some delay,
presented to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, as the executive
organ of the Convention. The board referred it to a Committee, and we
now communicate to you a copy of their Report, and of the Resolutions
adopted by the board.[A] We commend them to your candour, with a
confident belief that you will do justice to the views and feelings of
the board, encompassed as they are by difficulties which cannot be fully
understood by persons in other countries.
[A] The Committee, to whom was referred a communication from
"the Members of the Board of Baptist Ministers in and near London,"
directed to "The Rev. Spencer H. Cone, President; the Board of Managers;
and the Delegates of the Baptist Triennial Convention, United States,
North America;" and addressed to "The Pastors and Ministers of the
Baptist denomination throughout the United States of America;" the
principal object of which communication is, to express the views of the
writers "respecting the character of negro slavery, and as to the course
enjoined by religious principle on the household of faith;" present the
following report:--
That they have examined the communication with much care, and have been
gratified by the spirit of Christian affection, respect, and candour,
which it breathes. They receive it as a pleasing omen of a more
intimate correspondence and a more endeared fellowship with our
Baptist brethren in Great Britain. The Committee, however, are
unanimously of opinion that as a Board, and as members
of the General Convention, associated for the exclusive purpose of
sending the gospel to the heathen, and to other benighted men not
belonging to our own country, we are precluded by our constitution
from taking any part in the discussion of the subject proposed in the
said communication. They, therefore, recommend the adoption of the
following resolutions:--
_Resolved._ That the Board reciprocate, with great pleasure, the
assurances of respect and affection which our brethren, "the members of
the Board of Baptist Ministers, in and near London," have uttered in
their communication.
_Resolved._ That the Board earnestly desire a closer intimacy with their
Baptist brethren in England, believing that the cause of truth in both
countries, and throughout the world, would be promoted, by a more
cordial union and co-operation of the two great branches of the Baptist
family.
_Resolved._ That the Board have viewed, with grief and anxiety, the
calamities which have befallen the Baptist Mission in Jamaica; and they
rejoice that the Mission has been resumed, with cheering prospects of
success.
_Resolved._ That while, as they trust, their love of freedom, and their
desire for the happiness of all men, are not less strong and sincere
than those of their British brethren, they cannot, as a Board, interfere
with a subject that is not among the objects for which the Convention
and the Board were formed.
_Resolved._ That the preceding Resolutions be communicated to the "Board
of Baptist Ministers, in and near London," together with the subjoined
letter, to be signed by the acting President, and the corresponding
Secretary of the Board.
(_Signed_) DANIEL SHARP,
_First Vice-President of the Baptist Board
of Foreign Missions in the United States._
LUCIUS BOLLES,
_Cor. Sec._
It may assist you to form a more correct opinion of the whole subject,
if we allude to a few of the circumstances which make slavery, in this
country, a matter of peculiar difficulty, and which, consequently,
require those who would promote the real welfare of the coloured race,
to act with great caution.
In the first place, the political organization of the United States is
widely different from that of England; and this difference makes it
impossible to adopt here a course similar to that which the British
Parliament have adopted in reference to slavery in the West Indies.
This country is not one State, with an unrestricted Legislature, but
a confederacy of States, united by a Constitution, in which certain
powers are granted to the National Government; and all other powers are
reserved by the States. Among these reserved powers is the regulation
of slavery. Congress have no power to interfere with the slaves in the
respective States; and an Act of Congress to emancipate the _slaves_ in
those States would be as wholly null and void, as an Act of the British
Parliament for the same purpose. The Legislatures of the respective
States cannot interfere with the legislation of each other. In some of
the States, where laws forbidding emancipation exist, the _minority_
cannot, if disposed, give freedom to their slaves. You perceive, then,
that the National Government, and the people of the Northern States,
have no power, nor right, to adopt any direct measures, in reference to
the emancipation of the slaves in the Southern States. The slave-holders
themselves are the only men who can act definitively on this subject;
and the only proper and useful influence which the friends of
emancipation in other States can use, consists in argument and entreaty.
The existence of our union, and its manifold blessings, depends on a
faithful adherence to the principles and spirit of our constitution, on
this and on all other points.
This view of the case exonerates the nation, as such, and the States in
which no slaves are found, from the charge of upholding slavery. It is
due, moreover, to the republic, to remember, that slavery was introduced
into this country long before the colonies became independent States.
The slave trade was encouraged by the Government of Great Britain,
and slaves were brought into the colonies against the wishes of the
colonists, and the repeated Acts of some of the Colonial Legislatures.
These Acts were negatived by the King of England; and in the Declaration
of Independence, as originally drawn by Mr. Jefferson, it was stated,
among the grievances which produced the Revolution, that the King of
England had steadily resisted the efforts of the colonists to prevent
the introduction of slaves. Soon after the Revolution, several of the
States took measures to free themselves from slavery. In 1787, Congress
adopted an Act, by which it was provided, that slavery should never be
permitted in any of the States to be formed in the immense territory
north-west of the Ohio; in which territory, the great States of Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois, have since been formed. There are now thirteen
out of the twenty-four States, in which slavery may be said to be
extinct. Maryland is taking measures to free herself from slavery.
Kentucky and Virginia will, it is believed, follow the example. We state
these facts to show, that the republic did not originate slavery here;
and that she has done much to remove it altogether from her bosom. She
took measures earlier than any other country for the suppression of the
slave trade, and she is now zealously labouring to accomplish the entire
extinction of that abominable traffic.
Since then, from the character of our political institutions, the
emancipation of the slaves is impossible, except with the free
consent of the masters; it is necessary to approach them with calm and
affectionate argument. They claim to be better acquainted with the real
condition and the true interests of the negro, than other persons can
be. Multitudes among them freely acknowledge and lament the evils of
slavery, and earnestly desire their removal, in some way consistent with
the welfare of the slave himself, and with the safety of the whites.
Some persons among them, it is true, are not convinced that slavery is
wrong in principle; just as many good men in England, half a century
since, believed the slave-trade to be just and right. Such individuals
must be _convinced_, before they will act.
In the next place, the number and character of the slaves form an
appalling difficulty. It is not believed by many of the sincere friends
of the slaves, that their immediate emancipation would be conducive to
their own real welfare, or consistent with the safety of the whites. To
let them loose, without any provision for the young, the feeble, and the
aged, would be inhuman cruelty. Slaves, who have regarded labour as an
irksome task, can have little idea of liberty, except as an exemption
from toil. To liberate them, without some arrangement for their
subsistence, would produce starvation, or impel them to acts of lawless
violence. Emancipation must, therefore, as those friends of the slaves
contend, be gradual and prospective. The British Parliament have
not decreed an _immediate_ emancipation, in the West Indies; thus
recognizing the principle, that the slaves must be _prepared_ for
freedom by moral and intellectual culture. But this preparation must
be commenced and conducted by the _masters_; and they must, of course,
become the willing and zealous friends of emancipation, before it can
be accomplished.
We have thus shown, that the slaves in this country cannot be
emancipated, except by the free consent of the masters; and that they
cannot be prepared for freedom, without the voluntary and energetic
co-operation of the masters. For both these reasons, it is necessary
to adopt a kind and conciliating course of conduct towards the
slave-holders. The British Parliament might assume a peremptory tone
towards the slave-holders in the West Indies; because the power of
Parliament is not restricted like that of the American Congress; and
because the situation of the slaves in the West Indies renders the
preliminary preparation less necessary to the safety of the white
population. In the British West Indies, the slaves are dispersed among
eighteen or twenty islands, where the military and naval power of the
mother country might be easily applied to quell insurrections. In the
United States, there are above two millions of slaves, spread over a
part only of the surface of the Union, with no large military force to
overawe them, and no obstacle to a rapid combination of insurgents. We
presume, that the people in England would feel somewhat differently on
the subject of emancipation, if the slaves were among themselves, and
the perils of this moral volcano were constantly impending over their
own heads.
Besides these general considerations, there is one which affects the
duty of the Baptist General Convention. There is now a pleasing degree
of union among the multiplying thousands of Baptists throughout the
land. Brethren, from all parts of the country, unite in our General
Convention, and co-operate in sending the gospel to the heathen. Our
southern brethren are liberal and zealous in the promotion of every holy
enterprise for the extension of the gospel. They are, generally, both
minister and people, slave-holders; not because they all think slavery
right, but because it was firmly rooted long before they were born, and
because they believe that slavery cannot be instantly abolished. We are
confident, that a great portion of our brethren at the south would
rejoice to see any practicable scheme devised for relieving the country
from slavery.
We have the best evidence, that our slave-holding brethren are
Christians, sincere followers of the Lord Jesus. In every other part of
their conduct, they adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. We cannot,
therefore, feel that it is right to use language or adopt measures which
might tend to break the ties that unite them to us in our General
Convention, and in numerous other benevolent societies; and to array
brother against brother, church against church, and association against
association, in a contest about slavery.
We have presented these considerations, dear brethren, as among the
reasons which compel us to believe, that it is not the duty of the
Baptist General Convention, or of the Board of Missions, to interfere
with the subject of slavery. It ought, indeed, to be discussed at all
proper times, and in all suitable modes. We believe, that the progress
of public opinion in reference to slavery, is very rapid; and we are
quite sure, that it cannot be accelerated by any interference, which our
southern brethren would regard as an invasion of their political rights,
or as an impeachment of their Christian character.
Most earnestly praying that the Father of Lights will illuminate our
path, and guide us all to the adoption of such measures as shall advance
His glory, and secure the temporal and eternal happiness of all men, we
are, dear brethren, your affectionate fellow-servants.
LUCIUS BOLLES,
_Cor. Sec._