people] was peculiarly situated; they neither enjoyed the
immunities of freemen, nor were they subjected to the
incapacities of slaves, but partook, in some degree, of the
qualities of both. From their condition, and the
unconquerable prejudices resulting from their colour, they
never could amalgamate with the free whites of this country.
It was desirable, therefore, as it respected them, and the
residue of the population of the country, to drain them off.
Various schemes of colonization had been thought of, and a
part of our continent, it was supposed by some, might
furnish a suitable establishment for them. But, for his
part, Mr. C. said, he had a decided preference for some part
of the coast of Africa. There ample provision might be made
for the colony itself, and it might be rendered instrumental
in the introduction into that extensive quarter of the
globe, of the arts, civilization, and Christianity."
[Here I ask Mr. Clay, what kind of Christianity? Did he mean such as
they have among the Americans--distinction, whip, blood and
oppression? I pray the Lord Jesus Christ to forbid it.]
"There," said he, "was a peculiar, a moral fitness, in
restoring them to the land of their fathers, and if instead
of the evils and sufferings which we had been the innocent
cause of inflicting upon the inhabitants of Africa, we can
transmit to her the blessings of our arts, our civilization,
and our religion. May we not hope that America will
extinguish a great portion of that moral debt which she has
contracted to that unfortunate continent? Can there be a
nobler cause than that which, whilst it proposes, &c * * * * *
[you know what this means.] contemplates the spreading of
the arts of civilized life, and the possible redemption from
ignorance and barbarism of a benighted quarter of the
globe?"
Before I proceed any further, I solicit your notice, brethren, to the
foregoing part of Mr. Clay's speech, in which he says, ([Hand->] look
above)
"and if, instead of the evils and sufferings, which we had
been the innocent cause of inflicting,"
&c. What this very learned statesman could have been thinking about,
when he said in his speech, "we had been the innocent cause of
inflicting," etc., I have never been able to conceive. Are Mr. Clay
and the rest of the Americans, innocent of the blood and groans of
our fathers and us, their children? Every individual may plead
innocence, if he pleases, but God will, before long, separate the
innocent from the guilty, unless something is speedily done--which I
suppose will hardly be, so that their destruction may be sure. Oh
Americans! let me tell you, in the name of the Lord, it will be good
for you, if you listen to the voice of the Holy Ghost, but if you do
not you are ruined!!!! Some of you are good men; but the will of my
God must be done. Those avaricious and ungodly tyrants among you, I am
awfully afraid will drag down the vengeance of God upon you.--When God
Almighty commences his battle on the continent of America, for the
oppression of his people, tyrants will wish they never were born.
But to return to Mr. Clay, whence I digressed. He says,
"It was proper and necessary distinctly to state, that he
understood it constituted no part of the object of this
meeting, to touch or agitate in the slightest degree, a
delicate question, connected with another portion of the
coloured population of our country. It was not proposed to
deliberate upon or consider at all, any question of
emancipation, or that which was connected with the abolition
of slavery. It was upon that condition alone, he was sure,
that many gentlemen from the South and the West, whom he saw
present, had attended, or could be expected to co-operate.
It was on that condition only, that he himself had
attended."
--That is to say, to fix a plan to get those of the coloured people,
who are said to be free, away from among those of our brethren whom
they unjustly hold in bondage, so that they may be enabled to keep
them the more secure in ignorance and wretchedness, to support them
and their children, and consequently they would have the more obedient
slaves. For if the free are allowed to stay among the slaves, they
will have intercourse together, and, of course, the free will learn
the slaves _bad habits_, by teaching them that they are MEN, as
well as other people, and certainly _ought_, and _must_ be FREE.
I presume, that every intelligent man of colour must have some idea of
Mr. Henry Clay, originally of Virginia, but now of Kentucky; they know
too, perhaps, whether he is a friend, or a foe, to the coloured
citizens of this country, and of the world. This gentleman, according
to his own words, had been highly favoured and blessed of the Lord,
though he did not acknowledge it; but to the contrary, he acknowledged
men, for all the blessings which God had favoured him. At a public
dinner given him at Fowler's Garden, Lexington, Kentucky, he delivered
a public speech to a very large concourse of people--in the concluding
clause of which, he says,
"And now, my friends and fellow citizens, I cannot part from
you, on possibly the last occasion of my ever publicly
addressing you, without reiterating the expression of my
thanks, from a heart overflowing with gratitude. I came
among you, now more than thirty years ago, an orphan boy
pennyless, a stranger to you all, without friends, without
the favour of the great, you took me up, cherished me,
protected me, honoured me, you have constantly poured upon
me a bold and unabated stream of innumerable favors, time
which wears out every thing has increased and strengthened
your affection for me. When I seemed deserted by almost the
whole world, and assailed by almost every tongue, and pen,
and press, you have fearlessly and manfully stood by me,
with unsurpassed zeal and undiminished friendship. When I
felt as if I should sink beneath the storm of abuse and
detraction, which was violently raging around me, I have
found myself upheld and sustained by your encouraging voices
and approving smiles. I have doubtless, committed many
faults and indiscretions, over which you have thrown the
broad mantle of your charity. But I can say, and in the
presence of God and this assembled multitude, I will say,
that I have honestly and faithfully served my country--that
I have never wronged it--and that, however unprepared, I
lament that I am to appear in the Divine presence on other
accounts, I invoke the stern justice of his judgment on my
public conduct without the slightest apprehension of his
displeasure."
Hearken to this statesman indeed, but no philanthropist, whom God sent
into Kentucky, an orphan boy, pennyless and friendless, where he not
only gave him a plenty of friends and the comforts of life, but raised
him almost to the very highest honour in the nation, where his great
talents, with which the Lord has been pleased to bless him, has gained
for him the affection of a great portion of the people with whom he
had to do. But what has this gentleman done for the Lord, after having
done so much for him? The Lord has a suffering people, whose moans and
groans at his feet for deliverance from oppression and wretchedness,
pierce the very throne of Heaven, and call loudly on the God of
Justice, to be revenged. Now what this gentleman who is so highly
favored of the Lord, has done to liberate those miserable victims of
oppression, shall appear before the world, by his letters to Mr.
Gallatin, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great
Britain, dated June 19, 1826. Though Mr. Clay was writing for the
states, yet nevertheless, it appears, from the very face of his
letters to that gentleman, that he was as anxious, if not more so, to
get those free people and sink them into wretchedness, as his
constituents for whom he wrote.
The Americans of North and of South America, including the West India
Islands--no trifling portion of whom were, for stealing, murdering,
&c. compelled to flee from Europe, to save their necks or banishment,
have effected their escape to this continent, where God blessed them
with all the comforts of life--He gave them a plenty of every thing
calculated to do them good--not satisfied with this, however, they
wanted slaves, and wanted us for their slaves, who belong to the Holy
Ghost, and no other, who we shall have to serve instead of tyrants. I
say, the Americans want us, the property of the Holy Ghost, to serve
them. But there is a day fast approaching when (unless there is a
universal repentance on the part of the whites, which will scarcely
take place--they have got to be so hardened in consequence of our
blood, and so wise in their own conceit.) To be plain and candid with
you, Americans! I say that the day is fast approaching when there will
be a greater time on the continent of America than ever was witnessed
upon this earth since it came from the hands of its Creator. Some of
you have done us so much injury that you will never be able to repent.
Your cup must be filled. You want us for your slaves and shall have
enough of us--God is just, _who will give you your fill of us_. But
Mr. Henry Clay, speaking to Mr. Gallatin respecting coloured people
who had effected their escape from the U. States (or to them _hell
upon earth!!_) to the hospitable shores of Canada[18] from whence it
would cause more than the lives of the Americans to get them, to
plunge into wretchedness--he says:
"The General Assembly of Kentucky, one of the states which
is most affected by the escape of slaves into Upper Canada,
has again, at their session which has just terminated,
invoked the interposition of the General Government. In the
treaty which has been recently concluded with the United
Mexican States, and which is now under the consideration of
the Senate, provision is made for the restoration of
fugitive slaves. As it appears from your statements of what
passed on that subject with the British Plenipotentiaries,
that they admitted the correctness of the principle of
restoration, it is hoped that you will be able to succeed in
making satisfactory arrangements."
There are a series of these letters, all of which are to the same
amount; some however presenting a face more of his own responsibility.
I wonder what would this gentleman think if the Lord should give him
among the rest of his blessings enough of slaves? Could he blame any
other being but himself? Do we not belong to the Holy Ghost? What
business has he or any body else, to be sending letters about the
world respecting us? Can we not go where we want to, as well as other
people, only if we obey the voice of the Holy Ghost? This gentleman,
(Henry Clay) not only took an active part in this colonizing plan, but
was absolutely chairman of a meeting held at Washington the 21st day
of December, 1816[19] to agitate the subject of colonizing us in
Africa.--Now I appeal and ask every citizen of these United States and
of the world, both _white_ and _black_, who has any knowledge of Mr.
Clay's public labors for these States--I want you candidly to answer
the Lord, who sees the secrets of your hearts, Do you believe that Mr.
Henry Clay, late Secretary of State, and now in Kentucky, is a friend
to the blacks, further than his personal interest extends? Is it not
his greatest object and glory upon earth to sink us into miseries and
wretchedness by making slaves of us, to work his plantation to enrich
him and his family? Does he care a pinch of snuff about
Africa--whether it remains a land of Pagans and of blood, or of
Christians, so long as he gets enough of her sons and daughters to dig
up gold and silver for him? If he had no slave, and could obtain them
in no other way if it were not repugnant to the laws of his country,
which prohibit the importation of slaves, (which act was indeed more
through apprehension than humanity) would he not try to import a few
from Africa to work his farm? Would he work in the hot sun to earn his
bread if he could make an African work for nothing, particularly if he
could keep him in ignorance and make him believe that God made him for
nothing else but to work for him? Is not Mr. Clay a white man, and too
delicate to work in the hot sun? Was he not made by his Creator to sit
in the shade, and make the blacks work without remuneration for their
services, to support him and his family? I have been for some time
taking notice of this man's speeches and public writings, but never to
my knowledge have I seen any thing in his writings which insisted on
the emancipation of slavery, which has almost ruined his country. Thus
we see the depravity of men's hearts, when in pursuit only of
gain--particularly when they oppress their fellow creatures to obtain
that gain--God suffers some to go on until they are lost for ever.
This same Mr. Clay wants to know what he has done to merit the
disapprobation of the American people. In a public speech delivered by
him, he asked:
"Did I involve my country in an unnecessary war?"
to merit the censure of the Americans--
"Did I bring obloquy upon the nation, or the people whom I
represented--did I ever lose an opportunity to advance the
fame, honor and prosperity of this State and the Union?"
How astonishing it is, for a man who knows so much about God and his
ways, as Mr. Clay, to ask such frivolous questions. Does he believe
that a man of his talents and standing in the midst of a people, will
get along unnoticed by the penetrating and all-seeing eye of God who
is continually taking cognizance of the hearts of men? Is not God
against him, for advocating the murderous cause of slavery? If God is
against him, what can the Americans, together with the whole world do
for him? Can they save him from the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ?
I shall now pass in review the speech of Mr. Elias B. Caldwell, Esq.
of the District of Columbia, extracted from the same page on which Mr.
Clay's will be found. Mr. Caldwell, giving his opinion respecting us,
at that ever memorable meeting, he says:
"The more you improve the condition of these people, the
more you cultivate their minds, the more miserable you make
them in their present state. You give them a higher relish
for those privileges which they can never attain, and turn
what we intend for a blessing into a curse."
Let me ask this benevolent man, what he means by a blessing intended
for us? Did he mean sinking us and our children into ignorance and
wretchedness, to support him and his family? What he meant will appear
evident and obvious to the most ignorant in the world. [Hand->] See
Mr. Caldwell's intended blessings for us, O! my Lord!!!
"No," said he, "if they must remain in their present
situation, keep them in the _lowest state of degradation and
ignorance_. The nearer you bring them to the condition of
brutes, the better chance do you give them of possessing
their _apathy_."
Here I pause to get breath, having labored to extract the above clause
of this gentleman's speech, at that colonizing meeting. I presume that
every body knows the meaning of the word "_apathy_"--if they do not,
let him get Sheridan's Dictionary, where he will find it explained in
full. I solicit the attention of the world to the foregoing part of
Mr. Caldwell's speech, that they may see what man will do with his
fellow men, when he has them under his feet. To what length will not
man go in iniquity, when given up to a hard heart and reprobate mind,
in consequence of blood and oppression? The last clause of this
speech, which was written in a very artful manner and which will be
taken for the speech of a friend, without close examination and deep
penetration, I shall now present. He says,
"Surely Americans ought to be the last people on earth to
advocate such slavish doctrines, to cry peace and
contentment to those who are deprived of the privileges of
civil liberty, they who have so largely partaken of its
blessings, who know so well how to estimate its value, ought
to be among the foremost to extend it to others."
The real sense and meaning of the last part of Mr. Caldwell's speech
is, get the free people of colour away to Africa, from among the
slaves, where they may at once be blessed and happy, and our slaves
will be contented to rest in ignorance and wretchedness, to dig up
gold and silver for us and our children. Men have indeed, got to be
so cunning, these days, that it would take the eye of a Solomon to
penetrate and find them out.
Extract from the speech of Mr. John Randolph, of Roanoke.
Said he:--
"It had been properly observed by the Chairman, as well as
by the gentlemen from this District (meaning Messrs. Clay
and Caldwell) that there was nothing in the proposition
submitted to consideration which in the smallest degree
touches another very important and delicate question, which
ought to be left as much out of view as possible, (Negro
Slavery.)[20]
"There was no fear, Mr. R. said, that this proposition would
alarm the slave-holders; they had been accustomed to think
seriously of the subject. There was a popular work on
agriculture, by John Taylor of Carolina, which was widely
circulated, and much confided in, in Virginia. In that book,
much read because coming from a practical man, this
description of people, [referring to us half free ones,]
were pointed out as a great evil. They had indeed been held
up as the greater bug-bear to every man who feels an
inclination to emancipate his slaves, not to create in the
bosom of his country so great a nuisance. If a place could
be provided for their reception, and a mode of sending them
hence, there were hundreds, nay thousands of citizens, who
would, by manumitting their slaves, relieve themselves from
the cares attendant on their possession. The great
slave-holder, Mr. R. said, was frequently a mere sentry at
his own door--bound to stay on his plantation to see that
his slaves were properly treated, &c. Mr. R. concluded by
saying that he had thought it necessary to make these
remarks, being a slave-holder himself, to show that, so far
from being connected with abolition of slavery, the measure
proposed would prove one of greatest securities to enable
the master to keep in possession his own property."
Here is a demonstrative proof, of a plan got up by a gang of
slave-holders to select the free people of colour from among the
slaves, that our more miserable brethren may be the better secured in
ignorance and wretchedness, to work their farms and dig their mines,
and thus go on enriching the christians with their blood and groans.
What our brethren could have been thinking about, who have left their
native land and home and gone away to Africa I am unable to say. This
country is as much ours as it is the whites, whether they will admit
it now or not, they will see and believe it by and by. They tell us
about prejudice--what have we to do with it? Their prejudices will be
obliged to fall like lightning to the ground, in succeeding
generations; not, however with the will and consent of all the whites,
for some will be obliged to hold on to the old adage, viz.: the blacks
are not men, but were made to be an inheritance to us and our children
forever!!!!!! I hope the residue of the coloured people will stand
still and see the salvation of God, and the miracle which he will work
for our delivery from wretchedness under the christians!!!!!!
[Hand->] ADDITION.--If any of us see fit to go away, go to those who
have been for many years, and are now our greatest earthly friends and
benefactors--the English. If not so, go to our brethren, the Haytians,
who, according to their word, is bound to protect and comfort us. The
Americans say that we are ungrateful--but I ask them for heaven's
sake, what we should be grateful to them for--for murdering our
fathers and mothers?--Or do they wish us to return thanks to them for
chaining and handcuffing us, branding us, cramming fire down our
throats, or for keeping us in slavery, and beating us nearly or quite
to death to make us work in ignorance and miseries, to support them
and their families. They certainly think that we are a gang of fools.
Those among them, who have volunteered their services for our
redemption, though we are unable to compensate them for their labors,
we nevertheless thank them from the bottom of our hearts, and have our
eyes steadfastly fixed upon them, and their labors of love for God and
man. But do slave-holders think that we thank them for keeping us in
miseries, and taking our lives by the inches? [<-Hand]
Before I proceed further with this scheme, I shall give an extract
from the letter of that truly Reverend Divine, (Bishop Allen,) of
Philadelphia, respecting this trick. At the instance of the Editor of
the Freedom's Journal, he says,[21]
"Dear Sir, I have been for several years trying to reconcile
my mind to the Colonizing of Africans in Liberia, but there
have always been, and there still remain great and
insurmountable objections against the scheme. We are an
unlettered people, brought up in ignorance, not one in a
hundred can read or write, not one in a thousand has a
liberal education; is there any fitness for such to be sent
into a far country, among heathens, to convert or civilize
them, when they themselves are neither civilized or
christianized? See the great bulk of the poor, ignorant
Africans in this country, exposed to every temptation before
them: all for the want of their morals being refined by
education and proper attendance paid unto them by their
owners, or those who had the charge of them. It is said by
the Southern slave-holders, that the more ignorant they can
bring up the Africans, the better slaves they make, 'go and
come.' Is there any fitness for such people to be colonized
in a far country, to be their own rulers? Can we not discern
the project of sending the free people of colour away from
their country? Is it not for the interest of the
slave-holders to select the free people of colour out of the
different states, and send them to Liberia? Will it not make
their slaves uneasy to see free men of colour enjoying
liberty? It is against the law, in some of the southern
states, that a person of colour should receive an education,
under a severe penalty. Colonizationists speak of America
being first colonized, but is there any comparison between
the two? America was colonized by as _wise_, _judicious_ and
_educated_ men as the world afforded. WILLIAM PENN did not
want for _learning_, _wisdom_, _or intelligence_. If all the
people in Europe and America were as ignorant, and in the
same situation as our brethren, what would become of the
world? where would be the principle or piety that would
govern the people? We were _stolen_ from our mother country,
and brought _here_. We have _tilled_ the ground and made
fortunes for thousands, and still they are not weary of our
services. _But they who stay to till the ground must be
slaves._ Is there not land enough in America, or 'corn
enough in Egypt?' Why should they send us into a far country
to die? See the thousands of foreigners emigrating to
America every year: and if there be ground sufficient for
them to cultivate, and bread for them to eat; why would they
wish to send the _first tillers_ of the land away? Africans
have made fortunes for thousands, who are yet unwilling to
part with their services; but the free must be sent away,
and those who remain must be _slaves_. I have no doubt that
there are many good men who do not see as I do, and who are
for sending us to Liberia; but they have not duly considered
the subject--they are not men of colour. This land which we
have watered with our _tears_ and _our blood_, is now our
_mother country_, and we are well satisfied to stay where
wisdom abounds and the gospel is free."
"RICHARD ALLEN,
"_Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the
United States_."