Journey by Railroad from Cumberland to Baltimore--A Tedious Stoppage
--A Sabbath in Baltimore--Fruitless Inquiry--A Presbyterian Church and
Dr. Plummer--Richmond and its Resolutions--Dr Plummer's Pro slavery
Manifesto--The Methodist Episcopal Church.
The railway from Cumberland to Baltimore is 178 miles long, and (like
most lines in the States) is single. This fact is important, for our
cousins, in boasting of the hundreds or thousands of miles of railway
they have constructed, forget to tell us that they are nearly all
single. Here and there they have a double set of rails, like our
sidings, to enable trains to pass each other.
The ground was covered with snow, otherwise the scenery would have been
magnificent. For a long time the Potomac was our companion. More than
once we had to cross the stream on wooden bridges; so that we had it
sometimes on our right and sometimes on our left, ourselves being
alternately in Virginia and in Maryland. When within 14 miles of
Baltimore, and already benighted, we were told we could not proceed, on
account of some accident to a luggage-tram that was coming up. The
engine, or (as the Americans invariably say) the "locomotive," had got
off the rail, and torn up the ground in a frightful manner; but no one
was hurt. We were detained for 7 hours; and instead of getting into
Baltimore at 8 P.M., making an average of about 15 miles an hour, which
was the utmost we had been led to expect, we did not get there till 3
A.M., bringing our average rate per hour down to about 9-1/2 miles. The
tediousness of the delay was considerably relieved by a man sitting
beside me avowing himself a thorough Abolitionist, and a hearty friend
of the coloured race. He spoke out his sentiments openly and
fearlessly, and was quite a match for any one that dared to assail him.
His name was Daniel Carmichael, of Brooklyn. He is a great railway and
canal contractor, and has generally in his employ from 500 to 800
people. He is also a very zealous "teetotaler." We had also a _Mrs.
Malaprop_, from Baltimore, with us, who told us, among other marvellous
things, that in that city they took the _senses_ (census) of the people
every month. She was very anxious to let all around her know that her
husband was a medical man: she therefore wondered what "the Doctor" was
then doing, what "the Doctor" thought of the non-arrival of the train,
whether "the Doctor" would be waiting for her at the station, and
whether "the Doctor" would bring his own carriage, or hire one, to meet
her, &c.
March 14.--The day on which we arrived at Baltimore was the Sabbath. In
a public room in the National Hotel, at which we were stopping, was
hung up a nicely-framed announcement of the order of services in one of
the Presbyterian Churches. We wished, however, to find a Congregational
place of worship, and set off with that view. It was a beautiful day,
and Baltimore seemed to send forth its inhabitants by streets-full to
the various churches. In the _Old_ World I never saw anything like it,
nor elsewhere in the _New_, except perhaps at Boston. All secular
engagements seemed to be entirely suspended, and the whole city seemed
to enjoy a Sabbath! As we walked along, I asked a young man if he could
direct me to a Congregational church. He stared at me for a moment, and
then said, "Do you mean a church with pews in it?" I asked another,
"Can you tell me where I shall find a Congregational church in this
city?"--"What congregation do you mean, sir?" was the reply. They
evidently knew nothing at all about Congregationalism. The fact was, as
I afterwards understood, we had not yet come into its latitude; for in
America Presbyterianism and Congregationalism have hitherto been
matters of latitude and longitude rather than of earnest conviction and
firm adherence. We now inquired for a _Presbyterian_ church, and were
told that there was one not far from where we then stood, in which Mr.
Plummer--a very popular minister just come into the city--preached.
Following the directions given, we came to a certain church, in front
of which two or three grave men stood talking to each other. In answer
to the question, "What church is this?" one of these grave men said,
with a good broad Scotch accent, "It's a Presbyterian church." The
accent gave a double confirmation to the answer. "Is it Mr. Plummer's
church?" I continued. With the same accent, and in a tone of gentle
rebuke, I was told, "Yes, it is _Doctor_ Plummer's." We entered. The
congregation were assembling. We were left either to stand in the aisle
or to take a seat as we pleased. We preferred the latter. The building
was new, but built in the old Gothic style. The pews, the pulpit, the
front of the gallery, the organ, and the framework of the roof, which
was all exposed, were of oak, which had been made to resemble in colour
wood that has stood the test of 400 or 500 years. The windows also were
darkened. The whole affair was tremendously heavy, enough to mesmerize
any one. The congregation was large, respectable, and decorous. After a
few glances around, to see if there was a negro pew anywhere, I
observed several coloured faces peeping from a recess in the gallery,
on the left side of the organ,--there was the "Negro Pew," In due time
_Doctor_ Plummer ascended the pulpit. He was a fine tall man,
grey-haired, well dressed, with commanding aspect and a powerful voice.
I ceased to wonder at the emphasis with which the Scotchman called him
_Doctor_ Plummer. He was quite the _ideal_ of a _Doctor_. His text was
John iii. 18: "He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God." His subject was, that "man is
justly accountable to God for his belief." This truth he handled in a
masterly manner, tossing about as with a giant's arm Lord Brougham and
the Universalists. Notwithstanding my want of rest on the previous
night, the absurd heaviness of the building, and the fact that the
sermon--which occupied a full hour--was all read, I listened with
almost breathless attention, and was sorry when he had done.
And who was this Dr. Plummer? It was Dr. Plummer late of Richmond, in
Virginia. "Richmond," says Dr. Reed, "is still the great mart of
slavery; and the interests of morality and religion suffer from this
cause. Several persons of the greatest wealth, and therefore of the
greatest consideration in the town, are known slave-dealers; and their
influence, in addition to the actual traffic, is of course
unfavourable. The sale of slaves is as common, and produces as little
sensation, as that of cattle. It occurs in the main street, and before
the door of the party who is commissioned to make the sale." And what
was the conduct of this Doctor of Divinity in reference to this state
of things? He sanctioned it! He pleaded for it! He lived upon it! He
was once actually supported, either wholly or in part, by slave labour!
The church of which he was the pastor was endowed with a number of
slaves. These slaves were hired out, and the proceeds were given in the
way of stipend to the _Doctor_! Nor is this all. A few years ago the
slave-holders of the South were greatly alarmed by the vigorous efforts
of the Abolitionists of the North. It was about the time that the
Charleston Post-office was plundered by a mob of several thousand
people, and all the anti-slavery publications there found were made a
bonfire of in the street; and where "the clergy of all denominations
attended in a body, lending their sanction to the proceedings, and
adding by their presence to the impressive character of the scene." On
that occasion the clergy of the city of Richmond were not less prompt
than their brethren of Charleston in responding to the "public
sentiment."' They resolved _unanimously_,--
"That we earnestly deprecate the unwarrantable and highly improper
interference of the people of any other State with the domestic
relations of master and slave.
"That the example of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles, in not
interfering with the question of slavery, but uniformly recognising the
relations of master and servant, and giving full and affectionate
instruction to both, is worthy the imitation of all ministers of the
Gospel.
"That we will not patronise nor receive any pamphlet or newspaper of
the Anti-slavery Societies, and that we will discountenance the
circulation of all such papers in the community.
"That the suspicions which have prevailed to a considerable extent
against ministers of the Gospel and professors of religion in the State
of Virginia, as identified with Abolitionists, are _wholly unmerited_;
believing as we do, from extensive acquaintance with our churches and
brethren, that they are unanimous in opposing the pernicious schemes of
Abolitionists."
After this, are men to be branded as "infidels," because they say the
American churches are the "bulwarks of slavery?"
But what has all this to do with our fine-looking and dignified
"_Doctor_?" I will tell you. When these resolutions were passed, he was
from home; but on his return, he lost no time in communicating to the
"Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence" his entire concurrence
with what had been done,--and here are extracts from his letter:--
"I have carefully watched this matter from its earliest existence; and
everything I have seen or heard of its character, both from its patrons
and its enemies, has confirmed me beyond repentance in the belief,
that, let the character of the Abolitionists be what it may in the
sight of the Judge of all the earth, this is the most meddlesome,
impudent, reckless, fierce, and wicked excitement I ever saw.
"If Abolitionists will set the country in a blaze, it is but right that
they should receive the _first warming at the fire_.
"Let it be proclaimed throughout the nation, that every movement made
by the fanatics (so far as it has any effect in the South) does but
rivet every fetter of the bondman, and diminish the probability of
anything being successfully undertaken for making him either fit for
freedom or likely to obtain it. We have the authority of Montesquieu,
Burke, and Coleridge, three eminent masters of the science of human
nature, that, of all men, slave-holders are the most jealous of their
liberties. One of Pennsylvania's most gifted sons has lately pronounced
the South the _cradle of liberty_.
"Lastly. Abolitionists are like infidels, wholly unaddicted to
martyrdom for opinion's sake. Let them understand that _they will be
caught_ [lynched] if they come among us, and they will take good heed
to keep out of our way. There is not one man among them who has any
more idea of shedding his blood in the cause, than he has of making war
on the Grand Turk."
So much for my splendid D.D., on whose lips I hung with such intense
interest. I did not know all this at the time, or I should have felt
very differently. As he had but recently left Richmond when I saw him,
it is not at all unlikely that those fine clothes he had on were the
fruit of the slave's unrequited toil. He has always, I believe, stood
high among his brethren, and one or two excellent tracts of his are
published by the American Tract Society.
All denominations are here alike guilty in reference to their coloured
brethren. In this very city the General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church for 1840 passed the following resolution:--
"That it is inexpedient and unjustifiable for any preacher to permit
coloured persons to give testimony against white persons in any State
where they are denied that privilege by law."
Against this iniquitous resolution the official members of two of the
coloured Methodist Episcopal Churches in Baltimore immediately
remonstrated and petitioned. The following powerful and pathetic
passages are from their address:--
"The adoption of such a resolution by our highest ecclesiastical
judicatory,--a judicatory composed of the most experienced and the
wisest brethren in the Church, the choice selection of twenty-eight
Annual Conferences,--has inflicted, we fear, an irreparable injury upon
eighty thousand souls for whom Christ died,--souls who, by this act of
your body, have been stripped of the dignity of Christians, degraded in
the scale of humanity, and treated as criminals, for no other reason
than the colour of their skin! Your resolution has, in our humble
opinion, _virtually_ declared that a mere physical peculiarity, the
handiwork of our all-wise and benevolent Creator, is _primâ facie_
evidence of incompetency to tell the truth, or is an unerring
indication of unworthiness to bear testimony against a fellow-being
whose skin is denominated white. * * *
"Brethren, out of the abundance of the heart we have spoken. _Our
grievance is before you_! If you have any regard for the salvation of
the eighty thousand immortal souls committed to your care,--if you
would not _thrust_ beyond the pale of the Church _twenty-five thousand
souls in this city_, who have felt determined never to leave the Church
that has nourished and brought them up,--if you regard us as children
of one Common Father, and can upon reflection sympathize with us as
members of the body of Christ,--if you would not incur the fearful, the
tremendous responsibility of offending not only one, but many thousands
of his 'little ones,'--we conjure you to wipe from your journal the
odious resolution which is ruining our people."
This address was presented to one of the Secretaries, a delegate of the
Baltimore Conference, and subsequently given by him to the Bishops. How
many of the members of Conference saw it, is unknown. One thing is
certain, _it was never read to the Conference_.