THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, who, on coming forward to open the proceedings,
was received with much applause, spoke as follows: "We are assembled
here this night to protest, with the utmost intensity, and with all the
force which language can command, against the greatest wrong that the
wickedness of man ever perpetrated upon his fellow-man--[loud cheers]--a
wrong which, great in all ages--great in heathen times--great in all
countries--great even under heathen sentiments--is indescribably
monstrous in Christian days, and exercised as it is, not unfrequently,
over Christian people. [Hear!] It is surely remarkable, and exceedingly
disgraceful to a century and a generation so boastful of its progress,
and of the institution of so many Bible societies, with so many
professions and preachments of Christianity--with so many declarations
of the spiritual value of man before God--after so many declarations of
this equality of every man in the sight of his fellow-man--that we
should be assembled here this evening to protest against the conduct of
a mighty and a Protestant people, who, in the spirit of the Romish
Babylon, which they had renounced, resort to her most abominable
practices--making merchandise of the temples of God, and trafficking in
the bodies and souls of men. [Cheers.] We are not here to proclaim and
maintain our own immaculate purity. We are not here to stand forward and
say, 'I am holier than thou.' We have confessed, and that openly, and
freely, and unreservedly, our share, our heavy share, in by-gone days,
of vast wickedness; we have, we declare it again, and we had our deep
remorse. We sympathize with the preponderating bulk of the American
people; we acknowledge and we feel the difficulties which beset them; we
rejoice and we believe in their good intentions; but we have no
patience--I at least have none--with those professed leaders, be they
political or be they clerical, who mislead the people--with those who,
blasphemously resting slavery on the Holy Scriptures, desecrate their
pulpits by the promulgation of doctrines better suited to the synagogue
of Satan--[cheers]--nor with that gentleman who, the greatest officer of
the greatest republic in the whole world, in pronouncing an inaugural
address to the assembled multitudes, maintains the institution of
slavery; and--will you believe it?--invokes the Almighty God to maintain
those rights, and thus sanction the violation of his own laws!--[Cries
of 'Shame!'] This is, indeed, a dismal prospect for those who tremble at
human power; but we have this consolation: Is it not said that, 'When
the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift
up a standard against him?' [Hear, hear!] He has done so now, and a most
wonderful and almost inspired protector has arisen for the suffering of
this much injured race. [Loud cheers.] Feeble as her sex, but
irresistible as virtue and as truth, she will prove to her adversary,
and to ours, that such boasting shall not be for his honor, 'for the
Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.' [Hear, hear! and loud
cheers.] Now, I ask you this: Is there one of you who believes that the
statements of that marvellous book to which we have alluded present an
exaggerated picture?--[Tremendous cries of 'No, no.'] Do they not know,
say what they will, that the truth is not fully stated? [Hear, hear!]
The reality is worse than the fiction. [Hear, hear!] But, apart from
this, there is our solemn declaration that the vileness of the principle
is at once exhibited in the mere notion of slavery, and the atrocities
of it are the natural and almost inevitable consequences of the
profession and exercise of absolute and irresponsible power. [Hear,
hear!] But do you doubt the fact? Look to the document. I will quote to
you from this book. I have never read any thing more strikingly
illustrative or condemnatory of the system we are here to denounce. Here
is the judgment pronounced by one of the judges in North Carolina. It is
impossible to read this judgment, however terrible the conclusion,
without feeling convinced that the man who pronounced it was a man of a
great mind, and, in spite of the law he was bound to administer, a man
of a great heart. [Hear, hear!] Hear what he says. The case was this: It
was a 'case of appeal,' in which the defendant had hired a slave woman
for a year. During this time she committed some slight offence, for
which the defendant undertook to chastise her. After doing so he shot at
her as she was running away. The question then arose, was he justified
in using that amount of coercion? and whether the privilege of shooting
was not confined to the actual proprietor? The case was argued at some
length, and the court, in pronouncing judgment, began by deploring that
any judge should ever be called upon to decide such a case, but he had
to administer the law, and not to make it. The judge said, 'With
whatever reluctance, therefore, the court is bound to express the
opinion, that the dominion over a slave in Carolina has not, as it has
been argued, any analogy with the authority of a tutor over a pupil, of
a master over an apprentice, or of a parent over a child. The court does
not recognize these applications. There is no likeness between them.
They are in opposition to each other, and there is an impassable gulf
between them. The difference is that which exists between freedom and
slavery--[Hear, hear!]--and a greater difference cannot be imagined. In
the one case, the end in view is the happiness of the youth, born to
equal rights with the tutor, whose duty it is to train the young to
usefulness by moral and intellectual instruction. If they will not
suffice, a moderate chastisement maybe administered. But with slavery it
is far otherwise.' Mark these words, for they contain the whole thing.
But with slavery it is far otherwise. The end is the profit of the
master, and the poor object is one doomed, in his own person, and in his
posterity, to live without knowledge, and without capacity to attain any
thing which he may call his own. He has only to labor, that another may
reap the fruits.' [Hear, hear!] Mark! this is from the sacred bench of
justice, pronounced by one of the first intellects in America! 'There is
nothing else which can operate to produce the effect; the power of the
master must be absolute, to render the submission of the slave perfect.
[Hear, hear!] It is inherent in the relation of master and slave;' and
then he adds those never-to-be-forgotten words, 'We cannot allow the
right of the master to come under discussion in the courts of justice.
The slave must be made sensible that there is no appeal from his master,
and that his master's power is in no instance usurped; that these rights
are conferred by the laws of man, at least, if not by the law of God.'
[Loud cries of 'Shame, shame!'] This is the mode in which we are to
regard these two classes of beings, both created by the same God, and
both redeemed by the same Savior as ourselves, and destined to the same
immortality! The judgment, on appeal, was reversed; but, God be praised;
there is another appeal, and that appeal we make to the highest of all
imaginable courts, where God is the judge, where mercy is the advocate,
and where unerring truth will pronounce the decision![Protracted
cheering.] There are some who are pleased to tell us that there is an
inferiority in the race! That is untrue. [Cheers.] But we are not here
to inquire whether our black brethren will become Shakspeares or
Herschels. [Hear, hear!] I ask, are they immortal beings? [Great
applause.] Do our adversaries, say no? I ask them, then, to show me one
word in the handwriting of God which has thus levelled them with the
brute beasts. [Hear, hear!] Let us bear in mind those words of our
blessed Savior--'Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who
believe in me, it were better that a millstone were hanged about his
neck, and that he were cast into the depths of the sea.' [Loud cheers.]
Now, then, what is our duty? Is it to stand still? Yes! when we receive
the command from the same authority that said to the sun, Stand over
Gibeon! [Loud cheers.] Then, and not till then, will we stand still.
[Renewed cheers.] Are we to listen to the craven and miserable talk
about 'doing more harm than good'? [Hear, hear!] This was an argument
which would have checked every noble enterprise which has been
undertaken since the world began. It would have strangled Wilberforce,
and checked the very Exodus itself from the house of bondage in Egypt.
[Hear, hear!] Out on all such craven talk! [Cheers.] Slavery is a
mystery, and so is all sin, and we must fight against it; and, by the
blessing of God, we will. [Loud cheers.] We must pray to Almighty God,
that we and our American brethren--who seem now to be the sole
depositories of the Protestant truth, and of civil and religious
liberty, may be as one. [Cheers.] We are feeble, if hostile; but, if
united, we are the arbiters of the world. [Cheers.] Let us join together
for the temporal and spiritual good of our race."
PROFESSOR STOWE then came forward, and was received with unbounded
demonstrations of applause. When the cheering had subsided, he said "he
felt utterly exhausted by the heat and excitement of the meeting, and
should therefore be glad to be excused from saying a single word;
however, he would utter a few thoughts. The following was the resolution
which he had to submit to the meeting: 'That with a view to the
correction of public sentiment on this subject in slaveholding
communities, it is of the first importance that those who are earnest in
condemnation of slavery should observe consistency; and, therefore, that
it is their duty to encourage the development of the natural resources
of countries where slavery does not exist, and the soil of which is
adapted to the growth of products--especially of cotton--now partially
or chiefly raised by slave labor; and though the extinction of slavery
is less to be expected from a diminished demand for slave produce than
from the moral effects of a steadfast abhorrence of slavery itself, and
from an unwavering and consistent opposition to it, this meeting would
earnestly recommend, that in all cases where it is practicable, a
decided preference should be given to the products of free labor, by all
who enter their protest against slavery, so that at least they
themselves may be clear of any participation in the guilt of the system,
and be thus morally strengthened in their condemnation of it.' At the
close of the revolutionary war, all the states of America were
slaveholding states. In Massachusetts, some benevolent white man caused
a slave to try an action for wages in a court of justice. He succeeded,
and the consequence was, that slavery fell in Massachusetts. It was then
universally acknowledged that slavery was a sin and shame, and ought to
be abolished, and it was expected that it would be soon abolished in
every state of the Union. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Benjamin
Franklin would not allow the word 'slave' to occur in the constitution,
and Mr. Edwards, from the pulpit, clearly and broadly denounced slavery.
And when he (Professor Stowe) was a boy, in Massachusetts the negro
children were admitted to the same schools with the whites. Although
there was some prejudice of color then, yet it was not so strong as at
present. In 1818, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church in the
United States passed, resolutions against slavery far stronger than
those passed at the meeting this evening, and every man, north and
south, voted for them. What had caused the change? It was the
profitableness of the cotton trade. It was that which had spread the
chains of slavery over the Union, and silenced the church upon the
subject. He had been asked, what right had Great Britain to interfere?
Why, Great Britain took four fifths of the cotton of America, and
therefore sustained four fifths of the slavery. That gave them a right
to interfere. [Hear, hear!] He admitted that our participation in the
guilt was not direct, but without the cotton, trade of Great Britain
slavery would have been abolished long ago, for the American
manufacturers consumed but one fifth of all the cotton grown in the
country. The conscience of the cotton growers was talked of; but had the
cotton consumer no conscience? [Cheers.] It seemed to him that the
British public had more direct access to the consumer than to the grower
of cotton." Professor Stowe then read an extract from a paper published
in Charleston, South Carolina, showing the influence of the American
cotton trade on the slavery question. "The price of cotton regulated the
price of slaves, who were now worth an average of two hundred pounds. A
cotton plantation required in some cases two hundred, and in others four
hundred slaves. This would give an idea of the capital needed. With free
labor there was none of this outlay--there was none of those losses by
the cholera, and the 'underground railroad,' to which the slave owners
were subjected. [Hear, hear!] The Chinese had come over in large
numbers, and could be hired for small wages, on which they managed to
live well in their way. If people would encourage free-grown cotton,
that would be the strongest appeal they could make to the slaveholder.
There were three ways of abolishing slavery. First, by a bloody
revolution, which few would approve. [Hear, hear!] Secondly, by
persuading slaveholders of the wrong they commit; but this would have
little effect so long as they bought their cotton. [Hear, hear!] And the
third and most feasible way was, by making slave labor unprofitable, as
compared with free labor. [Hear!] When the Chinese first began to
emigrate to California, it was predicted that slavery would be 'run out'
that way. He hoped it might be so. [Cheers.] The reverend gentleman then
reverted to his previous visit to this country, seventeen years ago, and
described the rapid strides which had been made in the work of
education--especially the education of the poor--in the interval. It was
most gratifying to him, and more easily seen by him than it would be by
us, with whom the change had been gradual. He had been told in America
that the English abolitionists were prompted by jealousy of America, but
he had found that to be false. The Christian feeling which had dictated
efforts on behalf of ragged schools and factory children, and the
welfare of the poor and distressed of every kind, had caused the same
Christian hearts to throb for the American slave. It was that Christian
philanthropy which received all men as brethren--children of the same
father, and therefore he had great hopes of success. [Cheers.]"
* * * * *
My remarks on the cotton business of Britain were made with entire
sincerity, and a single-hearted desire to promote the antislavery cause.
They are sentiments which I had long entertained, and which I had taken
every opportunity to express with the utmost freedom from the time of my
first landing in Liverpool, the great cotton mart of England, and where,
if any where, they might be supposed capable of giving offence; yet no
exception was taken to them, so far as I know, till delivered in Exeter
Hall. There they were heard by some with surprise, and by others with
extreme displeasure. I was even called _proslavery_, and ranked with
Mrs. Julia Tyler, for frankly speaking the truth, under circumstances of
great temptation to ignore it.
Still I have the satisfaction of knowing that both my views and my
motives were rightly understood and properly appreciated by
large-hearted and clear-headed philanthropists, like the Earl of
Shaftesbury and Joseph Sturge, and very fairly represented and commented
upon by such religious and secular papers as the Christian Times, the
British Banner, the London Daily News and Chronicle; and even the
_thundering political_ Times seemed disposed, in a half-sarcastic way,
to admit that I was more than half right.
But it is most satisfactory of all to know that the best of the British
abolitionists are now acting, promptly and efficiently, in accordance
with those views, and are determined to develop the resources of the
British empire for the production of cotton by free labor. The thing is
practicable, and not of very difficult accomplishment. It is furthermore
absolutely essential to the success of the antislavery cause; for now
the great practical leading argument for slavery is, _Without slavery
you can have no cotton, and cotton you must and will have_. The latest
work that I have read in defence of slavery (Uncle Tom in Paris,
Baltimore, 1854) says, (pp. 56-7,) "_Of the cotton which supplies the
wants of the civilized world, the south produces 86 per cent.; and
without slave labor experience has shown that the cotton plant cannot be
cultivated_."
How the matter is viewed by sagacious and practical minds in Britain, is
clear from the following sentences, taken from the National Era:--
"COTTON is KING.--Charles Dickens, in a late number of his Household
Words, after enumerating the striking facts of cotton, says,--
"'Let any social or physical convulsion visit the United States, and
England would feel the shock from Land's End to John o'Groat's. The
lives of nearly two millions of our countrymen are dependent upon the
cotton crops of America; their destiny may be said, without any sort of
hyperbole, to hang upon a thread.
"'Should any dire calamity befall the land of cotton, a thousand of our
merchant ships would rot idly in dock; ten thousand mills must stop
their busy looms, and two million mouths would starve for lack of food
to feed them.'
"How many non-slaveholders elsewhere are thus interested in the products
of slaves? Is it not worthy the attention of genuine philanthropists to
inquire whether cotton cannot be profitably cultivated by free labor?"