Part 3

_A._ The enemies of the cause have tried very hard to get up a “raw-head and bloody-bones” story; but even if you take their own accounts, you will find that they have not been able to adduce any instances of violence in support of their assertions. The real facts are these: The measure was not carried in a manner entirely satisfactory to the English abolitionists. Their knowledge of human nature, combined with the practical evidence afforded by history, led them to conclude that immediate and unqualified emancipation was _safest_ for the master, as well as just to the slave; but the planters raised such a hue and cry concerning bloodshed and insurrection, that the British government determined to conciliate them by a gradual abolition of slavery. It was ordained that the slaves should work six years longer without wages, under the name of _apprentices_; but no punishment could be inflicted without the special order of magistrates. The colonies had a right to dispense with the apprenticeship system if they pleased; but out of the seventeen West India colonies, Antigua and Bermuda were the only ones that chose to do so. The act of Parliament provided that each apprentice should work for his master _forty and a half_ hours a week, and have the rest of the time to himself. The masters were not satisfied with this; and they tried, by a series of petty vexations, to coerce the apprentices into individual contracts to work _fifty_ hours in a week. While the people had been slaves, they were always allowed _cooks_ to prepare their meals, a person to bring _water_ to the gang during the hot hours, and _nurses_ to tend the little children while their mothers were at work in the field; but because the Abolition Act did not expressly provide that these privileges should be continued, the masters saw fit to take them away. Each apprentice was obliged to quit his or her work, and go, sometimes a great distance, to the cabin to cook his meals, instead of having it served up in the field; and the time taken up in this operation was to be made up out of the apprentices’ own time. No water was allowed to be brought to quench their thirst; the aged and infirm, instead of being left, as formerly, to superintend the children under the shade, were ordered out into the burning fields; and mothers were obliged to toil at the hoe with their infants strapped at their backs. In addition to all these annoyances, the planters obtained a new proclamation from the governor, by which they were authorized to require extra labor of the apprentices in times of emergency, or _whenever they should deem it necessary_, in the cultivation, gathering, or manufacture of the crop, provided they repaid them an equal time at _a convenient season of the year_. This was very much like taking from a New England laborer the month of July, and paying it back to him in January. The negroes had behaved extremely well when emancipation was first proclaimed, and universally showed a disposition to be orderly, submissive, and thankful; but this system of privation and injustice soon created discontent. They knew that they were to receive no wages, however industrious they might be; and they were well aware that their masters no longer had a right to flog them. A bad stimulus to labor had been removed, without supplying a good one in its place. In three of the colonies, the apprentices refused to work on the terms required by their masters. In Jamaica, a very small military force was sent into one parish, and only on one occasion; but no violence was offered on either side; for the apprentices confined themselves to _passive resistance_—merely refusing to work on the required terms. In St. Christophers, difficulties of a similar kind occurred; but no outrage of any kind was committed. In one fortnight all the trouble was at an end; and out of twenty thousand apprentices, only thirty were found to be absent from their work; and some of these were supposed to be dead in the woods. In Demarara, the principal difficulty occurred. The laborers assembled together, and marched round with a flag staff; but the _worst_ thing they did was to beat a constable with their fists. _It is a solemn fact that a few fisty cuffs with a constable are the only violence to persons or property, that has been attempted by the eight hundred thousand slaves emancipated in the British Colonies!_

Even the difficulties above enumerated (slight as they were, and unworthy to be named in connexion with such a great moral change) were but temporary. The governor of Jamaica, after five months’ trial of emancipation, declares, in his address to the Assembly, “Not the slightest idea of any interruption of tranquillity exists in any quarter; and those preparations which I have felt it my duty to make, might, without the slightest danger, have been dispensed with.” By recent news, we learn that the planters finding the system of coercion was likely to be ruinous to their own interest, offered the apprentices 2_s._ 6_d._ per day for extra work. The enemies of abolition prophesied that nothing would induce the negroes to work more than they were actually compelled to by law, and that the crops would perish for want of gathering. But the result proved otherwise. As soon as _wages_ were offered, they came forward eagerly, and offered to do more work than the planters were willing to pay for. We have the testimony of one of their magistrates, that as soon as this system was tried, “their apparent indifference was every where thrown off, and their work carried on in a steady, persevering, and diligent manner.”

_Q._ And how was it in Antigua and Bermuda, where they gave up the apprenticeship system, and tried immediate and unqualified emancipation?

_A._ In those colonies not the slightest difficulty, of any kind, has occurred. The Antigua journals declare, “The great doubt is solved; the highest hopes of the negroes’ friends are fulfilled. A whole people, comprising thirty thousand souls, have passed from slavery into freedom, not only without the slightest irregularity, but with the solemn and decorous tranquillity of a Sabbath.” The Christmas holidays were always seasons of alarm in the slave-colonies, and a military force was always held in readiness; but the Christmas after emancipation, the customary guard was dispensed with. Up to the present time, every thing remains perfectly tranquil in Antigua; and a negro is at the head of the police in that island. The population consists of 2,000 whites, 30,000 slaves, and 4,500 free blacks.

_Q._ Yet people are always saying that free negroes cannot take care of themselves.

_A._ It is because people are either very much prejudiced or very ignorant on the subject. In the United States, colored persons have scarcely any chance to rise. They are despised, and abused, and discouraged, at every turn. In the slave States they are subject to laws nearly as oppressive as those of the slave. They are whipped or imprisoned, if they try to learn to read or write; they are not allowed to testify in court; and there is a general disposition not to encourage them by giving them employment. In addition to this, the planters are very desirous to expel them from the State, partly because they are jealous of their influence upon the slaves, and partly because those who have slaves to let out, naturally dislike the competition of the free negroes. But if colored people are well treated, and have the same inducements to industry as other people, they work as well and behave as well. A few years ago the Pennsylvanians were very much alarmed at the representations that were made of the increase of pauperism from the ingress of free negroes. A committee was appointed to examine into the subject, and it was ascertained that the colored people not only supported their own poor, but paid a considerable additional sum towards the support of white paupers.

_Q._ I have heard people say that the slaves would not take their freedom, if it were offered to them.

_A._ I sincerely wish they would offer it. I should like to see the experiment tried. If the slaves are so well satisfied with their condition, why do they make such severe laws against running away? Why are the patroles on duty all the time to shoot every negro who does not give an account of himself as soon as they call to him? Why, notwithstanding all these pains and penalties, are their newspapers full of advertisements for runaway slaves? If the free negroes are so much worse off than those in bondage, why is it that their laws bestow freedom on any slave, “who saves his master or mistress’s life, or performs any meritorious service to the State?” That must be a very bad country where the law stipulates that _meritorious_ actions shall be rewarded by making a man more unhappy than he was before! Some months ago, I had a conversation with a woman, who went from Boston to Tuscaloosa, in Alabama. She was the wife of a Baptist clergyman, professed to be a pious woman, and was considered as such. I found her an apologist for slavery, but was not aware at the time that she actually owned slaves. She maintained that freedom was the greatest curse that could be bestowed on a slave; and when I attempted to put the case home to her conscience, she, for consistency’s sake, declared, that she should be quite as willing to die and leave her own little son in slavery, as to leave him a free laborer at the North. She said if she had a hundred slaves, she should treat them all kindly, and endeavor to make their condition comfortable. I replied, “I am willing to believe that you would do so, madam; but in case of your death, or of any pecuniary distress in the family, the poor slaves would be divided among heirs, or seized by creditors; and then who can tell into whose hands they may fall? The condition of the slave depends on the character of the master; and that is entirely a matter of _accident_”. The pious woman rejoined, “Oh, I should take care of that. If they were good, faithful servants, they would find at my death that papers of manumission had been duly prepared.” “But you told me that freedom was the greatest curse that could be bestowed upon a slave,” replied I: “Now is it possible, madam, that you would leave, as your dying legacy to good and faithful servants, the greatest curse you could bestow?”

_Q._ Do you suppose they really believe what they say, when they declare that slaves are happier than freemen?

_A._ I leave your own republican good sense to determine that question. Governor Giles of Virginia did not take that ground in his address to the Legislature in 1827. Speaking of punishing free blacks by selling them as slaves, he says: “Slavery must be admitted to be a punishment of the highest order; and according to every just rule for the apportionment of punishment to crimes, it would seem that _it ought to be applied only to crime of the highest order_!”

But even if it were true that the slaves were as happy and contented as slave-holders try to represent them—what would it prove? It would merely prove that they had fearfully brutalized immortal souls before they _could_ be happy in such a situation. Edmund Burke said very truly, “If you have made a _happy slave_, you have made a _degraded man_.”

_Q._ But how is it that some people, who really do not intend to make false representations, bring back such favorable accounts of slavery, after they have visited at the South?

_A._ It is because they go among rich, hospitable planters, and see favorite household slaves. Of the poor wretches on the plantations, subject to the tender mercies of an overseer, they know as little, as the guests of a Russian nobleman know of the miserable condition of his serfs. Their sympathies all go with the master. They ask questions of the master, and not of the slave. Even if they tried to talk with the latter, the poor creatures would be afraid to speak freely, lest any expressions of discontent might be reported to the master, or the overseer. I should like to have you hear them talk as I have heard runaway slaves talk, when they knew they had a friend to listen to them!

_Q._ But do you think the suitable time has yet come to exert ourselves on this subject?

_A._ I will answer, as a similar question was lately answered by a lady who had been brought up in the midst of slavery: “If thou were a slave, toiling in the fields of Carolina, I apprehend thou wouldst think the time had _fully_ come.” This explains the whole difficulty. We do not put ourselves in the condition of the slave, and imagine what would be our feelings if we were in _his_ circumstances. We do not obey the Scripture injunction, “remember those that are in bonds, _as bound with them_.”

But if we look at this question merely with a view to expediency, without reference to justice or mercy, when can we hope that a time will come _more_ propitious to the discussion of this subject? The fact is, difficulties and dangers increase every day. In South Carolina and Louisiana, the blacks are already a majority. The annual increase of the _slaves_, without including the free blacks, in the United States, is now 62,000 annually. It is a fact worthy of consideration, that the licentiousness of the white man increases the colored race; but the vices of colored men or women can never increase the white race; for the children of such connections are of course not white.—These people are increasing in the midst of us in startling ratio. If we pursue a kind and Christian course, we can identify their interests with the rest of the community, and make them our friends; but if we persevere in the course we have pursued, their feelings and interests _must_ be all in opposition to ours, and there is great reason to fear the consequences.

_Q._ Don’t you think the Colonization Society is doing some good?

_A._ Those who have examined into the subject, have so universally come to the conclusion that Colonization is entirely ineffectual for the abolition of slavery at any time, however remote, that it seems hardly worth while to waste words on that subject. I do not pretend to impeach the motives of benevolent individuals, who have been engaged in it; but there is no doubt that its _practical tendency_ is to perpetuate slavery. John Randolph, and other slave-holders, have advocated that Society, upon the avowed ground that by sending off an inconvenient surplus it would increase the price of the slaves left. In the new slave States, where they have not as yet an “inconvenient surplus” of slaves, they don’t like the Colonization Society; but the old slave States have been its warmest friends. There is one brief objection to the idea of abolishing slavery by Colonization: _it is impossible_. Even if it were desirable to remove these valuable laborers from our soil, it could not be done, if the whole Treasury and Navy of the United States were devoted to it. The Colonization Society has been in operation about nineteen years; they have had immense funds; and they have transported to Africa, during that time, about three thousand colored persons, of which _not one thousand_ were manumitted slaves. Now the annual _increase_ of the slaves alone is 62,000; and the annual increase of the free blacks is about 10,000. _In nineteen years the Colonizationists have not been able to carry off one sixtieth part of the increase of the slaves in one year!_ This is worse than the old story of the frog, who jumped out of the well two feet every night, and fell back three feet every morning. But even if the colored people _could_ be all carried out of the country, what is the South to do for laborers? They have been in the habit of excusing themselves, by saying that white men cannot work in their climate, and by taking it for granted that black men will not work for wages. If the climate is unsuitable for white laborers, it is manifestly very impolitic to send off the black ones. It would be far wiser to try the experiment they have tried in Bermuda and Antigua. Labor is needed in all parts of our country; and it is worse than a childish game to be sending off ship-loads of laborers to Africa, while we are bringing in ship-loads from Ireland, Holland, and Switzerland.

_Q._ I have heard some people say they gave their money to the Colonization Society merely as a missionary establishment.

_A._ It would be well for those people to examine into the matter, and first ascertain whether it _is_ a missionary establishment. When we send missions to India, the Sandwich Islands, &c., we send men believed to be pious and enlightened. For the probable influence of the emigrants carried out by the Colonization Society, let the Society answer for itself. They assure us that the colored persons colonized from the United States will “carry religion and the arts into the heart of Africa.” Yet Mr. Clay, Vice President of the Society, says, “Of all classes of our population the most vicious is that of the free colored—contaminated themselves, they extend their vices to all around them.” And the African Repository, which is the organ of the Society, declares that “they are notoriously ignorant—a curse and a contagion wherever they reside.” Now, are not these admirable missionaries to send out to christianize Africa? It would be wise to put them under better and more encouraging influences at home, before we attempt to send them to enlighten heathen lands.

_Q._ Some say that these people are naturally inferior to us; and that the shape of their skulls proves it.

_A._ If I believed that the colored people were naturally inferior to the whites, I should say that was an additional reason why we ought to protect, instruct, and encourage them. No consistent republican will say that a strong-minded man has a right to oppress those less gifted than himself. Slave-holders do not seem to think the negroes are so stupid as not to acquire knowledge, and make use of it, if they could get a chance. If they do think so, why do their laws impose such heavy penalties on all who attempt to give them any education? Nobody thinks it necessary to forbid the promulgation of knowledge among monkeys. If you believe the colored race are naturally inferior, I wish you would read the history of Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Washington of St. Domingo. Though perfectly black, he was unquestionably one of the greatest and best men of his age. I wish you would hear Mr. Williams of New York, and Mr. Douglass of Philadelphia preach a few times, before you hastily decide concerning the capacity of the colored race for intellectual improvement. As for the shape of their skulls, I shall be well satisfied if our Southern brethren will emancipate all the slaves who have _not_ what is called the “African conformation.”

_Q._ What do you think about property in slaves?

_A._ Let me reply to that question by asking others. If you were taken by an Algerine pirate, and an Arab bought you, and paid honestly for you, should you ever consider yourself the _property_ of the Arab? Should you think your fellow-citizens ought so to consider you? Can what is stolen in the beginning, be honest property in the transmission? If you and your children had toiled hard for years, and received only a peck of corn a week for your services, should you not think that some compensation was due to _you_?

_Q._ These are hard questions; and I find it is hard to answer a good many things, when we once get into the habit of imagining how we should think and feel if we ourselves were the slaves. But what have the North to do on this subject?

_A._ They cannot help having a great deal to do with it, either for good or for evil. They are citizens of this republic; and as such cannot but feel a painful interest in a subject which makes their beloved country an object of derision to the civilized world. If the slaves should make any attempt to gain their freedom, we are bound to go with an armed force and rivet their chains. If a slave escapes from his master unto us, we are bound to deliver him up to the lash. The people of Pennsylvania, living so near the slave States, have a great many of these painful scenes to encounter. A few months ago, an industrious and pious colored man in Philadelphia was torn from his home at midnight, and beaten in such a degree that the snow for some distance was stained with his blood. His poor wife, who was devotedly attached to him, had an infant about eight or ten days old; but regardless of her situation, she plunged into the snow, and implored mercy for her husband. Her shrieks and entreaties were of no avail. The citizens of Philadelphia could not help her, because the free States are bound by law to give up runaway slaves. The evil might be cured by the extreme cheapness of labor, if the surplus population were not drained off to supply _new_ slave States. But in order to accommodate slave-holders in this respect, Louisiana has been bought, and Florida bought, by revenues principally raised in the free States; and now they want to purchase Texas likewise for an eternal slave market. Every time a member from the free States votes for the admission of a slave state into the Union, he helps to increase the political power, which has always been wielded for the perpetuation of this abominable system. It is high time for the free States to begin to reflect seriously, whether they ought any longer to give their money and their moral influence in support of this iniquity.

_Q._ I did not know we were obliged to give up runaway slaves to their masters. Are you sure it is so?

_A._ When masters _bring_ their slaves into the free States, or _send_ them, the slaves can legally take their freedom; but when the slaves run away, we are obliged by law to give them up, let the circumstances be what they may. Many conscientious people prefer to obey the law of God, which says, “Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which hath escaped unto thee.”

_Q._ But would you at once give so many ignorant creatures political power, by making them voters?