American Slave Trade / Or, An Account of the Manner in which the Slave Dealers take Free People from some of the United States of America, and carry them away, and sell them as Slaves in other of the States; and of the horrible Cruelties practised in the carrying on of this most infamous Traffic :: REFLECTIONS ON THE BLACK COLONY PROJECT .

REFLECTIONS ON THE BLACK COLONY PROJECT .

Since the foregoing part was composed, a highly respectable meeting, consisting of a considerable number of the Members of our National Legislature, with many benevolent and intelligent citizens of the District of Columbia, has been held in the City of Washington (on the 21st Dec. ult.) for the purpose, as expressed by the gentleman who presided as chairman, (Mr. Clay,) "of considering the propriety and practicability of colonizing the free" people "of colour in the United States, and of forming an asylum in relation to that object."

As the proceedings of this Meeting indicate a flattering prospect of the consummation of a measure, on which I had recorded my sentiments, and hope[35] of its adoption, several weeks previous to the time that the meeting was announced, it is deemed useful and appropriate to annex a sketch of their deliberations, as published in the National Intelligencer.

Extracts from the speech of Mr. Clay, (on taking the chair.)

"That class of the mixt population of our country was peculiarly situated. They neither enjoyed the immunities of freemen, nor were they subject 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 own 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 to the introduction, into that extensive quarter of the globe, of the arts, civilization, and christianity. There 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 blessing 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. contemplates the spreading of the arts of civilized life, and the possible redemption from ignorance and barbarism of a benighted quarter of the globe?

"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 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 upon that condition, only, that he had himself attended."

Extracts from the speech of Elias B. Caldwell, Esq. of the District of Columbia.

"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. No, 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. 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."

These sentiments, it will be readily perceived, clash diametrically with those which I had previously advanced in paragraph 30, on the subject of extending mental cultivation to the African race in this country. And notwithstanding I have no inclination to retract the sentiments which I have heretofore had occasion to express, concerning the practical benevolence and ardent zeal of Mr. Caldwell in the cause of religion and human happiness; yet, it is out of my power to unite with him in his opinion, of the utility of subjecting men of any colour, or any situation whatever, to "the lowest state of degradation and ignorance," and, as near as possible, "to the condition of brutes." Right education and knowledge should teach the legitimate slave fortitude, and the advantages of submission, duty, and fidelity; and should elevate the free man, of whatever colour, above the unhallowed crime of despising himself for its having been ordained this or that tint, or for its being obnoxious to those who have been created with a different colour, or with none at all. Ask Capt. Paul Cuffee, Prince Saunders, and many other well educated and worthy persons of African extraction, whether they hate themselves, or whether any body else possessing common sense, hates them, because they cannot repeal the laws of nature; or because there is a political and physical propriety in their being considered as foreigners and aliens in our country.

Mr. Caldwell, having considered the various positions in which it had been respectively proposed to establish the colony, and expressing his preference of Africa, enlarged upon the greater importance of selecting that quarter of the globe, "in the belief and hope of thereby introducing civilization and the christian religion, &c." correspondent to the sentiments of Mr. Clay. "The great movements (said he) and mighty efforts in the moral and religious world, seem to indicate some great design of Providence on the eve of accomplishment. The unexampled and astonishing success attending the various and numerous plans which have been devised and which are now in operation in different parts of the world, and the union and harmony with which christians of different denominations unite in promoting these plans, clearly indicate a Divine Hand in their direction. Nay, sir, the subject on which we are now deliberating has been brought to public view, nearly about the same time in different parts of our country. In New Jersey, New York, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, and perhaps other places not known to me, the public attention seems to have been awakened, as from slumber, to this subject."

Mr. Caldwell remarked, that "it is a great national object, and ought to be supported by the public purse. And that, as had been justly observed by the honourable gentleman in the chair, there ought to be a national atonement for the wrongs and injuries which Africa had suffered." He said that "as a nation, we cannot rid ourselves entirely from the disgrace attending the iniquitous slave traffic formerly pursued by this country, until we, as a nation, have made every reparation in our power." He observed, that the example of our own ancestors, braving the various dangers and hardships of their early emigration and settlement upon these shores; and the prospect of the enjoyment of civil rights and a state of equality, ought to encourage and influence these people to comply cheerfully with the proposed plan of colonization.

The question being stated by the Chairman, on agreeing to the preamble and resolutions offered by Mr. Caldwell, for forming an association to accomplish the object of the meeting:

"Mr. John Randolph (of Roanoke) rose and said, that it had been properly observed, by the chairman as well as by the gentleman from this district, 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.)

"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 Caroline, 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 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 shew that, so far from being connected with abolition of slavery, the measure proposed would prove one of the greatest securities, to enable the master to keep in possession his own property."

Extracts from the Speech of Mr. Wright.

"Mr. Robert Wright (of Md.) said he could not withhold his approbation of a measure that had for its object the amelioration of the lot of any portion of the human race, particularly of the free people of colour, whose degraded state robs them of the happiness of self-government, so dear to the American people. And, said he, as I discover the most delicate regard to the rights of property, I shall with great pleasure lend my aid to restore this unfortunate people to the enjoyment of their liberty; but I fear gentlemen are too sanguine in their expectation, that they would be willing to abandon the land of their nativity, so dear to man. However, I have no indisposition to give them that election by furnishing all the means contemplated by the honourable and benevolent propositions submitted to our consideration."

"Nothing would have a stronger tendency to effect the contemplated relief of the free people of colour, than some efficient laws to secure the restoration of those not entitled to liberty, to their masters, whose rights ought to be protected by law, and who, without such law, would be certainly sacrificed by the transportation of the free blacks with whom they would most certainly mix for that purpose. However, I feel no hesitation in saying, I should be happy to see some plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, that would prepare the rising generation for that state, and remunerate the master out of the funds of the nation, amply abundant for that purpose, without being felt by the people of America."

It is a strong presumptive evidence in favour of the rationality of a moral proposition, when it emanates from several sources perfectly distinct and remote from each other. The sentiments of Mr. Wright on the propriety of adopting some plan for the gradual abolition of slavery, &c. and to remunerate the master out of the funds of the nation, &c. are so perfectly analogous to those which I had adopted and recorded, (precisely as expressed in paragraphs 80 & 81,) fifteen days previous to the Meeting at Washington, that my confidence in their correctness, and hope of their favourable reception by the citizens in general of the United States, is greatly strengthened; particularly as Mr. Wright is one of the representatives of a large state in which slavery prevails, and is himself probably a possessor of slaves.

The Preamble and Resolutions having been unanimously adopted by the Meeting, committees were appointed to draught articles of association, &c.

The following are the two first articles of the Constitution:—

"Article I.—The Society shall be called 'The American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States.'
"Article II.—The object to which its attention is to be exclusively directed, is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing (with their consent) the free people of colour residing in our country, in Africa, or such other places as Congress shall deem most expedient."

In pursuance of this object, a Board of Managers have been organized; of which Bushrod Washington, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, has been appointed president. This body have submitted their views to the Congress, by a Memorial.—And as this Memorial embraces subjects which concern, more or less, every description of population in the United States, its circulation cannot, perhaps, be too widely extended.

In the House of Representatives, Jan. 14.
Read, and ordered to lie on the Table.
To the honourable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled:
The Memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the "American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Colour of the United States,"
Respectfully shews—
That your Memorialists are delegated by a numerous and highly respectable association of their fellow citizens, recently organized at the seat of government, to solicit Congress to aid, with the power, the patronage, and the resources of the country, the great and beneficial object of their institution; an object deemed worthy of the earnest attention, and of the strenuous and persevering exertions, as well of every patriot, in whatever condition of life, as of every enlightened, philanthropic, and practical statesman.
It is now reduced to be a maxim, equally approved in philosophy and politics, that the existence of distinct and separate casts or classes, forming exceptions to the general system of polity adapted to the community, is an inherent vice in the composition of society; pregnant with baneful consequences, both moral and political, and demanding the utmost exertions of human energy and foresight to remedy or remove it. If this maxim be true in the general, it applies with peculiar force to the relative condition of the free people of colour in the United States; between whom and the rest of the community, a combination of causes, political, physical and moral, has created distinctions, unavoidable in their origin, and most unfortunate in their consequences. The actual and prospective condition of that class of people; their anomalous and indefinite relations to the political institutions and social ties of the community; their deprivation of most of those independent, political, and social rights, so indispensable to the progressive melioration of our nature, rendered, by systematic exclusion from all the higher rewards of excellence, dead to all the elevating hopes that might prompt a generous ambition to excel; all these considerations demonstrate, that it equally imports the public good, as the individual and social happiness of the persons more immediately concerned, that it is equally a debt of patriotism and of humanity, to provide some adequate and effectual remedy. The evil has become so apparent, and the necessity for a remedy so palpable, that some of the most considerable of the slave-holding states have been induced to impose restraints upon the practice of emancipation, by annexing conditions, which have the effect to transfer the evil from one state to another; or, by inducing other states to adopt countervailing regulations, and in the total abrogation of a right, which benevolent or conscientious proprietors had long enjoyed under all the sanctions of positive law and of ancient usage. Your Memorialists beg leave, with all deference, to suggest, that the fairest and most inviting opportunities are now presented to the general government, for repairing a great evil in our social and political institutions, and at the same time for elevating, from a low and hopeless condition, a numerous and rapidly increasing race of men, who want nothing but a proper theatre, to enter upon the pursuit of happiness and independence, in the ordinary paths which a benign Providence has left open to the human race. Those great ends, it is conceived, may be accomplished by making adequate provision for planting, in some salubrious and fertile region, a colony, to be composed of such of the above description of persons as may choose to emigrate; and for extending to it the authority and protection of the United States, until it shall have attained sufficient strength and consistency to be left in a state of independence.
Independently of the motives derived from political foresight and civil prudence on the one hand, and from moral justice and philanthropy on the other; there are additional considerations, and more expanded views to engage the sympathies and excite the ardour of a liberal and enlightened people. It may be resolved for our government (the first to denounce an inhuman and abominable traffic, in the guilt and disgrace of which most of the civilized nations of the world were partakers) to become the honourable instrument, under Divine Providence, of conferring a still higher blessing upon the large and interesting portion of mankind, benefited by that deed of justice; by demonstrating that a race of men, composing numerous tribes, spread over a continent of vast and unexplored extent, fertility and riches; known to the enlightened nations of antiquity; and who had yet made no progress in the refinements of civilization; for whom history has preserved no monuments of arts or arms; that even this hitherto ill-fated face may cherish the hope of beholding, at last, the orient star revealing the best and highest aims and attributes of man. Out of such materials, to rear the glorious edifices of well ordered and polished society, upon the deep and sure foundations of equal laws and diffusive education, would give a sufficient title to be enrolled among the illustrious benefactors of mankind; whilst it afforded a precious and consolatory evidence of the all-prevailing power of liberty, enlightened by knowledge and corrected by religion. If the experiment, in its remote consequences, should ultimately tend to the diffusion of similar blessings through those vast regions and unnumbered tribes yet obscured in primeval darkness; reclaim the rude wanderer, from a life of wretchedness, to civilization and humanity; and convert the blind idolater, from gross and abject superstitions, to the holy charities, the sublime morality and humanizing discipline of the gospel; the nation, or the individual, that shall have taken the most conspicuous lead in achieving the benignant enterprise, will have raised a monument of that true and imperishable glory, founded in the approbation and gratitude of the human race; unapproachable to all but the elected instruments of divine beneficence: a glory with which the most splendid achievements of human force or power must sink in the competition, and appear insignificant and vulgar in the comparison. And above all, should it be considered, that the nation or the individual, whose energies have been faithfully given to this august work, will have secured, by this exalted beneficence the favour of that Being, "whose compassion is over all his works," and whose unspeakable rewards will never fail to bless the humblest effort to do good to his creatures.
Your Memorialists do not presume to determine that the views of Congress will be necessarily directed to the country to which they have just alluded. They hope to be excused for intimating some of the reasons which would bring that portion of the world before us, when engaged in discovering a place the most proper to be selected, leaving it with confidence, to the better information and better judgment of your honourable body to make the choice.
Your Memorialists, without presuming to mark out, in detail, the measures which it may be proper to adopt in furtherance of the object in view; but implicitly relying upon the wisdom of Congress to devise the most effectual measures; will only pray, that the subject may be recommended to their serious consideration, and that, as an humble auxiliary in this great work, the Association, represented by your Memorialists, may be permitted to aspire to the hope of contributing its labours and resources.
Bush. Washington, President.

With respect to the most eligible situation for the establishment of the proposed colony, I shall probably more certainly avoid the imputation of unbecoming assurance, by omitting, for the present, to add any thing more specific to what I had already expressed (Par. 38, 39, 40) before the least intimation of the design of forming this Association had come to my knowledge.

I cannot forbear, however, to remark, that although it would give me inexpressible pleasure to see the banners of knowledge and rational religion triumphing over ignorance and superstition, in Africa, as well as in the many other vast regions of the earth, yet it impresses me that it will absorb all the benevolence, all the delegated authority, and all the resources, for a century to come, of both our national and state legislatures, to reclaim from the awful abyss of ignorance, vice, and consequential misery, in which thousands and hundreds of thousands of human beings, of all colours and all extractions, are involved on our own continent:—That moral contamination on this continent cannot produce religion and moral purification by a transfer to the continent of Africa:—And that the great moral debt which this continent has incurred, is due more specifically to the immense population of the sons of Africa, who still remain in the shackles of slavery, than to those who are now enjoying personal liberty, or to the continent of Africa.

I have been assured by citizens of Philadelphia, who were active in aiding Capt. Cuffee in collecting emigrants for Sierra Leone, that the injunctions of the British authorities were very positive not to admit any without testimonials of an irreproachable moral character from respectable magistrates. After a proper system of African education has become matured in this country, the seeds of much future good might be gradually disseminated in Africa, by frequent exportations to that country of well instructed virtuous school-masters, artisans and farmers; as the Society of Friends have done, with encouraging prospects of success, amongst the aboriginal natives of this country.

I will conclude for the present, with a transcript of the Proceedings of a Meeting of the free Coloured People at Richmond, (Virg.) which have come to hand (through the "Freeman's Journal,") just in time for insertion, before this Work is dismissed from the press.—They are similar to those of a similar Meeting at Georgetown several weeks ago.

Richmond, Jan. 28.
Meeting of Free People of Colour.
At a Meeting of a respectable portion of the Free People of Colour, of the City of Richmond, on
Friday the 24th of January 1817, William Bowler was appointed Chairman, Ephraim Speed, Moderator, and Lantey Crow, Secretary.

The following Preamble and Resolution was read, unanimously adopted, and ordered to be printed:

Whereas a Society has been formed at the seat of Government, for the purpose of "colonizing (with their own consent) the Free People of Colour of the United States;" Therefore, we the Free People of Colour of the city of Richmond, have thought it adviseable to assemble together, under the sanction of authority, for the purpose of making a public expression of our sentiments on a question in which we are so deeply interested. We perfectly agree with the Society, that it is not only proper, but would ultimately tend to the benefit and advantage of a great portion of our suffering fellow-creatures, to be colonized: but while we thus express our entire approbation of a measure, laudable in its purposes and beneficent in its designs, it may not be improper in us to say, we prefer being colonized in the most remote corner of the land of our nativity, to being exiled to a foreign country.[36]
And whereas the President and Board of Managers of the said Society, have been pleased to leave it to the entire discretion of Congress to provide a suitable place for carrying their laudable intentions into effect;—Be it therefore resolved, That we respectfully submit to the wisdom of Congress, whether it would not be an act of charity to grant us a small portion of their territory, either on the Missouri river, or any place that may seem to them most conducive to the public good, and our future welfare: subject, however, to such rules and regulations as the Government of the United States may think proper to adopt.
W. Bowler, Chairman.
Ephraim Speed, Moderator.
Lantey Crow, Secretary.

The following article from the New York Columbian, may, perhaps, throw a little additional light on this subject:—

"Necessity of a Colony of Free Blacks—superseded.
We gave an abstract of the Constitution of Hayti some weeks ago; and out of compassion, &c. we again publish the 44th clause, which shows a land of promise nearer our doors than Sierra Leone.
"44. Every African, Indian, and their descendants, born in the colonies of foreign countries, who shall come to reside in the Republic, shall be recognized as Haytians, but shall not enjoy the rights of citizenship until after a year's residence."
The same constitution that excludes the white man, invites the black; and, gentlemen from Port au Prince have assured us, that President Petion gives a marked welcome to the Free Blacks from the United States who settle in Hayti."

THE END.

Printed by C. Clement.

[1] The liberty of the black population in but a single state, is estimated at about thirty millions of dollars.

[2] Governor Miller's message to the legislature of North Carolina in 1815.

[3] The Capitol at Washington.

[4] "Political subordination, however hateful to a liberal mind, is as bright as day when compared with the dark and hopeless bondage of the Negro."

[5] Since writing the above, I have been favoured with the perusal of a letter from the brother of the late Governor of the State of Delaware, to his friend in Philadelphia, dated Lewes, November 27, 1816, in which, after mentioning the arrest of a banditti of kidnappers, &c. he relates the following narrative:—

"A melancholy catastrophe has recently occurred here. A pilot, who owned a young black man, last Thursday morning, when in the bay off here, for some small offence, struck him three or four times with a rope's end; his man observed, 'Master, you have promised whenever I am unwilling to serve you, that I might choose another master; I now want to leave you.'

'Very well, (replied the master) but I will settle with you first, pull off your shirt,' and signified or said he would beat him until sun-set. His man replied, 'I will die first,' and immediately jumped overboard and drowned himself."

[6] The aboriginal Americans have offered their civilized brethren a most beautiful and instructive lesson on this subject. The author of "The Star in the West," Elias Boudinot, LL. D. relates the following fact. From page 232:—

"The writer of these sheets, many years ago, was one of the corresponding members of a society in Scotland for promoting the gospel among the Indians. To further the great work, they educated two young men, of very serious and religious dispositions, and who were desirous of undertaking the mission for this purpose. When they were ordained and ready to depart, we wrote a letter in the Indian style, to the Delaware nation, then residing on the northwest of the Ohio, informing them that we had, by the goodness of the Great Spirit, been favoured with a knowledge of his will, as to the worship he required of his creatures, and the means he would bless to promote the happiness of men, both in this life and that which is to come. That thus enjoying so much happiness ourselves, we could not but think of our red brethren in the wilderness, and wish to communicate the glad tidings to them, that they might be partakers with us. We had therefore sent them two ministers of the gospel, who would teach them these great things, and earnestly recommended them to their careful attention. With proper passports the missionaries set off, and arrived in safety at one of their principal towns.

"The chiefs of the nation were called together, who answered them, that they would take it into consideration, but in the mean time they might instruct their women, but they should not speak to the men. They spent fourteen days in council, and then dismissed them very courteously, with an answer to us. This answer made great acknowledgments for the favor we had done them: They rejoiced exceedingly at our happiness in thus being favored by the Great Spirit, and felt very grateful that we had condescended to remember our red brethren in the wilderness: But they could not help recollecting that we had a people among us, who, because they differed from us in colour, we had made slaves of, and made them suffer great hardships and lead miserable lives. Now, they could not see any reason, if a people being black, entitled us thus to deal with them, why a red colour should not equally justify the same treatment: They therefore had determined to wait, to see whether all the black people amongst us were made thus happy and joyful, before they could put confidence in our promises; for they thought a people who had suffered so much and so long by our means, should be entitled to our first attention; that therefore, they had sent back the two missionaries, with many thanks, promising that when they saw the black people among us restored to freedom and happiness, they would gladly receive our missionaries. This is what in any other case, would be called close reasoning, and is too mortifying a fact to make further observations upon."

[7] An inn-keeper, in the south part of Virginia, who hires his stand, complains that his landlord does him much harm, by inviting nearly all his respectable company to the festivities of his own dwelling house.

[8] The ingenious and benevolent Mr. J. M'Leod, teacher of a respectable seminary in the city of Washington, has assured the author, that he has extended the science of encouraging promptitude in duty to such a degree, that, (by his permission) his pupils have often flocked to his lodgings, in crowds, before the dawn of day, emulating each other, who should first rouse him from his bed, in order to proceed upon their studies. At the same time, he did not permit his rules to be violated with impunity. He pursued the same policy with soldiers, while an officer a short time formerly, in the United States' army, and with the same success. While a private teacher in a family in which slaves were kept, his sympathy was so deeply wounded by the severity of their punishments for misconduct, that he frequently gave them a quarter of a dollar out of his own pocket, as an inducement for doing their duty so as not to incur the displeasure of their masters. Might not such a system of genuine and generous republican government as this be adopted with mutual benefit to both the people and their rulers, on the slave plantations universally?

[9] "Give me an uninformed brute," said Mirabeau, "and I will soon make him a ferocious monster. It was a white, who first plunged a negro into a burning oven,—who dashed out the brains of a child in the presence of its father,—who fed a slave with his own proper flesh. These are the monsters that have to account for the barbarity of the revolted savages. Millions of Africans have perished on this soil of blood. In this dreadful struggle the crimes of the whites are yet the most horrible:—They are the offspring of despotism; whilst those of the blacks originate in the hatred of slavery—the thirst of vengeance."

[10] Several letters have been addressed to the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, by individuals residing in the southern and south-western states, expressing their desire to emancipate their slaves, and requesting the Society to receive them under its patronage.

In a letter from Dr. John Adams, to the Society, dated Richmond Hill, Dec. 19, 1815, he states that, "A certain Samuel Guest, deceased, had, by his will, directed that his slaves, amounting to about 300, should be emancipated, and his lands sold for their benefit; which, being prohibited by law, unless they should be removed out of the boundaries of the commonwealth of Virginia, he requests the aid of the Society, and recommends their transportation to Guinea."

The committee of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, to whom this letter was referred, reported, "that it did not appear that the convention could, at present, propose any specific plan for accomplishing the benevolent intention of Samuel Guest." This is really a distressing case. If there exists any where, the power of affording a remedy in such instances as this, the omission of exercising it is, in effect, an act of converting freemen into slaves! This subject demands the serious attention of the government, and of every citizen, who, like Howard, the model of beneficence, is "a patriot of every clime."

Since the original of the preceding note was written, the following statement has been published in the National Intelligencer:—

"The legislature of Indiana are now actively engaged in the organization of the details of the state government. Much debate has taken place on a petition or letter from W. E. Sumner, of Williamson county, (Tennessee,) requesting that the legislature may enable him to bring into the state a number of slaves, with the view which he expresses in the following words:

"I have about 40, and my intention is, if permitted by the laws of Indiana, to bring and free them, to purchase land for them and settle them on it; to give them provisions for the first year, and furnish them with tools for agriculture and domestic manufactory, and next spring with domestic animals. You must be aware, sir, that this must be attended with no small expenditure of money and trouble. I think, that after a man has had the use of slaves and their ancestors, twenty or thirty years, it is unjust and inhuman to set them free, unprovided with a home, &c. &c. All that I have were raised by my father and myself, and the oldest is about my age (46.) I am also very desirous to leave the slave states, and spend my few remaining days in that state where involuntary slavery is not admissible; and will, with the blessing of God, prepare to do so as soon as I can settle my affairs."

"The mode in which this letter should be treated is the subject of the debate. It appears to be agreed that the constitution of the state forbids a compliance with his request."

The writer has been assured that this conscientious, just, and generous individual is one among the number of those who made similar propositions to the above, to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and with the like disappointment.

[11] A few days subsequent to the time that the above suggestions were originally committed to paper, the House of Delegates of the Virginia Legislature, passed the following resolution, by an almost unanimous vote; "That the Executive be requested to correspond with the President of the United States, for the purpose of obtaining a Territory upon the North Pacific, or at some other place, not within any of the states, or the territorial governments of the United States, to serve as an asylum for such persons of colour, as are now free, and may desire the same, and for those who may be hereafter emancipated within this commonwealth, &c." If the present system of restrictions upon emancipation should be persevered in, for an indefinite length of time, the necessary final result must be frightful to contemplate. If a state, containing soil sufficient to subsist only 1,000,000 of slaves, besides the free population, provides no outlet, for the excess of that number, by permitting their emancipation or otherwise, starvation must be the consequence!

[12] On first hearing this epithet used, I was at a loss to account for its meaning. I have since observed that, in the middle states, the general title applied to slave-traders, indiscriminately, is "Georgia-men."

[13] Would it be superstitious to presume, that the sovereign Father of all nations, permitted the perpetration of this apparently execrable transaction, as a fiery, though salutary signal of his displeasure at the conduct of his Columbian children, in erecting and idolizing this splendid fabric as the temple of freedom, and at the same time oppressing with the yoke of captivity and toilsome bondage, twelve or fifteen hundred thousand of their African brethren (by logical induction,) making merchandize of their blood, and dragging their bodies with iron chains, even under its towering walls? Yet is it a fact, that slaves are employed in rebuilding this sanctuary of liberty.

[14] It is a notorious and afflicting truth, that in the United States, the head of a poor black man has been cut off with impunity, by a white man (or master;) that black men have been wantonly shot by white men; and that a free black man (whom I have seen myself) was hoppled, and being unsuccessfully offered for sale as a slave, was bound to a post in the winter, and left without food until his feet were frozen, where he would probably have perished, had he not extricated himself by his own struggles.

[15] This statement was furnished by a respectable citizen, who was one of the first that found the dead body, near his own house.

N.B. Nothing can more strongly indicate the true state of the case than this disguising of names. The Author dared put his name; but he was in Pennsylvania: he would, probably have exposed his Maryland-informant to death by naming him. W. C.

[16] It is a frequent custom in the district of Columbia, Maryland, and Delaware, for masters to endeavour to reform their bad slaves, by terrifying them with threats of selling them for the Georgia market, or "to Carolina" them; which is often carried into effect. There are, notwithstanding, several individuals, so conscientiously opposed to selling men against their will, that the most unpardonable conduct will not induce men to do it; and they prefer rejecting them, and letting them keep all the wages they can get for their own use.

[17] One of the members of the house of representatives (Mr. Adgate,) related to me, while at Washington, the following fact:—"That during the last session of congress, (1815-16,) as several members were standing in the street, near the new capitol, a drove of manacled coloured people were passing by; and when just opposite, one of them elevating his manacles as high as he could reach, commenced singing the favorite national song, "Hail Columbia! happy land," &c.

N.B. This is an excessively stupid song, written more than 20 years ago by one Hopkinson, a lawyer of Philadelphia, who seems to have been born to be an ornament of Grub-Street. But, however silly the thoughts or inflated the expressions, down it goes if national vanity or party strife lay hold of it. "Hail Columbia" is much about upon a level with "God save the king;" they have both had about the same cause to keep them in vogue; but, I must confess, that the Americans, with manacles on their hands and chains round their necks, singing songs in praise of the freedom of that Country, is going a little further than our fools when they bleat and bellow and bawl out that parcel of stuff, that low bombast, which the news-papers, in their cant, call "Our great National Anthem;" an "Anthem" that talks, amongst other things, of "confounding politicks and all their knavish tricks!" Come, come: we must not pretend to laugh at the Washington Negro!—W. C.

[18] Judge Morrel, in his charge to the grand jury of Washington, at the session of the circuit court of the United States, in January 1816, for the district of Columbia, urged this subject to its attention very emphatically, as an object of remonstrance and juridical investigation. He said the frequency with which the streets of the city had been crowded with manacled captives, sometimes even on the sabbath, could not fail to shock the feelings of all humane persons; that it was repugnant to the spirit of our political institutions, and the rights of man, and he believed was calculated to impair the public morals, by familiarizing scenes of cruelty to the minds of youth.

[19] Extract from the preamble to the first act passed by the legislature of Pennsylvania, for the gradual abolition of slavery in that state:

"Sect. 2. And whereas the condition of those persons who have heretofore been denominated negro and mulatto slaves, has been attended with circumstances which not only deprived them of the common blessings that they were by nature entitled to, but has cast them into the deepest afflictions by an unnatural separation of husband and wife from each other and from their children—an injury the greatness of which can only be conceived by supposing that we were in the same unhappy case," &c.

Darwin, who may well be styled an arch connoisseur, both in physiology and morality, in his classification of human diseases, includes one which he denominates Nostalgia, and thus defines it:

"Nostalgia. An unconquerable desire of returning to one's native country, frequent in long voyages, in which the patients become so insane as to throw themselves into the sea, mistaking it for green fields and meadows. The Swiss are said to be particularly liable to this disease, and when taken into foreign service frequently desert from this cause, and especially after hearing or singing a particular tune, which was used in their village dances, in their native country; on which account their playing or singing this tune was punished with death. Zwingerus.

Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms,
And dear that hill, which lifts him to the storms.
Goldsmith." Zoonomia, Cl. III. 1. 1. 6.

The late indefatigable Rush, in his Inquiry into the Causes of the Derangement of the Human Mind, states, that the slaves imported into the West Indies from Africa, frequently become distracted when they are about to commence the toils of perpetual slavery on the plantations.

N. B. This "indefatigable Rush" was, indeed, indefatigable in puffing himself off for a friend of humanity, in which he was pretty successful too. He made his court to the Quakers, and even exceeded some of them in cunning. It was as puny a creature, in point of talent, as ever contrived to get a reputation for wisdom. Principles he had none: he wrote about every thing, and about nothing well; but, as a pretender to humanity he was consummate. Only mind how he here calls for indignation against the "West India" planters. Not a word about those of his own "free country!" What a hypocrite! He was a Doctor of Physic; and he knew well that he would have lost his best patients, those that paid best for the blood-letting, (for which he was so famous) if he had made free with the Slave-holders of his own "free-country."—W. C.

[20] To those speculators in human flesh, who purchase free people as well as slaves, without discrimination, I must now apply the title of Man-Dealers, instead of Slave Traders.

[21] While interrogating him about the manner of his being seized and bound, he gave his chains a shake, by moving his feet on the floor, and with vexation muttered, "When the devil gets 'em he'll chain them." "No, no," said I, "you shouldn't make such speeches as that, perhaps they were brought up to such things, and don't know any better." "Well but," said he, "they know what's right." I have since been assured, that several instances of black man-stealing had occurred, in which fathers, sons, brothers, and even wives and daughters, were promiscuously engaged.

[22] I was informed, on my arrival in the neighbourhood where this affair was transacted, that this person, on hearing that the mulatto man had been intercepted at Washington, said he had a bad pain on his mind, and believed he should clear out; which he had done accordingly.

[23] Thos. Clarkson states, in his History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, that "the arrival of slave ships on the coasts of Africa was the uniform signal for the immediate commencement of wars for the attainment of prisoners, for sale and exportation to America and the West Indies." In Maryland and Delaware, the same drama is now performed in miniature. The arrival of the Man-Traffickers, laden with cash, at their respective stations, near the coasts of a great American water, called justly, by Mr. Randolph, "a Mediterranean sea," or at their several inland posts, near the dividing line of Maryland and Delaware, (at some of which they have grated prisons for the purpose) is the well known signal for the professed kidnappers, like beasts of prey, to commence their nightly invasions upon the fleecy flocks; extending their ravages, (generally attended with bloodshed, and sometimes murder,) and spreading terror and consternation amongst both freemen and slaves throughout the sandy regions, from the western to the eastern shores. These "two-legged featherless animals," or human bloodhounds, when overtaken (rarely) by the messengers of law, are generally found armed with instruments of death, sometimes with pistols with latent spring daggers attached to them! Mr. Cooper, one of the representatives to congress from Delaware, assured me that he had often been afraid to send one of his servants out of his house in the evening, from the danger of their being seized by kidnappers.

While at Wilmington (Del.) I accidentally heard a black woman telling the gate-keeper of the bridge, that she had set out to go to Georgetown, (Del.) but was returning without having reached it, for fear of being caught on the road by the kidnappers.

[24] I was informed in Delaware, that her seller absconded in about ten days after the outrage was committed.

[25] The mulatto youth had been purchased in the city of Washington, and kept in it in irons several weeks, by a person who confessed his regret that he had not removed him before the suit for the recovery of his freedom had commenced; and that, if he had known it sooner, he would have taken him on to ——, (the place of his residence,) even if he had been satisfied of his being free. One Slave-Trader, to whom he had been offered, was however so conscientious, that he refused to purchase him, or the lad who was with him, (before mentioned) being confident that they were illegally enslaved.

[26] I have been assured by a gentleman of the highest respectability, that a former representative to Congress, from one of the southern states, acknowledged to him, that he held a mulatto man as a slave, having purchased him in company with slaves, who affirmed that he was free born, and had been kidnapped from one of the New England states; who was well educated, and who, he had no doubt, was born as free a man as himself, or my informant. Upon being asked, how he could bear then to retain him, he replied, that the customs of his part of the country were such, that these things are not minded much.

[27] I was informed that the mulatto man was probably destined for the New-Orleans market, not very far distant from the Gulf of Mexico, which probably embraces more personal slavery, including its neighbouring regions, than any region of equal extent on the globe.

[28] On the ensuing day, having persevered in endeavours to secure the captives, the son of this landlord (to whom I presume manacles, hand-cuffs, iron man-fetters, hopples &c. are as familiar as steel-traps and snares to the hunter of the animals which yield fur,) expressed his sympathy for the loss of the purchaser of the mulatto man, (who still remained in his chains,) should he be set at liberty. I asked him whether he considered it worse for the trader to lose a few hundred dollars in money, than for the mulatto man to be transported to a strange country, and be deprived of his liberty for life. To which he replied, after a short pause, that he did not know as there was much difference! I assured him, that if he did not, I was sorry for him. This illustrates the invincible force of morbid education and of habit.

[29] By information, derived from distinct and corresponding sources, a few days after this caravan left Washington, there is no doubt of the fact, that it contained, in addition to the slaves, a young black woman, who had been emancipated in Delaware, and was sold by the same person as an agent, that assisted in seizing and sold the black woman and child; and also a legally free mulatto man, in irons, who had been sold in the night by his employer, near Philadelphia, and who was most unmercifully beaten with a club, on the night previous to their arrival in the city, for telling a person that he was free.

[30] Additional aid was also rendered by the Abolition Society at Wilmington.

[31] It would be equally as absurd to do this, as it would to import 2,000,000 prisoners of war from Turkey or China, and make citizens of them.

[32] "It is not for us to inquire why, in the creation of mankind, the inhabitants of the several parts of the earth were distinguished by a difference in feature or complexion. It is sufficient to know, that all are the work of an Almighty Hand." [From the first section of the Preamble to the Pennsylvania act for the Abolition of Slavery, before referred to.]

[33] M'Gurran Coulon, in his "Observations on the Insurrection of the Negroes in the Island of St. Domingo," read before the National Assembly of France, attributes the troubles of that island, "above all, to the injustice of which the whites have been guilty, in refusing to let the mulattos partake of the blessings of liberty." This was evidently one of the chief proximate causes;—but the primitive radical origin of those implacable conflicts between different shades of colour, may be traced to the miserable fatal policy which permitted the production of those shades. "The white father falls a victim to the unnatural rage of his mulatto son." "In a country where it is by no means unusual for the known children of the Planter to undergo all the hardships, and the ignominy of slavery, in common with the most degraded class of mortals, is it there we are to seek for instances of filial affection?" [Inquiry into the Causes of the Insurrection of the Negroes in St. Domingo.]

[34] Recent message of the President of the United States to Congress, alluding to the red natives of America.

[35] See Parag. 40. I consider it a fortunate circumstance, and one which will protect me effectually from the imputation of plagiarism, in respect to the similarity of what I had previously written on the subject of colonization by "beneficent societies" and the national ransom of slaves (see Parag. 80 & 81) to any thing advanced at this meeting; that I had communicated the contents of the original manuscript of the preceding work to page 98, except some notes and slight alterations, to Roberts Vaux, Esq. one of the members of the common council of the city of Philadelphia, on or previous to the 8th of Dec. 1816—And the fact is made public, in this manner, with his consent and approbation.

[36] Several free persons of colour, of both sexes and all a little shaded with a yellowish tint, being employed as servants in the house in which I lodge, I inquired of two of the females, a few days ago, whether they would like to go to Africa, as it was the country of their forefathers. One of them expressed great repugnance at going there, and the other said her fathers did not come from Africa, "and (said she) if they (the Americans) did not want us, they had no need to have brought us away: after they've brought us here, and made us work hard, and disfigured the colour, I don't think it would be fair to send us back again."

Transcriber's note:

There is some inconsistency in the placing of italic and small capital markup. They are as in the original.

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