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Las diagrammas suivants iilustrant la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ADDRESS IH^Mt^ 3 SS70 t^S^ INTENDED TO BE DELIVERED IN tH» CITY HALL, HAMILTON, JEBEUARt 7, 1851, ON I '^\ THE SUBJECT OF SLAYERL ^-.U.":: :^> ;■■■■ ^ "-'■■■■ BY PAOLA BROWN, ESft J". <=y . nryj,.ec^v^-€ HAMILTON : PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 185L n '^ :s I >\« / IS '^ INTRODUCTION. The sources from which onr miseries are derived, and on which I shall comment, I shall not combine in one, but shall put them under distinct heads, and expose them in turn. In doing which, keeping truth on my side, and not departing from the strictest rules of morality, I shall endeavor to penetrate, search out, and lay open, for your inspection. If you cannot or will not profit from them, I shall have done my duty to you, my country, and my God. And as the inhuman system of Slavery is the source from which most of our miseiies proceed, I shall begin with that curse to nations which has s[)read teri'or and devastation through so many nations of antiquity, and which is raging to such a pitch at the piesent day in Spain and Portugal. It had one tug in England and France, and in the United States of America, yet the in- habitants thereof do not learn wisdom and erase it entirely from their dwellings, and from all with whom they have to do. The fact is, the labor of slaves comes so cheap to avaricious usurpers, and is, as they think, of such great utility to the country where it exists, that those who are actuated by sordid avarice only, overlook the evils which will, as sure as the Lord lives, follow after the good. In fact, they are so happy to keep in ignorance and degra- dation, and to recei\ e the homage and labor of the slaves, they forget that God rules in the armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, having his ears con- tinually open to the cries, tears, and groans of his op- pressed people ; and being a just and holy Being will, at one day, appear fully in behalf of the oppressed, and arrest the progress of the avaricious oppressors. For although the destruction of the oppressors, God may not IV. effect by the oppressed,^ et the Lord our God will bring o- ther destructions upon them ; for not unfrequently will he cause thenj to rise up one against the other, to be split and divided, and to oppress each other, and sometimes to open hostilities with sword in hand. Some may ask, what is the matter with this enlightened and happy people ? Some say it is the cause of political usurpers, tyrants, and oppressors. But has not the Lord an oppressed and suf- fering people among them ? does the Lord condescend to hear their cries, and see their tears in consequence of op- pression ? will he let the oppressors rest comfortably and nappy always ? will he not cause the very children of the oppressors to rise up against them,and oftime to put them to death ? " God works in a mysterious way, " His wonders to perform." ' I will not here speak of the destruction which the Lord brought upon Egypt, in consequence of the oppres- sion and consequent groans of the oppressed of the hun- dreds and thousands of Egyptians whom God hurled into the Red Sea for afflicting the people in their land ; of the Lord's suffering people in Sparta and Lacedemon — the land of the truly famous Lycui'gus ;— nor have I time to comment on the cause which produced the fierceness with which Lylla usurped the title and absolutely acted as Dic- tator of the Roman people ; the conspiracy of Cataline ; the conspiracy against, and murder of, Caesar in the Senate House ; the spirit with which Marc Anthony made him- self master of the Commonwealth ; his associating Octa- vius and Sevidus with himself in power ; their dividing the Provinces of Home among themselves ; their attack «ind defeat on the plains of Philippi ; the last defenders of their liberty (Brutus and Cassius) ; the tyranny of Tibe- ns, and, from him, to the final overthrow of Constantino- rle by the Turkish Sultan, Mahommed IL, A, D. 14.53 ; — say ( shall not take time to speak of the causes which pro- duced so much wretchedness and raass,acre araon2^ those pations, for I am. aware that you know too well that God is just as well s^s merciful^ t ■V. fl I shall call your attention for a moment to that Chris- tian nation, the Spaniards, while I shall leave almost un- noticed that avaricious and cruel people — the Portugese — among whom all true-hearted Christians and lovere of Jesus Christ must evidently see the judgments of God displayed. To show the judgments of God upon the Spa- niards, I shall occupy but little time, leaving plenty of room for the candid and unprejudiced to reflect. *;' All persons who are acquainted with IIi?itory, and particularly the Bible, who are not l)linded by the god of this world and are not actuated solely V)y avarice, who are able to lay aside prejudice long enough candidly and im- partially, to view things as they were, are, and probably will be, who are willing to admit that God made man to serve him alone, and that man should have no other lord . or lords but Himself, that God is the sole proprietor or Mattel' of the whole human family, and will not on any consideration admit of a colleague, being unwilling to di- vide his glory with another, and who can dispense wnth prejudice long enough to admit that we are men,not with- standing our prominent noses and wooley heads, and be- lieve that we feel for our fathers, mothers, wives, and children, as well as they do for theii's ; — I say, all who are permitted to see and believe all these v Lings, can easily recognise the judgments of God among the Spaniards. Though others may lay the cause of the fierceness with which they cut each other's throats to other circum- stances, yet those who believe that God is a. God of jus^- tice, will believe that slavery is the principal cause. While the Spaniards are running about upon the field of battle, cutting each other's throats, has not the Lord an afflicted and suffering people in the midst of them, whose cries and groans in consequence of oppression are continually pouring into the ears of the God of justice? Would they not cease to cut each other's throats if they could ? But how can they ? The very support which they draw from Government in perpetrating such enormities, does it not arise in a great degree from the wretched victims of oppression among them, and yet they ^1 VI, are calling for Peace! Ptare ! Will any pence he given unto them ? Their destruction indeed may be procr;v«Jti- nated awhile, hut can it continue long while they are oppressing the Lord's people. Mas He not the hearts of all men in His hand ? Will He suffer one part of His creatures to go on oppressing another like brutes always with impunity ? And yet those avaricious wretches are calling for peace ! I deidare, it does appear to me as thougli some nations think that God is asleep, or that He made the Africans for nothing else but to dig their mines and work their farms, or they cannot believe history, sacred or profane. I ask eveiy man who has a heart, and is blessed with the privilege of believing, is not God a God of justice to all his ci'eatures ? Do you say he is ? Then if he gives peace and tranquility to tyrants, and permits them to keep our fathers, our mothers, ourselves and our children in eternal ignorance and wretchedness, to support them and their families, would he be to us a God of justice ^ lask, ()! ye Christians, who hold us and our children in the most aViject ignorance and degra- dation that ever a poor people weie afflicted with since the world begun ; I say if God gives you peace and tran- quility, and suffers you thus to go on afflicting us and our children, who have never given you the least provocation, would he be to us a (xod of justice ? If you will allow that we are men who feel for each other, does not the blood .of our fathers, and of us their children, cry aloud to the Lord of Sabbaoth agaipst you for the cruelties and murders with which you have and do continue to afflict us. But it is time for me to close my remarks on the suburbs, just to enter more fully into the interior of this system of cruelty and oppression. r .. r I 7 \ . I. 1 lit \ <^'^•\ :.» !.j.» iK- 1 i*:' ■!:r. "u/f^^wn ''. :. w> • 'VI i; t ?^MlDliESS" ON SLAYERY. j^ Article If-Our Wretchedness in consequence of Slavery, ^ vi' My Brj.ovED BpETnltEN — Tbe Indians of North artd of Sonth Aineiica — the Greeks — the Irish subjected binder the Queen of Great Pritain — the Jews, that «noient ])e()])le of the I/)rd — the inhabitants of the Ishuids of the sea— in line, all the inhabitants of the earth, (except, however, the sons of Africa) are called men, and of courtse are and ought to be free. But we, colored people, and our children^ are brutes ! and of course are and ought to be slaves to the American people and their children, for ever ! to dig their mines and work their farms, and thus go on enriching them from one generation to another with our blood and our tears ! I promised in a preceding ]>age to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the most incredulous, that Ave coloured people of these United States of America, ai-e the most wretched, degraded, and abject set of beings that ever lived since the world began; and that the white Americans, having leduced us to the wretched state of slavery, treat us in that condition more cruel, (they beiisg an enlightened and Christian people) than any heathen nation did any people whom it had re- •JN duced to our condition. These affirmations are so well j| coniiimed in the minds of all unprejudiced men who have taken the troul>le to read history, that they need no elu- cidation from me; but to put tl em beyond all doubt, I refer you, in the first place, to the children of Jacob, or of Israel, in Kgyj)t, under Pharaoh, and his people. '! . ,• ISome of my people do not know who Pharaob and the Egyptians were. 1 know it to be a fact, that some of them take the Kgyptians to have been a ^ang of devils, not knowing any better, and that they, the Egyptians^ [ 8 ] Laving got possession of the Lord's people, treated them nearly as cruel as Christian Americans do us at the pre- sent (lay. For the information of such, I would only say, that the Egyptians were Africans or colored people, such as we are ; some of them yellow and others dark ; a mix- ture of Ethiopians and the natives of Egypt ; about the same as you see the colored people of the United States at the present day. I say, I call your attention then to the children of Jacob, while I point out particularly to you his son Joseph among the rest, in Egypt. " And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled ; only in the throne will I be greater than tnotv. — And Pharaoh said unto Joseph. I am Pharaoh, and with- out thee shall no man. lift up his hand or foot in aU the [and of Egypt." Now, I appeal to heaven and to earthy and particu- larly to the American people themselves, who cease not to declare that our condition is not hard, and that we are comparatively satisfied to rest in wretchedness and misery under them and their children ; not indeed, to shew me a coloured President, a Governor, a Legislator, a Senator, a Mayor, or an Attorney at the bar, but to show me a man of color who holds the low office of a constable, or one who sits in a juror box even on a case of one of his wretched brethren, throughout that great slave-holding Republic ! But let us pass Joseph the son of Israel a little farther in review, as he existed with that heathen jiation : "And Pharoah called Joseph's name Zaphnath Paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potiplierah, priest of On, and Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt." But hearken,my beloved brethren, here is intermarrying with the blacks ; remember that Joseph was a white man, and his wife a black woman, or yellow, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On. — Compare the above with the American institutions ; do they not institute laws to prohibit us from marrying among the whites ? See Genesis, chap. 41, 41st and 44th and, 45 th verses. I would wish candidly, however, be^- i ] fore the Lord, to "be understood that I would not give a pinch of snuff to be married to any white person I ever saw in all the days of my life. And I do say it, that the black man, or man of color, who will leave his own color, (provided he can get one who is good for anything) and marry a white woman, to be a double slave to her, just because she is wliite, ought to be treated by her as he surely will be, viz., as a nigger ! It is not, indeed, what I care about intermarriage with the whites, which induced me to pass this subject in review, for the Lord knows, that there is a day coming when they will be glad enough to get into the company of the blacks, notwithstanding we are in this generation levelled by them almost on a level with the brute creation ; and some of us they treat even worse than they do the brutes that perish. I only make this extract to show how much lower we are held, and how much more cruel we are treated by the slave- holding Americans than were the children of Jacob by the Egyptians. We will notice the sufferings of Israel some further, under heathen Pharaoh, compared with ours under the enlic^htened Christians of America. " And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee ; the land of Egypt is before thee : in the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren to dwell ; in the land of Goshen let them dwell ; and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle." 1 ask those people who treat us so well, oh ! I ask them where is the most barren spot of land which they have given unto us ? Israel had the most fertile land in all Egypt. (See Genesis, chap. 47, v. 5 n,) was, ir, when ■holders. ves, had )n said ; he same eath."-^ answer r while holding m to be but my 'ould I o such ants.-^ 3een so ents in ild not of my iopy of in the the re- Liivcs, til© [ 15 ] futations which have been written by our white friend'* are cnbiigh — they are whites, we are blacks j we and the world wish to see the charges of Mr. Jefferson refuted by the blacks themselves, according to chance ;* for we must remember that what the whites have written res- pecting this subject, is other men's labors, and did not emanate from the blacks. I know well that there are some talents and learning among the colored people of that slave holding country, which they have not a chance to develope, in consequence of oppression. But our op- pression ought not to hinder us from acquiring all we can, for we will have a chance to develope them by and by. God will not suffer us always to be oppressed ; our suf- ferings will come to an end in spite of all the American Slaveholders this side of eternity. Then we will want all the learning and talents among ourselves, and perhaps more to govern ourselves. " Every dog must have its day." The American Slaveholders is coming to an end, when God Almighty shall commence his battle in the slaveholding States on account of Slavery ; tyrants will wish they never were born My brethren, he will surely do it, as he did in Egypt, except a great repentance to- ward God on the part of tyrants. But let us review Mr. Jefferson's remarks respecting us, some further, comparing our miserable fathers with the learned philosophers of Greece. He says : " Yet not- ' withstanding these aud other discouraging circumstances among the Romans, their slaves were often their rarest artists ; they excelled too, in science, insomuch as to be .usually employed as tutors to their master's children. — ' Epictetus, Terence, and Phoedrus were slaves, but they were of the race of whites : it is not their condition, then but nature which has produced the distinction." See this my brethren ! do you believe that this assertion is swal- lowed by millions of the whites ? Do you know that Mr. Jefferson was one of as great characters as ever lived ; among the whites ? See his writings for the world, and • public labours for the United States of America. Do you See his " Notes on Virginia," page 210. , . . , i 16 ] believe that the assertions of such a man will pass away into oblivion unobserved by the American people and the world ? If you do you are much, much mistaken ; see how the American people treat us ; have we souls in our bodies? Are we men who have any spirits at all.* I know there are many swell-bellied fellows among us, whose greatest object is to fill their stomachs; such I do not mean : I am after those who know and feel that we are men as well as other people. To them I say that unless we try to refute Mr. Jefferson's arguments respect- ing us, we will only establish them. But the slaves among the Romans, everybody who has read history knows, that as soon as a slave among the Komans obtain- ed his freedom, he could rise to the greatest eminence in the State ; and there was no law instituted to hinder a slave from buying his freedom ; have not the Americans instituted laws to hinder us from obtaining our freedom? Do any deny this charge ? Read the laws of Virginia, North and South Carolina, &c. Further, have not the Americans instituted laws to prohibit a man of color from obtaining and holding any office whatever under the Government of the United States of America ? Now, Mr. Jefferson tells us that our condition is not so hard as the slaves "were under the Romans ! It is time for me to bring this article to a close. But before I close it I must observe to my brethren, that at the close of the first Revolution in that country with Great Britain,there were but thirteen States in the Union; now there are thirty-one, most of which are slaveholding States, and the other half are nearly cursed by the passing of that cursed fugitive slave bill, or slave law, and the whites are dragging us around in chains and in hand-cuffs to their new States and territories, to work their mines and farms, to enrich them and their children; and millions of them believing firmly that we, being a little darker than they, were made by our creator to be an inheritance to them and their children for ever — the same as a parcel of brutes : are we men ! I ask you, Oh, my brethren 1 *'■ ,-....— — - — . — ,_ ' I ■■■■III ■ ii I ■■ See his "Notes oa Virginia," pago 211. _,^ .%. • .. t i )asfl away le and the iken ; see als in our all.* ^s among is; such I L feel that [ say that a respect- ie slaves i history 38 obtain- inence in hinder a niericans freedom? Virginia, not the >lor from ider the Now, hard as se. But that at ry with Union; holding passing md the nd-cuffs V mines nillions darker ritance parcel thren I ^A. M [ " ] make be slaves to dust are we men ? did our creator and ashes like ourselves ? are they not (lying worms as well as we ? have they not to make their appearaoce before the tribunal of heaven to answer for the deeds done in the l)ody, as well as we ? Have we any other miister but Jesus Christ alone ? Is he not their master as well as ours ? What right then have we to obey and call any other master but himself? Ilow we could be so sub- missive to a gang of men whom we cannot tell whether they are as good as urselves or not, I never could con- ceive ; however, this is shut up with the Lord, and we cannot precisely tell. But I declare, we judge men by their works. The white slaveholders have always been an unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious, and blood-thii*8ty set of beings, always seeking after power and authority. We view them all over the confedeiacy of Greece, where they were fiist known to be anything; (in consequence of education,) we see them there cutting each other's throats, trying to subject each other to wretchedness and misery — to effect which, they used all kinds of deceitful, unfair, and unmerciful means. We view them next in Home, where the spirit of tyranny and deceit raged still higher. We view them in Gaul, Spain, and in fine, we view them all over Europe, together with what were scattered about in Asia and Africa, as heathens, and we see them acting more like devils than accountable men. But some may ask, did not the blacks of Africa, and the mulattoes of Asia, go on in the same way as did the whites of Europe? I answer, no ; they never were half so avaricious,deceitful, and unmerciful as the whites, according to their know- ledge. ■ ' ' But we will leave the whites or Europeans as heathens, and take a view of them as Christians, in which capacity we see them as cruel, if not more so than ever. In fact, take them as a body, tiny aie ten times more cruel, avaricious, and unmerciful than ever tht-y wert' : for while they were heath •Vci'e »>av» rUi'liiiii, i u is true, hat it is positively a fact, that they were nut quite so audacious as to go and take vessel loads of men,women [ 18 ] and children, and in cold blood, and through devilishness, throw them into the sea, and murder them in all kinds of ways. While they were heathens, they were too ignorant for such barbarity ; but being Chi istiana, en- lightened and sensible, they are comj»]etely piepared for such hellish cruelties. Now, suppose God weie to give them more sense, what would they do ? If it were pos- sible, would they not dethrone Jehovah, and seat them- selves upon his thi'one ? I thei-efore, in the name and fear of the Lord God of heaven and of earth, divested of prejudice either on the side of my color or that of the whites, advance my suspicion of them, whether they are as good by nature as we are,or not; their actions since they were known as a people, have been the reverse. 1 do indeed suspect them, but this, as 1 before observed, is shut up with the Lord : we cannot exactly tell it ; it will be proved in succeeding generations. 1 he whites have had the essence of the gospel, as it was preached by my Master and his Apostles — theEthiopians have not,who are to have it in its meridian splendour — the Lord will give it to them to their satisfaction. I hope and pray my God, that they will make good use of it, that it may be well with them.* *It is my Bolemn belief, that if ever the world bfcomes Chi'i8tiani8ed,(whieh must eertainly take place before long,) it will be through the means, under God, of the blacks, who are now held in wretchedness and d«grudution by the white Christians of the world — who, before they learn to do justice to us belbre our Maker, and be reconciled to us, and reuonu'le us to them, and by that means have clear conscienoiB before God and man — send out missionaries to convert the heathens, many of whom after thry cense to worf•.:•;.:!■■;. J d :!■ ■> i •'I K^vS^ssEt^s^risr ?ggB3T*!P9»J^ inlishness, all kinds were too tians, en- pared for e to give vere pos- sat them- lame and vested of t of the they are ince they se. 1 do erved, is ; it win tes have d by my ,who are vill give pray my may be '\A "'rsHiMf'." =•)) / if which must God, of the e Christians Itt'i', and be consoienocB ly of whom tinifs more • the rtaeoQ mt Ixnds to d«» justfce, onarii'8. far le heathen. .;; \A :^^■ ...:! : i: ,.t >. tiU UK ■IS % ■ ARTICLE II. I ' ' f OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE OF IGNORANCE. ■f^^' '— " Ignorance, my brethren, is a mist, low down into the very dark and almost impenetrable abyss in which our fathers for many centuries have been plunged. The Christians and enlighteneuld have ; but they >w in the -1 enemiea d believe is throne deem the iiil, with of Jesus prayers, Ji'en! re- 5 of Car- darly of y whites, od with vants us hiy they neridian ' of the making manner being a if these luse the are de- ll, how- should States them, ust be when mts, is n her lit for 'I I • t3n^nt8, for if they get the least chance to injure her, they will avail themselves of it, as true as the Lord lives in heaven. But one thing which gives me joy is, that they are men who would be cut off to a man before they woula yield to the combined forces of the whole world — in fact, if the whole world was combined against them, it could not do anvthinj? with them, unless the Lord delivers them up. Ignorance and treachery one against the other ; a grovel Img, servile and abject submission to the lash of tyrants, we see plainly, my brethren, are not the natural elements of the blacks, as the Americans try to make us believe ; but these are misfortunes which God has suf- fered our ftithers to be enveloped in for many ages, no doubt in consequence of their disobedience to their Maker,* and which do indeed reicrn at this time among us, almost to the desti'uction of all other principles ; for I must truly say that ignorance, the motlier of treachery and deceit, gnaws into our very vitals ; ignorance, as it now exists among us, produces a state of things, Oh, my Lord ! too horrible to present to the world. Any man who is curi- ous to see the full force of ignorance developed among the coloi'ed people of the United States of America, has only to go into the southern and westei'n States of that confederacy, where, if he is not a tyrant, but has the feelings of a human being, who can feel for a fellow crea- ture, he may see enough to make his very heart bleed ! He may see lliere a son take his mother, who bore almost the pains of death to give him birth, and by the com- mand of a tyrant, strip her as naked as she came into the world, and apply the cowhide to her, until she falls a victim to death in the road. He may see a husband take his dear wife, not unfrequently in a pregnant state, and perhaps far advanced, and beat her for an unmerciful w^retch, until his infant falls a lifeless lump at her feet ! Can the American slaveholders escape God Almighty ? If they do, can he be to us a God of justice ? God is just, and I know it — for he has convinced me to my satisfaction — I cannot doubt him. My observer may see * Hayti numbering over one million souls. [ 22 ] in fathen >)eatinfr tt^lr acm^, mothers their daughters, and children their parents, all ' » pacify the passions of unvc- leiitinju: tyrants. He may also see them telling novvs and ik'^. making mi chief o»ie up(m another. These are some pf tbe productions of .-^norance, which he will see prac- t\v.tf/) among my dear brethren who are held in unjust slavery and wretchedness ])y avaricious and unmerciful tyrants, to whom and their devilish deeds, I would suffer my life to he taken before 1 woidd submit. And when my curious observer comes to take notice of those who are said to be free, (which assertion I deny,) and tvh<; are making some frivolous pretensions to common sense, he will see that branch of ignorance among the slaves assuming a more cunning and deceitful course of proce- dure ; he may see some of my brethren in league with tyrants, selling their own brethren into hell upon earth, not dissimilar to the exhibitions in Africa, but in a more secret, servile and a')ject manner. Oh, heaven ! I am full ! I can hardly moyc my pen ! I aver that when I look over those United States of America, and the world, and see the ignorant deceptions and consequent wretched- ness of my brethren. 1 am brought oftimes solemnly to a stand, and in the midst of my reflections, I exclain to my God, " Lord, didst thou make us to be slaves to our brethren the whites ?" But when I reflect that God is jiHt, and that millions of my wretched brethren would meet death with glory — yea more, wouh^ pli np^e into the very mouths of cannons, and be torn Mjf/ o-rticles .<• minute as the atoms which compose th eJ> ui^iits of the earth, in preference to a mean submission to the lash of tyrants, I am with streaming eyes, compelled to shrink baci' into nothingness before my Maker, and exclaim again, ' thy will be done, Oh ! Lord God Almighty." Men >f color, ^'ho are also of sense, for you particu- larly is my appeal designed ; our more ignorant brethren are not able to penetrate its value. I call upon you therefore to cast your eyes upon the wretchedness of your brethren, and to do your utmost to enlighten them — go :k ^4 [ 28 ] hters, and i of unrc- novvs ,ind 3 are some fiee prac' in unjust nmerciful uld suffer Vnd when lose wIao and y^'liij >'m sense,' the slaves of proce- gue with on earth, in a more m ! I am t when I lie world, ^Tetched- inly to a in to my I to our t God is n would into the tides i of the } lash of ► shrink exclaim lighty." particu- I'ethren uii yyju 3f your m — go ^ t ? to work and enli^'-hten your brethren !— let the TiOrd see you doing what you can to rescue them and } ourselvea t'wm degradation. Do niiy of you say that you a.id your family are free and ha[)j)y, and what hny^ you to do with the- wretched slaves and other people i So can I say, for 1 enjoy as much frcinlom as any ot you^ if I imu not (piite as well otf as the best of you. Look into our freedom and happiness, and see of what kind they aic composed. They are composed of the very lowest kind — they are the very dregs — they are the nK)^^t servile and abject kinds that ever a people was in j)ossession of If any of vou wish to know how free vou are, let one of y .u start and ^o throufrh the southern and westei'n States of that slaveholding country, and unless vou travel as a slave to a white man (a servant is a slave to the man whom he seives) or have your fvae jjaper-', (which if you are not cai'eful they will get from you,) if they do not take you up and })ut you in jail, and if } !' ill L 24 ] tyhicli will indeed astonish you and the world. Do any of you say this never will be done ? I assure you that God will accomplish it — if nothing else will answer, he will hurl tyiants and devils into atoms, and make way for his people. But O ! my brethren, I say unto you again, you must go to work and pi-epare the way of the Lord. " God works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform : He plants his footsteps on the sea, And rides upon the storm." There is a great work for you to do, as trifling as some of you may think of it ; you have to prove to the Americans and the world that we are men and not brutes, as we have been represented, and by millions treated. Remember to let the aim of your labors among your brethren, and particularly the youths, be the dis- semination of education aixi religion. It is lamentable that many of our children go to school from four until they are eight or ten, and sometimes fifteen years, of age, and leave school knowing but a little more about the grammar of their language than a horse does about handling a musket ; and not a few of them are really so ignorant that they are unal)]e to answer a person correct- ly general questions in Geogiaphy, and to hear them read would only be to disgust a man who has a taste for reading ; which to do well, as tiifling as it may appear to some, (to the ignorant in particular,) is a great part of learning. ISome few of them may make out to scri})ble tolerably well over a half sheet of p{;per, M'hich I believe has hitherto been a powerful obstacle in oui' way to keep us from acquiring knowledge. An ignorant father, who knows no more than what nature has taught him, together with wha^ little he acquires by the senses of hearing and seeing, finding his son able to write a neat hand, sets it down for granted that he has as good learning as any body ; the young, ignorant gump, hearing his father or mother, Who perhaps may be ten times more ignoiant, in point of literature, than himself, extolling his learning, struts about in the full assurance that his attainments in [ 86 ] Do any e you that answer, he ke way for ^ou again, he Lord. trifling as )ve to the I and not 1 millions )rs among 5 the dis- 1 men table four until rs, of age, about the 'es about really so 1 correct- ar them taste for ippear to t part of scn>>ble I believe to keep ler, who together ling and , sets it as any it her or )i*ant, in earning, lents m :i '4 literature are sufficient to take him through the world, when, in fact, he has scarcely any leai'ning at all ! JVlost of the colored peoplo, when they 6])eakof the education of one among u*» who can wi-ite a neat hand, and who perhaps knows nothing but to scribble and puff pi'etty fair on a small scrap of paper, iinniateiial whether his words are grammatical or spelled coi-rectly, if it oidy looks beautiful ; they say he has as good an educati n as any white man, that he can write as well as any white man, tfec. I'lie poor ignorant creature, hearing this, he is ashamed forever after to let any person see him hund)ling himself to another for knowledge ; l)ut, going about try- ing to deceive those who are moi'e ignorant than himself, he at length falls an ignorant victim to death and wretch- edness ! I j^ray that the Lord may undeceive my ignoi'ant brethren, and permit them to throw away pretensions, and seek after the substance, of learning, i would crawl on my hands and knees through mud and mii'e, to the feet of a learned man,where I would sit and humbly supplicate him to instil into me that which neither devils nor tyrants could remove, only with my life : for colored people to acquire learning in that country of liberty, makes tyrants quake and tremble on their sandy foundation. Why, what is the matter ? Why ? — they know that their infer- nal deeds of cruelty will be made known to the world. Do you suppose that one man of good sense and learning would submit himself, his father, mother, wife, and chil- dren, to be slaves to a wi-etched man like himself, who, in- stead of compensating him foi' his labor, chains, hand- cuffs, and beats him and family almost to death, leaving life enough in them, however, to work for and call him — master! No, no : he would cut his devilish throat fiom ear to ear; and well do slave-holders know it. The bare name of educating the coloi-ed ])eople, scai'es our oppres- sors almost to death ; but if they do not have enough to be frightened for yet, it will be because they can always keep us ignorant, and because God approbates their cru- elties, with which they have been for centuries murdering [ 26 ] US. The white slaveholders shall have enough of the "blacks yet as true as God sits on his thi-one in heaven. My American readers will remember 1770, when, for a small tax on tea, liow they mnrdei'ed and cut the throats of thousands of His Majesty's subjects — \\ hy ? l)e- cause you were learned men, and would not bear to he taxed. Then, suppose my fathers should take your fa- thers and mothers, and wives, sons and daughtei-s, and beat them almost to death to make us and our children rich, would not you nmrder us by thousand;?, yea, 1 say, by tens of thousands ! I pray that God Almighty may have mercy on slave- holding America. Some of our bi*ethren are so very iu ■! of learning, that you cannot mention any thing to tl\< m which they do not know better than yourself Nothing is strange to them. They knew every thing years ago ! If any thing should be mentioned in company where they are, immaterial how important it is respecting us or the world, if they had not divulged it, they make light of it, and affect to have known it long before it was mentioned, and try to make all in the room, or wherever you may be, believe that your conversation is nothing — not worth hearing ! All this is the result of ignorance and ill breed- ing ; for a man of good breeding, sense, and penetration, if he had heard a subject told twenty times over, and should happen to be in company where one should begin telling it again, he would wait with patience on its narra- tor,and see if he wouldtell it as it was told in his presence before, ])aying the most stiict attention to Avhat is said, to see if any moi-e light will be thrown on the subject ; for all men are not gifted alike in telling or even hearing the most simple nan-ation. These ignoi'ant, vicious, and wretched men, contribute almost as much injury to our body as tyrants themselves, by doing so nmch for the promotion of ignorance among us ; for they, making such pretensions to knowledge, such of our youth as are seeking after knowledge and can get access to it, take them as cri- terions to go by, who will lead them into a channel,where unless the Lord blesses them with the privilege of seeing s .15 gh of the in heaven. 776, when, d cut the -^^ hy ? be- )ear to be e your fu- :hter8, and n' child 1 en yea, I say, y on slave- ) very nj^ [^ to t]\eni Nothing ears ago ! here they us or the iglit of it, lentioned, >u may be, lot worth ill breed- netration, over, and lid begin its narra- presence it is said, subject ; 1 hearing ious, and y to our for the :ing such B seeking m as cri- el, where 3f seeing K ,^ ■" It [ 2T ] their folly, they will be irretrievably lost for ever, while in time ! It is a notorious fact that the major part of the white Americans have, ever since we have been among them, tried to keep us ignorant, and make us be^ lieve that God made us and our children to be slaves to them and theirs. Oh ! ray God, have mercy on Christian Amei'icaus ! The word " Nigger " is a word derived fi'om the Latin, which, was used by the old Romans to desii^rnate inanimate beint^s, which were 1)1 ack — such as soot, pot, wood, house, tfec, also, animals which they con- sidered inferior to the human s])ecies, as a black horse, cow, hog, bird, dog, tate on the whole continent of America. Why, if you tell them they are a fighting for freedom, why, be- cause I know that tlie blacks, once they get involved in a wai", had rather die than to live, they either kill or be killed ; the white slaveholders know this too, which make them quake and tn-mble. Upon this head, read the lesson of St. Domingo, when the blacks there rose upon their masters, the pro- portion between the two was as /)0(),000 to 50,000 ; the whites were driven from the country with horrible cruel- ties, the natural revenge of a servile and oppressed race. Powerful armies were sent against these revolted slaves, millions upon milliiglit hun- gambling upon tlie be single d colored liom (let t ac^ainst I. Why, why, be- i^olved in vill or be ich make )omingo, the pro- :>0 ; the le cruel- ed race. 1 slaves, ligation, ^ery is a 's, (and at good 'd chap. g men, follow way of onsness )f you^; ot, and ►istle of T' -I !• • I #■ ' V Mr. Jefferson, in his notes on Virginia, says, — " Oh ! you Virginians, Oh ! you Virginians, I tremble, I tremble, for my country, when I reflect that God is just ; that his justice cannot sleep for ever : a revolution in the wheel of fortune will take place one day, and God has no at- tributes of mercy to take sides with us in such a contest. I say I love my country where I was born ; I always have loved it ; but for this cause shall I cruelly treat one of another country ? God forbid. I am a citizen of the world, a subject of Great Britain, having taken the oath of allegiance many years ago. I am a candidate for heaven, where, I am confident, whoever, by obedient walking, is so happy as to arrive, will never be interro- gated in respect to his nation, color, or profession ; for God is no respector of persons. I wish that all distinc- tion of parties might be done away ; we are all the off- spring of the same universal parent. How much better would it be, if, instead of teaching their children to re- gard every other nation or profession as inferior to them- selves and out of the way, they should take pains to in- struct them, that he has other sheep, not of this fold, spread over the whole earth, in every country, and among every people ; and that virtue only is to be respected, and vice despised, wherever found, whether arrayed in gold or clothed in rags : whether in one that wields a sceptre or begs his bread. With what a smile of contempt must the judicious foreigner view, on the floor of the Capitol at Washington, an American slaveholder expatiating on the cause of li- berty, virtue, and patiiotism, especially when he reflects that the main tenet, or, as it were the corner stone (may I not rather say the whole fabric ?) of the religion he pro- fesses, is simply the divine command already mentioned ; and when he looks back to the time that tried men's souls, as they said it did, when a price of three cents was put upon a pound of tea, what is it that is trying our souls ? I say. Slavery and the Fugitive ISlave Law. When they could resolve, that " we will neither import, nor purchase any slaves imported, after the 1st day of December next, [ 30 ] (1775) after whicli we will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and will neither be concei'ned in it ourt^elves, nor will we hire our vessels or sell oui* commodities or manu- fdtitures to those who are concerned in it;" and, in their solemn, une(j[uivoi*al, positive, and pointed Declaration of Independence, thoy say — " We hold these truths to be self-evidet»t, that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- piness ;" — when the foreigner views this disclaimer in the cause of liberty, &c. ; when lie views the public i)rints, or newspapers, offering human beings for sale, (and fre- quently inserted for no fault ;) when, after a laj)se of CO or 70 years he sees the 13 or 31 stiipes stoop so low in such a base and ignoble traffic, as to waft from their native homes, from every thing near and dear in this life, thou- sands of (as to them) inoffensive beings : — with what dis- gust must he turn away from such a hypociitical people, and exclaim, with one of their modern writers, " 1 trem- ble for my country when I reflect that God is just ; that his justice cannot sleep forever ;" for sui'ely, indeed, we cannot form to ourselves an idea of an object more ridicu- lous than an American slaveholder or patriot, signing de- clarations of independence with one hand, and with the other brandishing his bloody whip over his affirighted slave. For the truth of the Declaration of Independence, lit the reader refer to St. Paul, ch. xvii. to the Romans, vs. 22 to 80. In the years 1816 or 1817, directly after the war with Great Britain, Mr. Jefferson, seeing the evils of sla- very, desired the Ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to preach against the great evils of slavery,which they did openly. The Methodist Ministei's led the way, then the Baptists. Jt made a great shaking and trembling among the dry bones for a while, as long as they so })i'eached ; but it appears that the Ministers are ])revented from preaching against that great curse, 'i'lie Methodist Epis- copalChurch in theUnited States is a voluntary association, unincorporated by any legal enactment. Lip to June, ■1 4' M [ 31 ] the slave ijelves, nor 1 or muim- , in their iaration of uths to be it they are )le rights ; lit of hap- ^laimer in )lic j)i'iuts, (and i)'e- |)se of GO so low in eir native life, thou- vvliat (lis- al people, " I trem- List ; that deed, we re ridicu- ?ning de- with the ffi righted >eudence, Romans, the war Is of sla- Js Chiist they did then the 5" among eached ; ed from pia- ociation. |v- .1 / I June, 1844, it mimhered 7 bishops and 4*^28 preachers; the sum total of moinbcrs being estimated at above l,l()0,(iOO, organized by a ujeneral cont'erence and a number of sub- ordinate annu;il (.'onfereiR-es. Difficulties arose between the NortluTii and Southern menibei's of the Chur(:h,asto the moral or relii^ions ])ropriety of allowing Ministers to hold slaves, wliich diHiiMiity threatened seriously to im- pair the harmony of the Ixxly. I'he diti'erences princi- pally gi'ew out of tht* voluntary connection of a bishop with slavery; thattlie rules of the book of Discipline, and the uniform action of the geneial Conference, have always been adverse to the system of human slavery, it being reofarded as a creat evil, that the jjeneral Conference have always refused to elect a slaveholder to that office ; that, at the session of the general Conference in I S44, held in New York, it became known that the Rev. James O. An- drew, one of the Bishops of the Methodist E|)iscopal con- ferenc( , had, since his election to that office, became an owner of slaves, the confei-ence therefore passed a resolu- tion that Bishop Andrew desist from the exercise of hi& office as long as this impediment remained. . • * •' 'i'he adoption of this resolution gave offence to a minority of the members, who were delegates from annual conferences in the slave holding States, and induced those delegates to present a formal protest against such action of the generalconfereuce,which was admitted and recorded on its journal. Now I have wi'itten this to show how our wretchedness came first in consequence of the preachers of the relis^ion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and here through them slavery must fall and come to an end. Let the churches turn out every slave-holding Bishop, elder, and member that holds a slave. I say again, slaveiy then cannot stand ; the powers of hell will give away, an keep her muld per- ned in the no pecu- 5session of ler of his wife had ws of the Jame into od, here e rules of .■V « the book of discipline and the laws of v .d, holding his felloNV lit'iiigs in that cruel condition of slavery. Oh. I Jesus ! Muster ! have mercy upon the slavelioldei*s, for they know not what tliey do. This Kcv. Divine must have felt the stiuix of this sin. Aftei' savinj; he had other slaves, he reniniks, that being un\\illini>- to lieconie their owner, he had sei-ured them to his wife by a deed of trust. 'I'his will not hide the crime. What belongs to my wife belongs to me. 'J'ho reading of this communication was followed by a resolution, to the eifect that Bishop Andrew be aifection- at«ly requested to resign his office as one of the Bishops of theMethodist E. Clmivh, and for which a substitute was olliired, as follows : '' /^ v^/^vy/, 'I'hat it is the sen^e of this general Coiiference, that he desist from the exercise of his ortice so long as this impediment i-emains." This substi- tute, was adopted by a vote of 1 10 against OS. After the passage of this sul)stitute, notice was given by S. Pierce, that a pi'otest would be presented by the minoi'ity on this vote at as early a day as practicable. 8o, Slavery split the Methodist (lunch ; and it is now known })y the Meth'ulist Church North and Methodist Church South, divided by the line which separates the Slave from the Free States. '^ Now, this is a true staying, if a man desire the office of a Bishop, he desireth a good work. A Bishop, then, must be blameless ; the lHisl>and of one wife ; vigilant, so* ber, of good behaviour ; given to hospitality ; apt to teach ; not given to wine ; no striker j not given to lilthy lucre ; but patient ; not a brawler; not covetous; one that rul- eth well his own house ; having his children in subjection ; with all i>:ravitv ; for if a man knows not Low to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Chuich of God ; not a novice, lest, being lifted up wdth pride, he fall into the comlemnation of the Devil. Moi'eover, he must have a good ]ej)ort of them that are without, lest he fall into repro-ich, and the s:iare of the Devil. Likewise must the Deacons be grave ; not double-tongued ; not giv^en to much wine ; not given to liithy lucre." — Tim. c. iii. v. 1 — 8,,j *ii: M> iiMriiiit^iMiitiifiifii '"■!«■ ritftiaa.!. I|i| ii ill [ 34 ] -, Now, what do we see here ? A Bishop has become a slavehohler, and ])e\n^ re|)r()vod hy the rales of the book of Discipline, thi; slave-holdinu: deleir^tes meet in the city of Naahvil]e,Tenn., on the Ist iMnv, 1848. The delegates of the conferences in the slave-holding States declai-ed,that the continued agitation of the subject of slavery and abo- lition, in a portion of the C'lmrcli, the frecjnent action on that sul)ject in the genei'al Conference, and especially the extrajudicial proiieedings against Bishop Andrew, which resulted in his suspension, would j^roduee a state of things in the South, which wouhl ren lei*a continuance of theju- nsdiction of this general Conference over t^^ese Conferen- ces, inconsistent with the success of the Ministry in the slave-holding States. '" Now, 1 ask the i-eader to answer candidly before God your Maker, do you think that a slave-holding Bishop, Elder, or Deacon, can have a good repoi'l of them which are without ? No, my brethren : no slave-holder who takes away that which belongs to- o,n()ther man or woman, can have a good i-eport of them \\it!jout. I have heard it told for a truth, that a Reverend gen- tleman got up into the pulpit at a t'amj)-metting, in the State of Virginia, to preach to a largo congregation, lie took his text and began to preach, but he cv)uld not get along. He kept on tiying, but could not preach. One of the brethi'en, sitting l)y, spoke to him, and said : *'Bi-o- ther, you cannot pi-each : you ]i;i\e got '20 negroes in your throat.'' The preacher still tried to preach on. The good old abolition Brother cries again, raying, " brother, you cannot preach ; you had l)ettei' give it up : you have 20 negroes crammed down your throat,and you cannot preach with them in your throat." Now, his text may have been that which was preached by our Lord upon the mount : '' Do unto all men as you would have them do to you." Now, reader, do you be- lieve that a Rev. gentleman, holding *J0 or .'U> of his bre- thren and sisters in cruel slavery, and ])erhaps had been sollins' th.'it very same v/cok a man iVom his wite, or a child from its mother, never to see each other again this I ■ rt-^-i.-.-.t-fsr. .-.' ) Las become ? of the book l^t in tbe city he deh'gates lecJare(i^that I'ry and abo- nt action on 'pecialJy the drew, which ite of things ce of the ju- e Conferen- >try in the before God ing Bi?^.hop, hem which okler who or woman 'erend gen- n,iX, in "the it ion. He Id not get eh. (Vne M : *'Bro- oe-* in your I'he good othei', you II have 20 lot preach preached len as you :> you be- f his bre- [lad been vite, or a gain this i ) [ 35 3 aide of eternity. I say that he cannot preach that text in its fulness and glory. I charge ihcc, tliei'cfor'e, before God and the Lord Jesus Clirist,\vlio shall judge the quick and the dead at his ijj)peMriiig in his kingdom. " l*reach the word ; be instant m sc-i-on and out of season ; re])rove, rebuke, exhoi-t, with all long .>uueriiig and doetrine." — 2n(l Timothy, c. iv. vs. I Ai 2. Now, what is the word ? We will ask St. John about this word. He says: " In the be- ginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 'I he same was in the beginning with (lod. All things were ninde l»y Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men ; and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness compiehendeth it not." — St. elohn, c i. V. I to 5. This is the Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, who died for us all and I'ose again for our justifi- cation. One of the rules of the Methodist Church is,that when any travelling preacher becomes the owner of a slave or slaves, by any means, he shall t'oifciit his ministerial charac- ter in the church. Now, I am sorry it did not say that every niembei" of our ehureh who is a slave-holder, or shall become a slave-holder, shall foifeit his membership in our church. 'I'his would be })lea:;ing to God ; for every man who is a slave-holder commits sin l)efore the Lord ; for the slave holder acknowledges it to T)e an evil and a great sin, and have been telling the Free States for 3- ears past that they had nothing to do with slavery. But, Oh ! my God ! let us now look ! The Free States are made the very bone and sinew of slavery, by catching men and women, and tearing them away fi'om their wives and hus- bands, without a moment's warning. It should be remem- bered, that those fugitives who were so fortunate as to ar- rive in the Free States, thousands of them are lawfully married to ladies of those States where they have been, living. Then, here is separating man from his wife and woman irorn uer riusoanu, witnout a moment's wurnuig. Now, it is written, cursed is he that separate them whom God joins together. Oh ! my God ! what sin has [ S6 ] slavery brought into the world ! Oh ! ye ministers and preacher-* of tho glorious gospel of my L')rl jind Mister, Jesm Christ ! jM'e;wh it out oi' youi' chuivlujs ! cut olF every Hhivt^-lioiding lucmhcr from youi" clnirclies, and slavery will cease ; tor I do solomidy lielievc that not till then will s^lavery cease. It came by a prcachei* or a pi'e- teniled preacher, of my Master's, and mu-4 g-o out by preaching ilim to all, and cry in death, ''Behold ! behold ! the land) of (iod, which taketh away the sins of the world." t I am a Methodist. 1 love the Methodist Chui'ch : I love her doctrine and discipline, and love her people, too. I was brought up with hersojis and daughteis, and hope to die with them. I love all churches that names the name of Christ. I believe that (Jod has a j)eople in all his churches ; and may my God |)j'eserve us all to Ilia heavenly kingdom. 13ut^ Oh ! my (iod, when I look at thenumV^er of my wretched bjvthren lield in unjust shi- very, lam constrained tociy out : " Oh ! my God ! when wilt thou deliver us from the hands of tyrants ?" Now I will tiy and show the increase of slavery a- rabng our Republican friends, from the census of 1840 to 18:>0. Slavery has diminishe8, she has now 384.92.'). Virginia had in 1840, 448,987, she has now 478,020. Alabama had in 1840, 2.JoJ),V2, she now has 342,894. G;M)rgia had in 1840, 280,945, she now has 302,906. Oh ! my (jod, what a number of human beings are held there in cruel .slavery, the property of the Holy Ghost. * ^_ •• * Oh I thou Alpiia ;nu\ Otu-gu, tlu> l)i";iiimitii» ami the end. Eiithronod thou art in heaven abnve. sunoiindrd by aticfcls hore ; tVon vvheiic> thou seesi the mise- ries to which we are subjict. The whites hiivo rmu'dv-red usi, Oh! G id, and kept us igiiorain of thee Not satisfied with this, my Ijord, they throw us into the seas. Be pleased, we pray for Jesus' sake, thou wilt deliver us ; but that thou maycst effect ih«se thlngR, thy glory must bs sought. I 9S ) misters and lul M istor, CMlt olY Holies, liud liat lint till '!• or a I )!•('- U'o out ])y 1 ! l)eh()l(| ! tlic world. " C'liurt'h : I '<''>|'1le in all ill to His I look at "Mjust sla- o(l ! when slavery a- f i 840 to n years in it has in- Dehiuare lietjtLeie 87. The Y station- ^9,800 — lias now l:as now now has now Las ■n beings lie Holy lironod thou I the mise- li, and kept ito the seas, 'aycst effect r * f 1,1 L 37 ] Twenty members of the hon.')8, havini,Mncrease(l in ten years just 692, iio;^. This popuhitiou casts n vote in Conu-ress, thi'ouu^h tlieir proprietois, e(|UHl to that cast by I,9()0,- 4G9 free citizen?*, or to the Coni^ressional votes of the States of Maine, New IIatnj)shire, Vermont, Hhode Is- land, Conne(!ticut, Iowa, and California. The twenty votes thu-* conferred upon the fi'ee population of the Soutluu'n States by Slavery are twenty votes moi'e than are enjoyed by any e([ual number of fret^ citizens in the non-slaveholdinii^ States. In this way the i'me men of Georgia send two men, the free ni(Mi of Virginia send three, the free men of Alahima and South Cai'olimi send each two delegates more to the house of representatives than the same number of citizens in i\(!W York or Penn- sylvania are entitled to. In the States ])roper, waiving the fractional lepresentatives, there will be eighty-one deleijfates from the slaveholdinu!' States, and one hundred and fourteen tVom the non-slav(dioldin2: States. Deduct- ing from the former tlio^^e who represent property merely, and giving to both sections ])recisely equal representation, in Congress, the slaveholding States would have but sixty-one representatives, or ordy eight votes more than half the vote of the free States, 'i'he total population of the non-slaveholding States is 13,53.'^,a28, that of the slave States is, 0,393,757, or less than half that of the free States, yet the representation of the latter is only a quarter less in the house of Representatives, and only four less than etpial in the the Senate. Now my dearly beloved brethren, I have strove to show you how Slavery has managed to keep together, and has lasted so long: it is done by Congressional men, and I am sorry to sa)^ it. It is kept so strong by the ministers of the c»ospel of my blessed Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. *'■ » . ■ I" II i L 88 ] Clear the cliurclies of slaveliolders, and slavery will cease. It* a slavelioltler have a vote upon every five slaves, the XortlKM'n men, or the men of the non-slave- hoMing States, should have a vote upon every five horses or eveiy live cows or sheep they own, The poor slaves are cattle, an J what is he more than another animal? I pray that my God will have mercy on the slaveholders. t I i > i [1:!^ \ yety will 'ery five )n-slave- ve horses )r slaves imal? I elders. I ARTICLE III. OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN C0NSE(2UENCE OF THE riiEACIlERS OF THE RELIGION OF JliSUS CHRIST. Keligion, my Brethren, i:^ a sul)staTice of deep consi- deration among all nations of the earth. The Pagans have a kind, as well as the Mahometans, the Jews,and the Christians. But pure and undetiled religion, such as was preached by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, is hard to he found in all the earth. God, thi ongh his instrument, Moses, handed a dispen- sation of his divine will to the childi'en of Israel, after they had left Egypt for the land of Canaan^ or of promise,who, through 0))j)ression, hypocrisy, and unl)elief, had de]>arted fjom the faith. He then, by his Apostles, handed a dis- pensation of his, together with the will of Jesus Christ,to the Europeans in Eur()[)e,who, in open viol{*tion of which, have made merchandize of us ; and it does ap[)ear as though they take this very dispensation to aid them in their infei'iial depredations upon us. Indeed, the way in which religion was and is conducted by the Euro|>eans and their descendants, one might believe it was a })lan fal>ri- cated by themselves and the Devil, to o])pi'ess us. But, hai'k ! mv Master has taui^ht me better than to l)elieve it; he has taught me that his gospel, as it was preached by himself and his Apostles, leniMins the same, notwithstand- ing Europe has tried to miiiglf blood and o[)p]'esbion with it. It is well known to the Christian world, that Bartho- lomew Las Casas, that very notoriously avaricious priest or preacher, and adventui'cr, with Cohimhus, in his se- cond voyage, proposed to his cor.ntiymen, the Spaniards in Hispaniola or Hayti, to import the Africans from the Portuguese settlement in Afiica, to dig up gold and silver and work their plantations for them. To effect which, he made a voyage thence to S|)ain, and opened the sub- ject to his master, Ferdinand, then in declining liealth, who listened to the plan ; but who died soon after, and [ ^0 ] I ! \ h left it in tbe hands of his successor, Charles V. (See But- ler's History of the United States, vol. i. ])p. 24 & 25.) <" This wretch, Las Casas the preacher, succeeded so well in his plans of oi)pression, that in 1.503, the first blacks were imported into the N(^w World. Elated with this success, and stimulated l>y sordid avarice only, he im- ])ortnned Char'es v., in 1.511, to grant permission to a Flemish merchant, to imj.ort 4()()0 blacks at one time. Thus u'e see, throuLi;-h the insti'unientality of a pre- tended pi'eacher of the Gospel of Jesus Chi'i>t, our com- mon Master, our vri'etchedness fiist commenced in America, where it has been continued fi'om 1.503 to this day, a period of o4S yeai's ; but 281 from 1G20, when twenty of our fathei's were bi'ought into Jamestown, Vir- ginia, l)y a Dutch nnm-of-war, and sold oil* like brutes to the highest bidder. And thei'e is not a doubt in my mind but that tyrants ai'e in hopes to perpetuate our miseries under them and their children, until the final consum- mation of allihings. But if they do not get dreadfully deceived, it will be because God has foi'gotten them. The Paij^ans, Jews, and Mahometans try to make proselytes to their i'eli,^ion, and whatever human beings adopt their i-eligion, they extend to them their protec- tion. But Christian American slaveholders not only hinder their follow creatures, the Africans, but thousands of them will absolutely beat a coloured person nearly to death, if they catc-h him on his knees, supplicating the throne of grace. This l)arbarous cjuelty was, by all the heathen nations of antiipiity, and is by the l^igans, Jews, and Mahometans of the ])resent day, left entirely to Christian American slaveboidei'sto inflict on the Africans and their descendants,that their cup, a\ hich is nearly full, may be com[)leted. It is not unworthy of remark, that the Portuguese and Spaniards were among, if not the very fii'st, nations U[)on the earth, al)out 370 years ago ; but see what those Christians have come to now, in consequence of af- flicting oui' forefatliers and ourselves, wh(j have never mo- lested or disturbed them or any other of the white ChriS' r See But- t ik 25.) ;eede(l so the first ite«l with iy, he im- sion to a ! time, of a pre- our com- 'iiced in > to this H), when >wn, Vir- )rutes to lay mind miseries L consum- readfully lem. to make 1 beings ir pi'otec- lot only liousands learly to itiiisj the ' all the i!^, Jews, tirely to Africans Illy full, rtiii^ruese nations ;e what ce of af- vei' mo- ;e ChriS' cr i 41 ] tians. But liave they received any thing approachln^ one cjuarter of what the Lord will yet bring upon them for the murders they have inflicted upon us "i They have had, and in some degree have now, sweet times on our blood and groans. The time, however, of bitterness has sometime nince commenced with them. Thei'e is a God, the Maker and preserver of all things, who will as sure as the worhl exists, give all his creatures their just recom- pense of reward in this and the world to come. We may fool or deceive, and keep each other in the most profound ignorance ; beat, murder, and keep each other out of what is our lawful rights, or the rights of man ; yet it is impos- sible for us to deceive or escajje the Lord God Almighty. Yes, says my brethren and sisters, who are members of the same Church and Society that 1 l)elong to, I have known, say they, tyrants or usurpers of human libertyi n ditrorent parts of that slave-holding country, to take their fellow-creatures, the colored peo])le, and beat them until they would scarcely leave life in them. What for ? Why, they say the black devils had the audacity to be found making prayers and supplications to the God who made them ! ! Yes ; I have known small collections of colored peo- ple to have convened together, for no other purpose than to worshi}) God Almighty in spii'it and in truth, to the best of their knowledge, when tyrants, calling themselves patrols^ would also convene, and wait almost in breathless silenco fo'* the poor colored people to commence singing and pr.'iying to the Loi'd our God ; as soon as they had commenced, the wi-etches would burst in upon them,drag them out, and commence beating them as they would rat- tle-snakes ; many of whom they would beat so unmerci- fully, that they would he hardly able to crawl for weeks, and sometimes for months; yet the American ministers send out missionaries to convert the heathens, while they keep us and our children sunk at their feet in the most a1)ject ignorance and wretchedness that ever a people v/cre alilicted with since the world began. Will the Lord suiter this people to proceed much. G [ 42 ] longer ? Will He not stop tliem in tlieir career ? Does He regard the licatlions abroad moi'e than the heathens among the American slavehohlern, wliere there is at this moment while I am writing tliese facts, thousands and tens of thousands in the slave-holding States, dare not to be seen with a book in their hands 'i Surely the Americans must believe that God is partial, notwithstanding His Apostle Peter declared before Cornelius and others, that he was no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth God and worketli I'ip^hteousness is accepted with him. " The Avord, which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, He is the Lord of all." (See Acts, x., vs. 25-27.) Have not the Americans the bible in their hands ? Do they believe it ? Surely they do not. Sec how they treat us in* open violation of the Bible ! They may not believe me, but if God does not awaken them, it Avill be because they are superior to other men, as they have re- presented themselves to be. Our divine Lord and Master said : " All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." But an American minister, with' the bible in his hand, holds us and our children in the most abject slavery find wretchedness. — Now, I ask them, would they like for us to hold them and their children in abject slavery and wretchedness ? No, says one ; that can never be done : you are not men : you were made to be slaves to us ; to dig up gold and silver for us and our children, Know this, my dear sirs ; that although you treat us and our children now as you do your domestic beast, yet the final result of all future events are known but to God Almighty alone, who rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth ; and who dethrones one earthly king and sets up another, as it seemeth, good in his holy sight. We may attribute these vicissitudes to what we please ; but the God of armies and of justice rules in heaven and iu earth ; and the whole slaveholding States of America shall see and know it yet to their satisfaction. ' ' I have known pretended preachers of the Gospel of A i\ Does iatliens at this nd tens t to be ericans His that he that ^d with Iren of Lord of hands ? )w they aay not will be lave re- Master should mericau nd our ness. — lem and No, an : you d silver ; that you do events in the ; earth ; nother, ^tribute armies 3 whole it yet 3spel of A ^ [ 43 ] my Master, who iiot only held us as their natural inheri- tance, but treated us with as much ri^^or as any Iniidel or Deist in the world. Just as thougli they were intent only on takiui^' onv blood and groans to glorit'y the Lord Jesus Chi'ist. The wicked and ungodly, seeing their preachers treat us with so much cruelty, say : " Our preachers, who must be right if any body are, treat them like brutes, and why cannot we ? They think it is no harm to keep them in slavery and apply the whip to them, and why cannot we do the same V^ They, being preacheis of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, if it were any harm, they would surely preach against their oppression, and do their utmost to erase it from the counti'y ; not only in one or two cities, but one continued cry would be raised in all parts of that confederacy, and would cease only with the complete overthrov^ of the system of slavery in every part of the country ; but how far the American preachers are from preaching against slavery and o|)pression, which have car- ried their country to the brink of a precipice, to save them from plunging down the side of v/hicli will hardly be ef- fected, will a})pear in the sequel of this paragraph, which I shall narrate just as it transpired : — I remember a camp- meeting in South Carolina, (says one of ni}'- dearly-belov- ed brethren of the Methodist Chui'ch) for which I em- barked in a steam-boat at Charleston, and having been five or six hours on the watei", Ave at last arrived at the place of hearing, where was a very great concourse of peo- ple, who were no doubt collected together to hear the word of God. That some had collected mei'ely as spectators to the same, I will not here pretend to doubt. However, that is left to themselves and their God. Myself and boat companions, having been there a little while, we were all called up to hear. I, among the rest, went up and took my seat. Being seated, I fixed myself in a complete po- sition to hear the word of my Saviour, and to receive such as I thought was authenticated by the holy Scriptures, But to mv no ordinary astonishment, our reverend i;er)tle- man got up and t >ld us, (colored peo})le) that slaves must be obedient to their musters; must do their duty '? ^^■ m [ 44 ] to their masters or be whipped ; the whip was made for the backs of fools, etc. Here I pause for a moment to give the world time to consider what was my surprise to hear such preaching fi'om a minister of my Master, whose very Gospel is that of peace and not of l)lood and Avliips, as this pretended ])i'eacher tried to makens believe. What the American preachers can think of us, I aver this night, now twenty minutes after one oVlock, I say again, I aver before my God, I have never been able to define. They have newspapers and monthly periodicals which they receive in continual succession, but on the pages of which you will scarcely ever find a paragraph respecting slavery, which is ten thonsnnd times moi'e injui'ious to that coun- try than all the otlier evils put together, and Avhich will be the final overthrow of its Govei'mnent, ujiless some- thing is very speedily done, for their cup is nearly full. Perhaps they will laugh at or make light of this. See what you have done by passing that accursed Fugitive Slave Bill, running God's people nearly to death. But I tell you American slaveholders, tliat unless you speedily alter your course, you and your countiy are gone ! for God Almighty will tear up the veiy face of the earth ! Will not that very remarkable passage of scripture be fulfilled on Christian American slaveholders ? Hear it Americans, — '' He that is unjust let him be unjust still ; and he which is filthy let him be filthy still ; and he that is righteous, let him l)e righteous still ; and he that is holy let him be Jioly still." I hope that the Americans may hear, but I am afraid that they have done us so much injury, and are so firm in the belief that our creator made us to be an inheritance to them for ever, that their hearts will be hardened, so that their destruction may be sure. This Innguage perhaps is too harsli foi- the American slaveholders' delicate ears ; but Oh ! Americans, Ameri- cans ! I wai'n you in the name of the Lord, (whether y. u will hear or forbear,) to repent and refoi-m, or you are ruined. Do you think that our blood is hidden from the Lord because you c.in hide it from the rest of the world "by sending out missionaries, and by your charitable ft i} ) [ 45 ] made lent to ■ise to M'liose whips, What ni2:ht, I aver They I they which avery, , coun- li will some- y full. «. See U2:itive But 1 )eedily le ! for earth ! lire he lear it t still ; le that is holy IS Hi ay ) much made hearts sure. 1 eric an \meri- ery- u ou are )m the world itable i\ ) deeds to the Greeks and other nations, Szc.^ Avliile tliou- sands or millions in your fields or in your kitchens are sufferinc^ for the word of God, and you will not let them read it ! Will he not publish your secret crimes on t]i&. house top "{ Even in some of the free States, ])ride and prejudice have i^ot to such a pitch, that in the very houses erected to the Lord, they have built little places for the reception of coloured people, where tliciy must sit during meeting, or keep n vay from the house of God ;* and the preachers say nothing about it, much less go into the hedges and highways seeking the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and try to bring them unto their Lord and Master. — There are not a more wretched, ignorant, miserable, and abject set of beings in all the world than the blacks in the southern pnd western sections of that country, under tyrants and devils. The preachers of America cannot see them, but they can send out missionaries to convert the heathens, notwithstanding. Americans, unless you speedily alter your course of i)roceeding, if God Almighty does not stop you, I say it in his name, that you may go on and do as you please for ever, both in time and in eternity ; never fear any evil at all ! Addition, — the preachers and people of the United States form societies against Freemasonry and intempe-. ranee, and write against Sabbath l)reaking. Sabbath mails, infidelity, &c. etc. ; but the fountain head, compared with which all those other evils are comparatively nothing, ftnd from the bloody and murderous head of which they receive no trilling support, is hardly noticed by the Americans. This is a fair illustration of the state of society in that country. It shows what a bearing avarice has upon a people, when they are nearly given uj) by the Lord to a hard heart and a reprobate mind, in consequence of afflicting their fellow creatures. God suffers some to go on until they are ruined for ever ! Will it l)e tlie case with the white slaveholders of the United States of America ? i * See Revelations, ch.'xxii., v. 1 1. ^ [ *c ] We hope not. We would not wish to see them destroy- ed, notwithstanding they liavo and do now treat ns more cruel than any people have treated aiiotlier on this earth, since it came from the liands of its Creator, with the exception of the French and Spaniai'ds, (but France is free now,tlianks be to God) tliey did treat us nearly as bad as the Americans of the United States. The will of God must, however, in spite of us, be done. But here let me say of France, and be it spoken to her everlasting honor, she htis freed all her slaves. The English are the best friends we coloured p <»nle have upon earth ; though they have oppressed us a little, yet notwithstanding they (the English) have done one thou- sand times more for the amelioration of our condition, than all the other nations of the earth put together. We blacks cannot but respect the English as a nation, notwitstanding they have treated us a little cruel. There is no intelligent black man who knows any thing, but es- teems a real Englishman, let him see him in what part of the world he may ; for they are the greatest benefactors we have upon earth. We have here and there, in other nations, good friends ; but as a nation, the English are our friends. I must here say, in justice and in truth, before my God,that we have here and in theUnitedStates of America, among the Yankees, thousands and millions as good friends as ever lived. They would do us all the good that lay in their power if they could ; but they cannot on account of their Government. Know ye not, that the American people are divided into two parties : one are called Yan- kees, and the other are the slaveholding democrat party. Then, I say, they are two nations, and are different peo- ple ; therefore, I say, my brethren, for there are many genuine Yankees, who are lirst-rate iined)red gentlemen. I have lived with them,and always found them to be good hearted gentlemen. I say again, the American people are two nations. "And the children struggled together with- in her ; and she said, if it be so, why am I thus 'i And she went to enquire of the Lord, and the Lord said unto \ \\ [ 47 J A i\ ) her, two riatlons are in thy worah, and two manner of people sliall be separated from thy hovvels ; and tlie one peo|)le shall he Btrongor than the otiier })e()ple, and the elder nhall serve the younger." — Gen. xxv. 22 and 2;^. How can the preachers and people of America believe the Bible ? l^oes it tf>ach tlieni any distinction on account of a man's color ? Hearken, Americans to tlie injunctions of Our Lord and Master to his Innnble followers : " And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth : go ye therefore and teach all nations, ba])tising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have command- ed you ; and lo ! I am with you alway ; even unto the end of the world. Amen." I declare, that the very face of these injunctions appear to be of God and not of man. They do not show the slightest degree of distinc- tion. '' Go ye, therefore," says my divine master, *'and teach all nations," or, in other words, all people, " baptiz- ing them in the name of the Father,and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Do you understand the above, Ameri- cans ? We are a ])eo])le, notwithstanding many of you doubt it. See St. Matt. c. xxviii. v. 18 to 20, after Jesu» had risen from the dead. You have the Bil)le in your hands with this very in- junction. Have yon been to Africa, teaching the words of the Lord Jesus to the inhabitants thereof 'i — Baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Have you not, on the contrary, enter- ed among us, and learnt us the art of throat-cutting, by setting: us to fisrht one against another ; to take each other as prisoners of war, and sell to you for small bits of cali- co, old swords, knives, tfec, to make slaves for you and your children i This being done, have you not brought us among you in chains and hand-cufts, like brutes, and treated us with all the cruelties and rigour which ingenuity could invent, consistent with the laws of your country, which (for the blacks,) are tyrannical enough. Can the Ameri- t i» J can slaveholdinj]^ preachers appeal unto God, the maker and seai'cher of heai'ts, and tell him, with tlie ])ible in their hands, that thev make no distinction on account of men's coh)r. Can they say, Oli ! God, thou knou'est all thing's, thou knowest that we make no distinction ])etween tliy creatures, to whom w'e have to preach thy word ? Let tliem answer the Lord, and it'they cannot do it in the affirmative, liave they not departed from the Lord Jesus Christ, their Master 'i But some nuiy say that they never had or wei'e in possession of a religion which made no distinction, and of course they could not have departed fi'om it. I ask you then, in the name of the Lord, of what kind can your religion be ? Can it be that which was preached ]>y our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven ? I believe you cannot be so wicked as to tell him that his gospel was that of distinction. What can the American slaveholding preachers take God to be ? Do they believe his words ? If they do, do they believe because they are whites and w^e blacks, that God will have respect to them? Did not God make us all as it seemed best to himself ? What right then has one of us to despise another, and to treat him cruel on account of his color, which none but the God who made it can alter ? Can there be a greater absurdity in nature, aad particularly in a free republican country ? But the Americans have introduced Slavery among them, their iiearts have become almost seared, as with an hot iron, and God has nearly given them up to believe a lie in preference to the truth ! and I am awfully afraid that pride, prejudice, avarice and blood, will, before long, prove the final ruin of that happy rej)ublic or land of liberty ! Can anything be a greater mockeiy of religion than the way in which it is conducted by the American slaveholders? It appears as though they were bent only on daring God Almighty to do his best. See, my brethren, how they are a running our fathers and mothers almost to death, by that wicked Fugitive Slave Bill or Law. They chain and handcuff us and our children and drive us around the country like brutes, and go into the house of M d' C 49 ] yV d' tlie (ilod of Justice, to return Tiiiii thanks for liavhiL* aided them in their infernal cruelties intlicted upon us. Will the Lord siitfer this pcojjU^ to i^^o on mucli Ioniser taking His holy name in vain i Will he not stop thcni, preach- ers and all i Oh, Amoi'icans ! Aniciicans ! Slaveholders, I call (lod, I eall Anyels, I call Men, to witness, that your destruction is at hand, and will be speedily consummated, unless you icpcnt. Now, supj)os(! all th(» preachers of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the United States of America and elsewhere, had to ])reach airainst slavery and op})i-ession all over the Avorld, slavery would have been destroyed all over the world years a^o, and which it is their hounden duty to do, to preach against o])pression every where. ''\) show more fully this truth, I will 2^ive you a few words from the great speech of Mr. John C. Calhou^i, in the senate of the Uni- ted States, when the ministers did preach against slavery and oppression. He says, in speaking of the cords of sla • very given away, — The tirst of these cords Avhich snapped under its ex])ansive force, was that of the powerful Me- thodist lL'.piscoj)al Church, the numerous and strong ties which held it together are all broken, and its unity gone, they now foi'ui separate churches, and instead of that feel- ing of attachment and devotion to the interests of the whole church, which was formerly felt, they are now ar- rayed into two hostile bodies, engaged in litigation about what was formerly their common ])roperty, (that is, the Methodists ^vere beginning to hate slavery.) The next cord, says he, that snapped, was that of the Baptists, one of the largest and most respectable of the denominations. Tlutt of the Presbyterians is not entirely snapped, but some of its strands have given way. That of the Episco- pal Church is the only one of the four great Protestant denominations which remains unbroken and entire. Now, my brethren, these are the words of the Hon. John C, Calhoun on the Slavery Question, delivered in the Senate of the United States, March 4, 1850. Heark- en, ye Miui.^ters of my Master, who preach the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : he has told us who 7 L r.o ] ^^ preaclietli ngniiist nrirl hate slavery and oppre«ly onr ir'ser- able condition. These friends are among the Yankees. — But when I come to thhdv of that great and good man, General Washington, T am astonished to seethe difference between the lather of his country and his sons. President Washington was modest, disinterested, ])rave, tolerant, a fi'iend of the Avhole country, and withal a man of wonder- ful judgment, and a hater of slavery and oppression. He could not hear the thought of seeing men and women torn away from each other; a man torn awny from his wife and children, and sold thousands of miles apart, and W(mien sold from their husbands and children, never to meet again this side of eternity. No ; he i-emembered that it is writ. And cursed is he that j)utteth asunder to them who God has joined together •, what, therefoi-e, God hath join- ed together, let no man ])ut asunder. — Matt. xix. G. 1 have collated from the writings of IVesident Wash- ington the following passages i-elating to slavery ; — Fresiderit Wa.Mn(/to7isvieW'9 on Slavery — I'he plan alluded to in the following letter, wn^ one which Colonel Lawrence had brought heforethe Legislature of South Ca- rolina, for raising a regiment of hlack levies in the State. It was voted down ; but the fVOlowing is an extract of a letter from Wa>iliington, in re])ly to one from Lawrence, communicating his failure : "To Lt. Col. John Lawrence, Head Quarters, lOth July, 1782.— My dear Sir : the last post brought me your letter of the 19th May. I must confess that I am not at all astonished at the failure of your plan. Tliat s])irit of freedom, which, at the com- mencement of this contest, would have gladly sacrificed every thing to the attainment of its object, has long since subsided, and every selfi>]'. passion has taken its place. It is not the public, but private interest, which influen- ces th- cronoi-alitv of mankind. Nor can the Americans any longer boast of exception. Under these circumstan- ces, it would rather have been surprising if you had sue- I'K \ ■ I ail! [ SI ] oecdod. Nor will you, I foar, ha\G Letter success iu GeorL,na." Ill a iTinarkalilc and verv intcrostiiK' letter, written ny Lnt'nyette in tlie ])ris()n of IMn<;urg, lie says : — " I know not what disposition lias 1) en made of my [danta- tion at Cayenne ; ))nt I liope that Madam de Lafayette 1*4 will take care thut the negroes who cul(i\ ate it shall j)re- servo their liherty." In reply to this ])ortion of (Jeneial Lafayette's lettei-, Washington AAi'ote as follows from Mount Vernon, loth May, 178(>: — "The henevolenee of your heart, my dear Marcjuis, is so conspieuons upon all occasions, that I neve;* wonder at any fresh j^roofs of it ; but your late purchase of an estate in the eolony of Cayenne, with a view of emanci])ating the slaves on it, is a generous and nohle ])i'oof of youi* huniajiity. Would to God a like spirit niiglit diinise itself genei-aJly into the minds of the jx'ople of this country. I des])air of seeing it. Some petitions were ])resented to th(! Assembly, at its last Session, for the abolition of shivery, but they could scare -ly obtain a I'eading. To set the slaves afloat at one N\'ould, I really believe, be [)roductive of muek inct>nvenience and mischief; but by degrees it certainly might,, and avssu redly ought to bo, effected, and that too by Legislative authority." Governor Pinckney, of South Carolina, had written the followinii: in a letter to General Washino'ton : " Our Legislature, among other questions, agitated the one res- pecting the future imi>ortatlon of slaves, as the prohibition expires in Mai'ch, 17U'>. Great pains were used to effect a total prohibition; but uron the question Ijeiiig taken in the Senate, it was lost by so decided a majority, that I think we may consider it as certain that this State will, after March, 1793, import as largely as they ever did. It is a decision, uj)on the policy of which I confess I have my doubts." To this Washington replied, in a letter marked "private," Philadelphia, 12th March, 1792, which contained the folio winir passasfe : " I must say that I lament the decision of your Legislature upon the ([uestion of importing slaves after March, 1793. I was in hopes [ 52 ] X fvj. that motives of policy, as well as other good reasons, supported by the direful effects of slavery, which at this moment are presented, would have operated to produce a total prohibition of the importation of Slaves, whenever the question came to be agitated in any State that might be interested in the measure." The following is one of the famous Fairfax county resolutions, adopted at a public meeting held in Fairfax county, Virginnia, the 18th day of July, 1774, over which General Washington presided, reported to the meeting by the Committee of which he was Chairman, and by di- rection of the meeting, reported by him to a State Con- vention, held the following August: "19th. — Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that during our present difficulties and distress, no slaves ought to be im- ported into any of the British Colonies on this Continent ; and we take this opportunity of declaring our most earnest wishes to see an entire stop for ever put to such a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade." The following is the second item of General "Wash- ington's last Will and Testament : " Item. — Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all the slaves whom I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom. To emancipate them during her life would, though earnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties on occount of their intermarriage with the dower negroes, as to excite the most painful sen- sations, if not disagreeable consequences to the latter, while iDoth descriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor ; it not being in my power, under the tenure by which the negroes are held, to manumit them. And whereas, among those who will receive freedom ac- cording to this devise, there may be some Avho, from old age or bodily infirmities, and others who, on account of their infancy, will be unable to support themselves, it is my will and desire that all who come under the first and second descrintion. shall be comfortably clothed and fed by my heirs while they live, and that such of the latter description as have no parents living, or, if living, are A >' [ 68 ] unable or unwilling to provide for them, shall he bound by the Court until they arrive at the age of twenty-five years ; and in case where no record can be produced, whereby their ages can be ascertained, the judgment of the Court upon its own view of the subject shall be final. The negroes thus bound, are (by their masters or Mis- tresses,) to be taught to read and write,* and to be brought up to some useful occupation, aggreeable to the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginnia, providing for the sup- port of orphans and other poor children ; and I do here- by expressly forbid the sale or transportation out of the said commonwealth of any slaves I may die possessed of, under any pretence whatever. And I do, moreover, most pointedly and most solemnly enjoin it upon my executors hereafter named, to see that this clause respecting slaves, and every part thereof, be religiously fulfilled at the epoch at which it is directed to talce place, without eva- sion, neglect, or delay, after the crops which may then be on the ground are harvested." '-= Hearken, reader, to General Washington's letters, and you must say with me that he was a good and a great man. He appears to love all his country alike, black and white. Who will dare to say that President Washington was not an abolitionist ? He had the feelings of an Eng- lish gentleman. But, Oh ! my God, suppose hecould see what his sons and his daughters are doing now ? — What are they doing ? They are fighting against God ; they have made a law called the Fugitive Slave Bill or Slave Law. This accursed act throws more disgrace upon that land of liberty, than anything they have yet done. Now, my brethren, I shall show you how they are fighting against God like Pharoah of old, by comparing God's law with their law. The Jews were forbidden to steal a man and sell him on pain of death, (Exodus, c. 21, V. 16; Deut., c. 24, v. 1.) ^ ^ ^ \ American slaves were originally stolen from Africa. The service among the Hebrews v/as domestic, not predial, * it is a criminal ofFonce now, in Virginia, and in most of the Slave States, to teach a elavo to read or write. f'l i \ ,M ■-■,: ■ <,' 1> : %■■■ *'•'*:( i''5t.- S'^ uj. . ' [ 54 ] - their hound servants were incorporated into their families, and did only such work as the free inmates of the house performed ; if faithful and industrious they are raised to offices of honor and wealth, ((jal., c. iv, v. I.; Prov., c. xvii, V, 2.) In Xmerica they are treated worse than the very brutes. The loss of an eye or a tooth on the part < f a bond servant, througli tlie ill-treatment of his master, entitkd the servant to his or her freedom. (Exodus, c. xxi, 26 and 27 vs.) American slaveholders may cut them, mutilate them, or shoot them, and yet the term of their slavery is continued till death I'eleases them from the fangs of their barbarous masters. The Jewish law, or the law of God, said, " Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which has escaped from his master unto thee, he shall dwell with thee in that place which he sliall choose." (Deut,, c. xxiii, 15 and IG vs.)* The Ame?'ican law saith, "Thou shalt deliver up unto Lis master i-he slave which is escaped from his master unto thee : else thou shalt be subjected to a line of $1000 and imprison^ ment for six months." Now I ask, i^ not this fighting against God, Pharoah like ? But Oh ! my Lord, the slaveholders say they have a constitution Avhich they be- lieve is higher than thy law, but not older. Oh ! Lord Jesus Master, forgive them, for they know not what they do. '^ ■ Again, the slavery of America is perpetual and here- ditary : the unborn child being doomed to slavery from the moment of its birth, till its latest hour. Amongst the Jews themselves, bondage was limited to six years, with suitable provisions upon departing free. (Dent. c. xv, 12th and 15th vs ; Exodus, c. xxi, v. 2 and ^.) The productions of sal)batical years, conmion to all ; (Lev., c. XXV., V. 7.) the 50th year a jubilee to all ; (Lev. c. xxv., V. 10,) in it was proclaimed liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof * But the honorable Daniel Webster, Mr. Clay, nnd Mr. Foot, and otliora, suy " You shall deliver unto his master the slave which is escaprd from liis master U'lto thee ; he shall not dwell with thee in that place which ho shall choose. We havo u Constitution which ia the law of the laud, you shall obey the law of the land.'' ik v# ^ nilies, house 36(1 to i. xvii, 1 very t < f a aaster, c. xxi, , them, f their 3m the , or the master ,0 thee, 3 sliall nerican. iter the le : else l^rison^ ighting I'd, the hey be- ! Lord lat they id here- by from Lmongst X years, it. C. XV, The (Lev., c. C. XXV., the land otliera, ssiy nnstor U'lto We liavo a Imd." !^ m V* \ [ 55 ] , ' American law proclaims that the moment a British ship touches at a port in South Carolina, those of her crew whose complexion falls below a recognized standard of olive, shall ])e immediately taken into custody by the police, and lodged in ])rison. The Jewish law ordains that all strangei's shall be kindly treated. (L<.'V. c. xix, vs. 33 cfe 34 ; Exodus, c. xxiii, v. 9 ; Deut. c. x, vs. 1 7 • .. imily, very , ob- true hate it wo. ^\ [ 63 ] 88,000 ; the Presbyterian Churchee, Old and New School, 77,000 ; and other denominations, 50,000. Oh ! my God ! I am sick ! Header ; so melancholy and startliiiL' afaet as this requires no other comment than* yonr own tlionglits and feelings will readily suggest. Oh, ye happy Canadians ! You are clear from the curse of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Law. May my God, who has regarded that flag, which has braved for a thousand years the battle and the l)reeze, and conquered at Trafal- gar as well as Waterloo, sir ; may God keep her waving for a thousand years more, or to the end of time. So, we have shown the number of Christian churches in the United States that hold to slavery. Now, it will be remembered that the slaveholders, and the whole American people say, that slavery is an evil, a sin, and a great curse, and a cursed thing. The Israelites are smit- ten ; Joshua complains ; but the cliildren of Israel com- mitted atresj)ass in the accurr-ed thing; for Achan, the son of Cm mi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zorah, of the tribe of Judah, took the accursed thing ; and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. — Joshua, vii. 1st to 10th verse. " And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up, wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face ? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant, which I command them ; for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen,and dissembled also ; and they have put it even among their own stuff ; there- fore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, be- cause they were accursed ; neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you." 11th, 12th, lath and to the 19th of Josh. c. vii.—" And Joshua said unto Achan, my son, give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus [ ^>^ ] M i^' $: liave I (lone, when I saw among tlio sf)oilg a goodly Babylonish garment, and two liundi-ed sheckhs of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty sheekleH weight, then I . coveted them, and took them, and behold tln^y are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."— to the 2-2nd vs. Now, we see tlie men of Ai smote of them about thirty an'^ six men, on account of that sin. How many has been .villed and ruined on account of Slavery ? Oh! my Ciod thou knowest. Now, reader, let us suppose thjit one soul for whom Jesus died, are worth more than all the Babylonish garments and wedges of gold and silver the world coidd allbrd. But when we look at the number of these Babylonish garments held in each of the Christian churches of the United States of America, it is awful to relate. I have said the Methodist churches had 210,503 : the Baptists, 125,000 ; Cam])bellite Baptists, 101,000 ; Epis- copalians, 88,000; Presbyterians, Old and New school, 77,000 ; and other denominations, 50,000. Oli ! my God ! what a host of Achans there are in the churches. Oh ! Lord Jesus ! Master ! cleanse thy churches of thera, and slavery will cease. (V I • .V /' I i\ Gentlemen of Hamilton ! I feel thankful to you for the invitation requesting me to deliver this Address. I could not refuse your call, signed as it was by the names of 210 citizens. 1 comply with your request. Now, may the Lord Jesus Christ bless you all. Amen. I am. Your Obedient Servant, PAOLA BROWN, Esq. V u '»)