*
delivered BEFoRE THz f i
AFRICAN so CIETY IN BO STON,
.. 15TH of JULY, 1822,
ON THE t
- ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION i
#
OF THE - 1
abolition of the slaut Crabt.
by Rev. Thaddeus Mason HARRIs, D. D.
* t Boston.
. . -- # printed by Phelps and FARNHAM,
. No. 5, Court Street.
- 1822.











A * @
. A 37-
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
GENERAL LIBRARY
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
* * * > . , 3
DISCOURSE.
ACTS XVII. 26.
GOD HATH MADE OF ONE BLOOD ALL NATIONS TO DWELL UPON
THE FACE OF THE EARTH, AND HATH DETERMINED THE
TIMEs BEFORE APPoinTED, AND THE BOUNDS OF THEIR
HABITATION,
* A
We are here taught that the human race have a common
Creator, a common origin, and a common nature. They
are “made of one blood;” a kindred fluid circulates through
their veins. “Their hearts are fashioned alike.” However
they may be distinguished by outward circumstances, or
differ in complexion, they possess the same affections, pas-
sions, and sensibilities. In the exercise of these affections,
they become endeared to each other. In the regulation and
due government of these passions, they respect each others’
rights, and avoid whatever would be injurious to the individ-
ual, or disturb the social state. And, by cherishing their
sensibilities, they are disposed to take a kind interest in each
others’ welfare, and prompted to constant endeavours to
promote it. “They are to dwell upon the face of the earth,”
as joint inheritors of the soil, and sharers in its produc-
tions. “GoD hath determined for them the times before ap-
pointed,” that there should be a succession of generations:
and as, by the increase of mankind, families multiply to
{\
4
tribes, and tribes to nations, Divine Providence prescribed
“the bounds of their habitation;” so that the respective ter-
ritories of each are designated, that they might not be en-
croached upon nor invaded.* º
With all this provision for social order and happiness,
mankind ought to live together as members of one large
family; though separating from each other as they settle in
the world, yet not disunited nor estranged ; and, having a
common interest, zealously engaged in promoting it. But
the history of our species discovers to us how little this has
been regarded by them. Instead of continuing to prove “how
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity,” they became selfish, sought to monopolize the boun-
ties of nature, and aimed more at private gratification than
the general benefit. Those who had obtained but a small
share of what were considered the goods of life, grew envi-
ous of those who had more. Hence arose cupidity; and, to
obtain what was coveted, resort was had to fraud or rapine.
This occasioned contention. Those who possessed most
power, or could bring the greater number to share with
them as freebooters, were enabled to plunder the feeble and
make a spoil of the unresisting. Where opposition was at-
tempted, it served only to increase the contest with those
who suffered wrong. Sometimes injuries provoked retalia-
tion. Invasion of each others’ rights led to oppression, and
incensed the passions to war. Such as were not slain in the
conflict were taken captives, and subjugated to their con-
querors, or sold as slaves to others.-Such was the origin of
SLAVERY in ancient times. WAR was its hateful parent,
TYRANNY its cruel master, and DEGRADATION and suPFERING
its remorseless lot.
If the claims of HUMANITY were disregarded, it might
have been supposed that, when the injunctions of RELIGION
* Compare Deuteronomy xxxii. 8.
p y
5
were added, they would have proved of avail to subdue
“those inordinate lusts and passions whence come wars and
fightings,” especially that the mild and gracious system of
CHRISTIANITY would have restrained men from those excesses
which had prevailed among heathen and uncivilized nations,
and have rendered those who became its converts as much
superior to other men in benignity and tenderness, as the
benevolence of the gospel was to that of every other religious
institution in the world. And certain it is that, through the
prevalence of our blessed religion, the condition of those
who were kept in bondage was greatly improved; and that,
in compliance with its principles, the Christian emperors
enacted many laws to check the licentiousness of masters,
and require them to treat their slaves with lenity and kind-
ness.” An eminent historian, discussing the causes which
weakened the feudal system and finally abolished slavery in
Europe in the XIVth century, observes, “The gentle spirit
of the Christian religion, together with the doctrines which
it teaches concerning the original equality of mankind, as
well as the impartial eye with which the Almighty regards
men of every condition, and admits them to a participation
of his benefits, are inconsistent with servitude. But in this,
as in many other instances, considerations of interest and the
maxims of false policy, led men to a conduct inconsistent
with their principles. They were so sensible, however, of
the inconsistency, that to set their fellow Christians at liberty
from servitude was deemed an agt of piety highly meritori-
ous and acceptable to heaven. The humane spirit of the
Christian religion struggled long in this respect with the max-
ims and manners of the world, and contributed more than
* See Instit. lib. I. tit. VIII. Digest. lib. I. tit. VI. 12. lib. XLVIII.
tit. VIII. XI. Novell. XXII. c. VII. &c. See, also, Univ. Hist. vol. XV.
Ps 574–577.
6
any other circumstance to introduce the practice of manu-
mission.”
In the XVth century slavery had ceased throughout Eu-
rope; but, at the commencement of the XVIth century, the
discovery of America and of the western and eastern coasts
of Africa, gave occasion to the introduction of a new species
of slavery. It took its rise from the Portuguese, who, in
order to supply the Spaniards with persons able to sustain
the fatigue of cultivating their possessions in America, partic-
ularly the islands, opened a trade between Africa and Ameri-
ca for the sale of negroes as slaves.f
The expedient of employing Africans for labour upon the
plantations was not long peculiar to the Spaniards, being af.
terwards adopted by other nations, as they acquired pos-
sessions in the West Indies; and, to supply the demand,
the trade in slaves was undertaken by all the maritime na-
tions in Europe. Thousands of both sexes and of all ages,i
acquired by stratagem or force, and retained by compulsion
and violence, were torn away from their relations and
friends, from their fields and flocks, from their home and
country, from every connection that was dear to them, and
every thing that was valuable in life, to be carried into un-
sparing and hopeless captivity, interminable exile and bon-
dage. These unoffending victims to rapacity and avarice
were “compelled to labour, without wages or any kind of
remuneration, for those to whom they were under no obli-
gation by any law, human of divine, to submit;” and were re-
duced to the most abject and humiliating state of degradation
and misery in which it is possible for human beings to exist.
On the cruel treatment connected with the capture, the
transportation, and the sale of those who were thus wrongful-
* Robertson's View of the State of Europe, Introd. to his History of
Charles W. JNote XX. See also DU CANGE. Glossar. “JManwmissio.”
t See Note A, † Note B.
7
ly deprived of their liberty, no good mind can reflect but
with sentiments of commisseration and horror. I stop not
to state how inconsistent the infliction of such wrongs and
sufferings is, not merely with the common principles of hu-
manity, but with the decencies of civilization; nor how
truly astonishing it is that the perpetration of such
enormities should have been suffered among nations calling
themselves Christians. We can account for it only by Sup-
posing that “the nature of the trade and of the slavery was
but little known, except to those immediately concerned in
them; and it is obvious that these would neithér endanger
their own interest nor proclaim their own guilt by exposing
it.”
At length the inhumanity, the rapacity, the sordid avarice,
and the callous barbarity of those who engaged in procuring
and vending slaves were exposed; and a moral abhorrence
of the nefarious traffic has been universally excited in the
public mind. Men of benevolent principles, who had influ-
ence in society, used their endeavours to have these atroci-
ties prevented, and were indefatigable and persevering in
their exertions to procure the enaction of laws, first for the
restriction of the inhuman commerce, and eventually for its
abolition. You have often been remindéd, my friends, of
the result of these exertions in Great Britain; and in their
success have felt the most animating joy. You have been
informed, too, of the endeavours of the British government
by treaties with other nations to engage them to desist from
the trade it as also, that the Congress at Vienna, composed
of plenipotentiaries from five of the principal powers of
Europe, on the 8th of February, 1815, made a solemn en-
gagement in the face of mankind, “to effect the universal
abolition of the slave trade,” which they denounce as “a
scourge which has so long desolated Africa, degraded
Europe, and afflicted humanity.”f
* Note C. t Note D.
8
Spain, though not a party in the original engagement, yet
soon after, in a treaty with England, stipulated for the imme-
diate abolition to the north of the equator, and for its final
and universal abolition on the 30th of May, 1820.
Portugal, likewise, has stipulated that the Portuguese
slave trade on the coast of Africa should entirely cease to
the northward of the equator, and engaged that it should be
unlawful for her subjects to purchase or trade in slaves ex-
cept to the southward of the line. The precise period at
which the entire abolition is to take place in Portugal does
not appear to be finally fixed; but the Portuguese ambassa-
dor, in the presence of the Congress at Vienna, declared
that Portugal, faithful to her principles, would not refuse to
adopt the term of eight years, which term will expire in
the year 1823.
The result of this triumph of justice over oppression is,
that at this time, among the European states, there is not a
flag that can lawfully cover this inhuman traffic to the north
of the equator. It is deeply to be lamented, however, that
in some most flagrant instances, these various laws and
regulations have been evaded, and the groans of the oppress-
ed Africans have been heard mingling with the winds that
pass over the murmuring waves.” But be not disheartened,
my friends. Think not that your race are always to be
victims to the rapacity and cupidity of desperate and lawless
men. No | God will vindicate their wrongs; and, under
his merciful and favouring providence, effectual measures
will be taken, not only to prevent the recurrence of these
atrocities, but to convey peace, and civilization, and the
blessings of religion to all the tribes of Africa.
Having intimated some of the measures pursued by Great
Britain and the European powers for the discontinuance of
this unnatural commerce in the human species, I propose to
* Note E.
9
make a few remarks upon what has been done in our own
country.
You know that your people were brought for slaves to
the southern parts of this country at the times of their early
settlement; not first by the colonists themselves, but by
merchants of the parent country for their use. As popula-
tion increased, the demand for them became greater, and
the traffic more considerable ; so that, at the time of the
American revolution, great numbers were held in ignomini-
ous bondage. *
Notwithstanding the zeal of the colonies to assert their
rights, and to resist what they called oppression; and their
great explicitness in declaring that all men are equal, and that
liberty is the birth-right of all, and an inalienable property;
yet they could not at once give that freedom to others which
they so resolutely claimed for themselves. The delegates,
however, in the first Continental Congress, seemed to have
felt the inconsistency of retaining one portion of the inhabi-
tants in slavery, while they were asserting the rights and
liberties of the whole; and accordingly passed and promul-
gated a resolution, on the 6th of April, 1776, that “no slaves
should be imported into any part of the confederation:”
thus determining to prevent the increase of an evil, the ex-
istence of which they could not but lament.
The vast territory north-west of the Alleghany mountains
having been ceded to the United States, Congress, to make
permanent regulations for it, passed an ordinance for its
government, dated 13th of July, 1787; the sixth article of
which enacts, that “there shall be neither slavery nor in-
voluntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in
the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted.” How this national statute was violated
* See Journals of Congress for 1776.
C)
sº
10
when slavery was allowed to Missouri, on its admission into
the Union, you have heard with astonishment.*
When, to consolidate the union of the several states, and
to perpetuate the blessings of liberty, the Federal Constitu-
tion was formed, a reference was had to this degraded part
of the community; but though full powers were possessed
for the entire and immediate suppression of the farther im-
portation, yet by way of compromise with the slave-holding
states, and in accommodation to their views and requisi-
tions, it was deemed expedient to postpone the suppression
jor twenty years. “It were doubtless to be wished, (says
Mr. MADisonſ) that the power of prohibiting the importation
of slaves had not been postponed until the year 1808, or
rather that it had been suffered to have immediate operation.
But it is not difficult to account either for this restriction on
the general government, or for the manner in which the
whole clause is expressed. It ought to be considered as a
great point gained in favour of humanity, that a period of
twenty years may terminate forever, within these states, a
traffic which has so long and so loudly upbraided the bar-
barism of modern policy; that within that period it will re-
ceive a considerable discouragement from the Federal Gov-
ernment, and may be totally abolished, by a concurrence of
the few states, which continue the unnatural traffic, in the
prohibitory example which has been given by so great a
majority of the Union.”
Though there was to be so long a suspension of the work
of mercy, yet Congress repeatedly gave to the world pledges
of their wish and of their determination wholly and forever
to abolish a traffic which president Monroe, in his message of
1820, described as “disgraceful to the civilized world.”
Laws have been multiplied for its restriction and prohibi-
tion;| penalties increased in severity ; as an ultimate expe-
* Note F. f Note G. f See a paper of his in “the Federalist.”
| Note H.
11
dient for its termination, it has been branded with its appro-
priate name of “Piracy,” and those who shall be found en-
gaged in it are subjected to capital punishment; and, under
the authority of these acts, and for more effectually enfor.
cing the provisions of them, some of our armed ships have
been employed on the coast of Africa.”
The importation of slaves being prohibited, we look for-
ward to the gradual emancipation of such as are yet held in
bondage; and rejoice that the Colonization Society interests
itself so zealously in behalf of such as obtain freedom.
It would be gratifying to learn, that the condition of those
who are yet held in slavery was more comfortable, and that
attention was paid to their improvement; but we have heard,
with deep regret, the inhabitants of the southern states re-
proached with neglectful indifference towards this degraded
and wretched portion of American population. Even a
munificent donation, sent to relieve those who had suffered
by a desolating fire, was rejected, because it was forwarded
with a request that the people of colour should be partakers
of the relief;f and the liberal bequest of the venerable
and philanthropic Kosciusco is impeded in its kind appropri-
ation.f We are informed, too, that these hapless beings are
not only subjected to the most laborious drudgery, “and their
lives made bitter with hard bondage;” but that they are
brought up in the most deplorable ignorance ; are not in-
structed in the rudiments of religion ; and are even denied
the privilege of hearing preachers, who, from compassionate
motives, have offered to make them acquainted with the du-
ties and doctrines of Christianity.|| Here, then, is a large
* Note I. t Note J. f Note K.
| Our newspapers frequently state these things: it might seem in-
vidious to quote the paragraphs. Something may be learnt from Dr.
ToRREY’s Picture of Domestic Slavery, and Dr. GRIFFIN’s Plea for
•Africa, p. 32—34.
12
*- “A
number of our fellow beings, who live where the highest de-
gree of civil LIBERTY is professed, and yet remain excluded
from it ; and where that spiritual, LIBERTY wherewith
Christ has made us free is enjoyed, without sharing any of
its advantages; and who are destitute of all the sources of
consolation and enjoyment which belong to a human, moral,
intellectual being! Alas! that the gloom of servitude is
not brightened by some rays of mental and moral light, and is
suffered to gather with its deepest shades over that grave,
which is looked forward to with hope only because “there
the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary will be
at rest; the voice of the oppressor be no more heard, and the
servant be free from his master.”
There is something appalling in this reflection. It is a
consideration of fearful import: for, when we think of the
Supreme Being as the Judge and Windicator of the oppress-
ed, and the Avenger of their wrongs, we must look forward
with apprehension to the day of righteous retribution.* Well
might Mr. JEFFERSoN say, “I tremble for my country when
I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep for-
ever; that considering numbers, nature, and natural means
only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of
situation, is among possible events, that it may become
probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has
no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.”f
But I turn from these fearful forebodings, to make some
remarks upon the former and present condition of people of
colour in the state of Massachusetts.
Although in early times in this state there were Africans
in several families who were purchased as slaves, yet they
were always treated humanely; were well fed and clothed;
were instructed by their masters and mistresses, particular-
* Note L,
i Wołes on Pirginia, p. 173. Philadelphia edition, 1788,
13
ly on the Lord's day; and were required to be present
morning and evening, when the family were called together
to hear the Bible read and to unite in prayers; their chil-
dren were baptized, and, when old enough, were sent to
school; and, in short, their condition was merely that of
servants, not of slaves. Indeed, the practice itself of do-
mestic slavery is altogether repugnant to the institutions and
feelings of the people of New England, and to that remarka-
ble spirit of wholesome and rational liberty by which this
Commonwealth, in particular, has been greatly distinguished
from the earliest period.
In the year 1641, it was ordained that “none shall be held
in bond slavery, villinage, or captivity, unless it be lawful
captives taken in just wars, such as willingly sell themselves
and are sold to us;–and such shall have the liberty and
Christian usage, which the law of GoD established in Israel
concerning such persons doth morally require.”
A most honourable and humane resolve was passed in the
General Court in the year 1646, against “the heinous and
crying sin of man-stealing” on the coast of Guinea, in order
to obtain persons to carry into captivity.*
In the early part of the XVIIIth century, the venerable
Judge SEWALL interested himself warmly in behalf of the
Africans who were subjected to bondage.f
In 1767 a bill was brought into the General Court against
“the unwarrantable and unnatural system of enslaving
mankind, and to prevent the importation of slaves into the
province.”
At the time of the revolution it became customary for
masters to give liberty to their servants, and those who did
*The resolve, and the case on which it is founded, are recited in the
Report of a Committee of the General Court of Massachusetts, 16th
January, 1822, respecting free negroes and mulattoes.—That Report
contains, also, a most interesting history of the acts and regulations of the
Court respecting slaves.
† Note M.
14
not do it voluntarily, were sued by the negroes for their
freedom. - -
The abolition of slavery in Massachusetts was virtually
effected by the Constitution established in the year 1780;”
though the law by which it was completely effected was not
passed till the 26th of March, 1788;-“seventeen years be-
fore the abolition in Denmark, the earliest European aboli-
tion.” This law received the signature of John HANCOCK,
Esq. then governor of this Commonwealth. That eminent
patriot was a warm friend to the liberties of the Africans in
our country; he is remembered, by some whom I now ad-
dress, with high sentiments of veneration and gratitude; and
his name is inscribed on the triumphant banner borne in
your procession this day.
It has been remarked that, “in the first census of the in-
habitants of the United States, in the year 1790, no other
than free persons were returned from Massachusetts, the
only state in the Union which at that time did not contain
slaves, and the only state represented in the first Congress
held at New York in 1789, which had formally abolished
slavery.”
From these statements it must be apparent to you, my
friends, that the lines have fallen to you in pleasant places,
and that you have a goodly heritage. Yours are the privi-
... leges of liberty, secured by the immunities of that free
constitution of government under which you live, improved
by the advantages of knowledge, and sanctified by the influ-
ence of religion. You live among those who acknowledge
and respect your rights and franchise, who are disposed to
treat you with kindness, and from whom you are daily re-
ceiving tokens of civility and favour. You live among those
who take a kind interest in your improvement, and have
assisted you in the erection of this commodious house for
* Note N. "
15
s/
public worship; and the very street in which it is erected
bears the name of one who was an able vindicator of your
cause.* There was raised up for you a liberal benefactor
in the late ABIEL SMITH, Esq. who left you a legacy to
support a school for the education of your children if and
it is gratifying to know that the institution is in a flourishing
state; that a private school, under the care of the wife of
your worthy and pious pastor, has obtained kind patronage;
and that the Sunday School is well attended. I most sin-
cerely commend you for your correct and decorous deport-
ment, for the disposition which you show to be known and
regarded as good and useful members of society, for your
ambition to have your children well instructed and brought
up in good moral principles and habits, and for your own
respect for religion, and regular attendance upon public
worship. I sincerely congratulate you upon all the advan-
tages with which you are favoured, and hope that you will
continue to make a good use of them, and that they will be
increased and perpetuated. I rejoice with you in the gladness
of this day; and trust that by your decorum and tempe-
rance, you will gain approbation in the view of the communi-
nity, do honour to yourselves, and have a fund of pleasant
reflections to enrich the joys of to-morrow, and to enliven
all your future anticipations.
Accept my cordial wishes for your welfare, temporal and
spiritual. Though you are as strangers in a foreign land,
yet, through the blessed gospel, and the privileges offered
you in CHRIST Jesus, you may become fellow citizens with
the saints, and share the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
With all the cheering emotions which this occasion in-
spires, let us mingle those of fervent piety. Let us pray for
oppressed Africa, the land of your fathers. God grant that
it may be protected from the spoiler, and that its inhabitants
* Note O. t Note P.
16
may not only remain unmolested, but may become civili-
zed, and receive the knowledge and the advantages of the
Christian religion!—Let us pray for those who are returning to
those shores to form a new colony. May they be preserved
in health, and be greatly prospered 1–Let us pray for your
devoted kindred in captivity. May their hardships be allevi-
ated, and the wrongs which they suffer be redressed —
Let us pray for those who interest themselves in behalf of
the oppressed Africans. May, their exertions be crowned
with the most hopeful success, and rewarded into their
own bosoms with the best of divine blessings —Let us,
also, pray for those who shall add their bounty to the con-
tribution which is now solicited. May they have a recom-
pense in the life which now is, and a more abundant re-
ward in the life and world to come.
Finally. Let us all look forward to another world,
where undisturbed freedom and everlasting happiness are
to be enjoyed. There may we all meet, and be accepted
by the mercy of GoD, the common parent of us all, through
JESUS CHRIST our Saviour !
AMEN.
NOTES,
NOTE. A.
THIS disgraceful commerce is said to have begun in the year 1508,
when the first importation of negro slaves was made into Hispaniola from
the Portuguese settlements on the western coasts of Africa.
[See ANDERson's History of Commerce, WI. 336.
“The shores of Hispaniola were the first American soil polluted by the
footsteps of an African slave, and they were the first to witness his emanci-
pation ; the land which first drank his tears, was the first drenched in the
blood of his oppressors; and the mountains which first re-echoed the sound
of the lacerating scourge, were the first which reverberated the signal of
his triumph. He is now the lord of the soil he ignobly tilled for others,
and waves the banner of freedom over the scenes of his former ignominy
and suffering. The voice of GoD speaks loudly in this event, let the
nations look to it.” [CHRISTIAN DiscIPLE, for January and February,
1822. p. 39. The whole article deserves careful perusal.
The Abbe RAYNAL, in his History of the West Indies, Vol. IV. p. 148,
Book XI. has an address to the inhabitants of Hispaniola, (more usually
called St. Domingo,) written several years before the revolution there,
which seems prophetic of that event:
“If interest alone can have influence over you, listen to me once more.
Your slaves stand in no need either of your generosity or your counsels, in
order to break the sacrilegious yoke of their oppression. Nature speaks a
more powerful language than philosophy or interest. Already have two
colonies of fugitive megroes been established, to whom treaties and power
have given a perfect security from your attempts. These are so many
indications of the impending storm, and the negroes only want a chief
sufficiently courageous to lead them to vengeance and slaughter.
“Where is this great man whom nature owes to her afflicted, oppressed,
and tormented children Where is he He will undoubtedly appear. He
will shew himself. He will lift up the sacred standard of liberty. This
3
18
venerable signal will collect around him the companions of his misfortunes.
They will rush on with more impetuosity than torrents. They will leave
behind them in all parts indelible traces of their just resentment. Span-
iards, Portuguese, English, French, Dutch, all their tyrants, will become
the victims of fire and sword. The plains of America will suck up with
transport the blood which they have so long expected, and the bones of so
many wretches heaped upon one another during the course of so many
centuries will leap for joy. Then will the Black Code be no more ; and
the White Code will be a dreadful one, if the conqueror only regards the
right of reprisals.”
|NOTE B.
“lN a few years the number exported varied from fifty to an hundred
thousand. In 1791 the British importations alone amounted to seventy-
four thousand.”
“It is calculated that Africa has been drained of no less than one hundred
and fifty thousand of its inhabitants annually ; and that, in the year 1817,
two hundred and forty thousand slaves were exported from the coast of
Africa.”
“The extension of the trade for the last 25 or 30 years must, in a degree,
be conjectural; but the best information that can be obtained on the sub-
ject furnishes good foundation to believe, that during that period, the
number of slaves withdrawn from Western Africa amounts to upwards of
a million and a half; the annual average would be a mean somewhere
between fifty and eighty thousand. [Report of Committee to Congress,
February 9, 1821.
“In the last twelve months [1820] not less than sixty thousand Africans
have been forced from their country, principally under the colours of
France.” [Sir GEORGE Collie R’s Report.
The importation into South Carolina in the year 1783 was as follows:
From Africa and the West Indies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1003
From St. Augustine, &c. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
*sº
1170
The meat year (1784) were imported from Africa 4020
and the West Indies . . . . . . . . tº e º ſº tº ſº
From St. Augustine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1372
— 5392
*
Negroes imported into South Carolina in 1783 & 1784 . . . . 6562
*mº
[See Holm Es’s Annals, Vol. II. p. 468.
19
NOTE C.
TREATY between his Britanic majesty and his most faithful majesty,
* signed at London, 28th July, 1817—and his Catholic majesty at Madrid,
23d September, 1817—and the king of the Netherlands, at the Hague, 4th
, May, 1818.
R
NOTE D.
THE plenipotentiaries of the powers composing the Congress at Vienna
declare—“that they could not better honour their mission, fulfil their duty,
and manifest the principles which guided their august sovereigns, than by
2. labouring to realize their engagement to effect the universal abolition of
& the slave trade, and by proclaiming in the name of the sovereigns their de-
sire to put an end to a scourge, which has so long desolated Africa, de-
graded Europe, and afflicted humanity: and in making this declaration
known to Europe and to all the civilized nations of the earth, the said
plenipotentiaries flatter themselves they shall engage all other governments,
” and particularly those who, in abolishing the traffic in slaves, have already
manifested the same sentiments, to support them with their suffrages in a
cause, of which the final triumph will be one of the greatest monuments of
the age which undertook it, and which shall have gloriously carried it into
effect.”
In transcribing this most noble declaration, I am reminded of a remark
of the celebrated M. NECKER. In his work of the French finances, pub-
lished in 1784, referring to the slaves in the colonies, he expresses a strong
disapprobation of the execrable trade, and throws out the idea of a general
compact, by which all the European nations should agree to abolish it;
and he indulged the pleasing hope that it might take place even in the
present generation.
*
NOTE. E.'
“IT appears that the number of ships carrying French colours has multi-
plied to an extent altogether incredible on any other supposition, than
that adventurers of all other nations, and particularly of this country, have
assumed a French disguise. It has been officially stated to our govern-
ment, upon the most respectable authority, that two hundred thousand
slaves have been carried off from the coast of Africa, by vessels under the
French flag, in the course of the last year.” [See JMemorial of the Amer-
ican Colonization Society, presented to Congress 6th of February, 1822,
20
NOTE F.
WHEN an application was made by the Missouri Territory to be admit-
ted as one of the United States, and with the permission to hold slaves,
it was generally believed that Congrèss could not grant such an indulgence;
that it would be a violation of the Bill of Rights, on which our Constitution
was founded, as well as of the principles of justice and humanity, and
repugnant to the very spirit of liberty, which is the pride and boast of
: a professed NATION OF FREEMEN. Both in the Senate and Congress
the question whether Missouri should be admitted with or without the
restriction was agitated in warm debate, and in some most impressive
speeches. All that learning, humanity, a regard to sound policy, and a
respect to the principles of our free and republican forms of government
could adduce, exhibited with the most powerful and persuasive eloquence,
failed of effecting their benevolent purpose : Their pleadings fell upon
deafened ears, and moved not hearts indurated by selfishness. The Bill
for the admission of Missouri into the Union, without the restrictive clause
prohibiting slavery, passed the House of Representatives, though only by
a lean majority of four votes:—against the restriction, 90—for the restric-
tion, 86. So that Missouri is permitted to become a slave-holding state.
It is impossible to describe the feelings of surprise and regret which this
decision has occasioned in the New England States. The friends of hu-
manity and freedom are palsied at the shock. Not only will this be the
means of continuing and extending the most disgraceful practice of keep-
ing slaves, but of opening a new market for the sale ; and thus furnish
slave traders and kidnappers with inducements to procure, per fas awt
nefas, new supplies by importation. We are thus reminded of a fine
apostrophe by Dr. BEATTLE:
“Let it not any longer be said that slavery is countenanced by the
bravest and most generous people on earth; by a people who are ami-
mated with that heroic passion, the love of liberty, beyond all other nations,
ancient or modern, and the fame of whose toilsome but unwearied perse-
verance in vindicating at the expense of life and fortune the sacred rights
of mankind, will strike terror into the hearts of sycophants and tyrants,
and excite the admiration and gratitude of all good men to the latest
posterity º [Essay on Truth, Part III. Ch. 2.
* - " '
*
NOTE. G.
In the Convention most of the states were anxious to insert a provision
authorizing the immediate total abolition of the slave trade. This was
resisted peremptorily by Georgia and South Carolina, and the compromise
} 21
was at length effected which is found in the ninth section of the first article
of the Constitution. The earnestness of those two states was further shown
… by their insisting on the security in the fifth article against any amendment
to the Constitution affecting the faculty reserved to them of continuing to
prosecute the trade for twenty years.
In the debates of the Virginia Convention respecting the Federal Con-
stitution, Mr. MADison declared—“The southern states would not have
entered into the Union of America without the temporary permission of
} /the slave trade. And if they were excluded from the Union, the conse-
V’ quence might be dreadful to them and to us.”—“If South Carolina and
Georgia should disunite from the other states for not indulging them in
the temporary continuance of this traffic, they might solicit and obtain aid
from foreign powers.” [p. 322.
NOTE H.
“THE act of Congress of the 22d of March, 1794, contains provisions that
no citizen or citizens of the United States, or foreigner, or any other person
coming into, or residing within the same, shall, for himself or any other per-
son whatsoever, either as master, factor, or owner, build, fit, equip, load, ºn
or otherwise prepare, any ship or vessel, within any port or place of the
United States, nor shall cause any ship or vessel to sail from any port or
place within the same, for the purpose of carrying on any trade or traffic in
slaves to any foreign country; or for the purpose of procuring from any
foreign kingdom, place, or country, the inhabitants of such kingdom, place
or country, to be transported to any foreign country, port, or place, what-
ever, to be sold or disposed of as slaves, under the penalty of the forfeiture
of any such vessel, and of the payment of large sums of money by the per-
sons offending against the directions of the act. .
“By an act of the 3d of April, 1798, in relation to the Mississippi Territory,
to which the constitutional provision did not extend, the introduction of
slaves, under severe penalties, was forbidden, and every slave imported
contrary to the act, was to be entitled to freedom.
“By an act of the 10th of May, 1800, the citizens or residents of this
country were prohibited from holding any right or property in vessels em-
ployed in transporting slaves from one foreign country to another, on pain
of forfeiting their right of property, and also double the value of that right in
money, and double the value of their interest in the slaves; nor were they
allowed to serve on board of vessels of the United States employed in the
transportation of slaves from one country to another, under the punishment .
of fines and imprisonment, nor were they penmitted to serve on board of
foreign ships employed in the slave trade. By this act, also, the commis-
s
22
sioned vessels of the United States were authorized to seize vessels and
crews employed contrary to the act.
“By an act of the 28th of February, 1803, masters of vessels were not
allowed to bring into any port (where the laws of the state prohibited the
importation) any negro, mulatto, or other person of colour, not being a na-
tive, a citizen, or registered seaman, of the United States, under the pain
of penalties ; and no vessel, having on board persons of the above de-
scription, was to be admitted to an entry; and if any such person should
be landed from on board of any vessel, the same was to be forfeited.
“By an act of the 2d of March, 1807, the importation of slaves into any
port of the United States was to be prohibited after the 1st of January,
1808, the time prescribed by the constitutional provision. This act con-
tains many severe provisions against any interference or participation in the
slave trade, such as heavy fines, long imprisonments, and the forfeitures of
vessels; the President was also authorized to employ armed vessels to
cruise on any part of the coast where he might judge attempts would be
made to violate the act, and to instruct the commanders of armed vessels
to seize, and bring in, vessels found on the high seas contravening the pro-
visions of the law.
“By an act of the 20th of April, 1818, the laws, in prohibition of the
slave trade, were further improved. This act is characterized with a pecu-
liarity of legislative precaution, especially in the eighth section, which
throws the labour of proof upon the defendant, that the coloured persons
brought into the United States by him, had not been brought in contrary to
; : the laws.
“By an act of the 3d of March, 1819, the power is continued in the Presi-
dent to employ the armed ships of the United States, to seize, and bring
into port, any vessel engaged in the slave trade by citizens or residents of
*
the United States; and such vessels, together with the goods and effects on
board, are to be forfeited and sold, and the proceeds to be distributed, in
like manner, as is provided by law for the distribution of prizes taken from
an enemy; and the officers and crew are to undergo the punishments in-
flicted by previous acts. The President, by this act, is authorized to make
such regulations and arrangements as he may deem expedient, for the safe
keeping, support, and removal beyond the limits of the United States,
of all such negroes, mulattoes, or persons of colour, as may have been
brought within its jurisdiction, and to appoint a proper person or persons
, residing on the coast of Africa, as agent or agents for receiving the negroes,
mulattoes, or persons of colour, delivered from on board of vessels seized in
the prosecution of the slave trade.
“And in addition to all the aforesaid laws, the present Congress, on the
15th of May, 1820, believing that the then existing provisions would not be
... sufficiently available, enacted, that if any citizen of the United States, being
23
of the crew or ship's company of any foreign ship or vessel, engaged in the
slave trade, or any person whatever, being of the crew or ship's company
of any ship or vessel, owned in the whole, or in part, or navigated for, or
in behalf of, any citizen or citizens of the United States, shall land from any
such ship or vessel, and on foreign shore seize any negro or mulatto, not
held to service or labour, by the laws of either of the states or territories of
the United States, with intent to make such negro or mulatto a slave, or
shall decoy or forcibly bring, or carry, or shall receive such negro or mulat-
to, on board any such ship or vessel, with intent as aforesaid, such citizen
or person shall be adjudged a pirate, and on conviction shall suffer death.”
Tºmºmº
NOTE I.
I BEG leave to refer to the ** Report of the case of the Jeune Eugenie,
determined in the Circuit Court of the United States for the first circuit at
Boston, December, 1821, with an Appendix, by W. P. MAson, Reporter,
Boston, 1822”—and to the Review of this Report, in the CHRISTIAN
Disciple for January and February, 1822.
cºmmºn
NOTE J.
THE distressing fire in Savannah, the capital of Georgia, called out very
liberal contributions for the relief of the sufferers, particularly in the middle
and northern states. In the city of New York the sum of twelve thousand
dollars was promptly subscribed, and forwarded with a request that such
people of colour as were sufferers might share in the distribution. This
gave umbrage to the City Council, who sent back to the Donation Com-
mittee of New York the sum subscribed, because encumbered with such
a condition 1
NOTE K.
THE patriotic General KoscIUsco bequeathed a fund exceeding twenty
thousand dollars, in the hands of President JEFFERSoN, to be laid out in
the purchase of young female slaves, who are to be educated and eman-
cipated. General CookE, of Virginia, has, at the request of Mr. JEF-
EERSoN, undertaken the administration of this trust, in the hope that the
difficulties opposed to the wishes of the testator, under the existing laws
of Virginia, may be obviated, in accordance with the terms of his will, by
incorporating the bequest with the funds of the American Society for
24
colonizing free people of colour, under the sanction and controul of a
Court of Equity.
umamºus
NOTE L.
In the Federalist, Mr. MADIson writes thus—“May it not happen, in
fine, that the minority of citisens may become a majority of persons, by
the accession of alien residents, of a casual concourse of adventurers, or of
those whom the constitution of the state has not admitted to the rights of
suffrage 2 I take no notice of an unhappy species of population abounding
in some of the states, who, during the calm of regular government, are
sunk below the level of men, but who, in the tempestuous scenes of civil
violence, nay emerge into the human character and give a superiority of
`strength to any party with which they may associate themselves.”
I make an extract from a pamphlet entitled “Free remarks on the
spirit of the Federal Constitution, the practice of the Federal Government,
and the obligations of the Union respecting the exclusion of slavery from
the territories and new states.” Philadelphia, 1819.
“It will be finally encumbered by the slave population.
“The last of these consequences is especially appalling, when we con-
sider that no country in which personal slavery has prevailed to any
considerable extent has escaped servile wars; and that the fruits of a
century of civilized industry, the proudest monuments of the most refined
art, and the most admirable creatiens of state wisdom, may be laid waste
in the struggles, and forever lost in the triumph of the desperate multitude,
whom a jealous policy had debarred from knowing their value, and a
cruel yoke prepared for every excess of havoc. History, both ancient and
modern, is full of examples of furious and destructive revolt.”
NOTE M.
HoN. SAMUEL SEwALL, afterwards Chief Justice of the Superior Court,
in 1700, addressed a Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts, which
was afterwards printed in a pamphlet, and bore the title of “the selling
of Joseph,” and in which he pleaded the cause of the oppressed Africans,
both as a lawyer and as a Christian.
Being desirous of seeing this Memorial, I applied to Rev. SAMUEL
SEwALL of Burlington, a descendant of the Judge, who, though not
possessed of the tract, obligingly communicated to me the following extract
from his ancestor’s manuscript Journal, referring to it.
“ 1700. Fourth day, June 19.......Having been long and much dissat-
isfied with the trade of fetching negroes from Guinea, I had a strong
25
inclination to write something about it, but it wore off. At last, reading
BAYNE, Ephes." about servants, who mentions Blackamoors, I began to
be uneasy that I had so long neglected doing any thing. When I was thus
thinking, in came brother BELKNAP to show me a petition he intended to
present to the General Court for, the freeing a negro and his wife, who
were unjustly held in bondage. And there is a motion by a Boston Com-
mittee to get a law that all importers of negroes shall pay 40s. per head, to
discourage the bringing of them: and Mr. C. MATHER resolves to publish
a sheet to exhort masters to labour their conversion : which makes me
hope that I was called of GoD to write this apology for them. Let his
blessing accompany the same !”
NOTE N.
THE first article of the Declaration of Rights asserts, “ All men are born
free and equal ;” which was inserted with a particular view to the libera-
tion of the negroes on a general principle. Some persons, however, doubt-
ed the extent of this principle until the trial of a case at the Supreme
Judicial Court of Massachusetts in 1783, the decision of which was in
favour of a negro, on the ground of the above article in the Constitution.
[See Coll. Hist. Soc. IV. 206.
On the origin and progress of attempts for the abolition of slavery in
Pennsylvania, see Historical Collections, N. S. Vol. VIII. p. 183.
NOTE. O.
THE African Meeting House is in Belknap street.—In Dr. ELIOT’s
biographical notice of Rev. JEREMY BELKNAP, D.D. is the following
account :
“An ingenious young man in this town, [Boston, at the desire of a
West India merchant, had written in favour of the African trade, using all
the arguments which can be gathered for the lawfulness of slavery from the
scriptures and the practice of nations. He took the signature of John
JMarsham ; and seemed to court the controversy, as one able to maintain
his ground and confute his opponents. These essays being published in
* The work referred to is BAYNE's Commentary on the Ephesians,
London, 1658, fol. and the particular passage was the VIth chapter,
5th verse.
4
26
the newspapers were answered through the same channel by several able
and ingenious hands. Among the best pieces were those which proceeded
from the pen of Dr. BELKNAP.”
In the IVth volume of the publications of the Historical Society of
Massachusetts, are the answers of Dr. BELKNAP to queries respecting the
slavery of Africans, which contain several very interesting particulars.
*ºmº
NOTE. P.
ABIEI, SMITH, Esq. of Boston, left by will, for the support of a school
for African children, $4,000 of 3 per cent, stock; 30 shares in Newbury-
port Turnpike ; 20 shares in Second New Hampshire Turnpike ; 17 shares
in the Kennebeck Bridge; 5 shares in the bridge at Tiverton, R. I. and
5 in the Bathing House,
;
27
JW"UMBER of Slaves in the United States according to the Census taken
in Virtue of the fict of Congress of the 14th of JMarch, 1820, and
the Act of the 3d of JMarch, 1821.

| MALES. | Fººtps:
& ! | ſt J. & q}
§ | # 3 | # 3 ||3 5 3% # 3 | }.
*** a .24 º,"; 3 t –, º,"; ſº
* gº ºn Jº’, Q} 25 --> -º-, * * >>
; a " º; jº P- | O 3 c. * +:
•S § 5 || 5 ; ; ; 5 S- D a º o wº
STATES AND $– # 5 | # 3 || 5 || 3 . . . . ; 3 | * :
Q} 5 : * :- # , 5 3 : & 5 * &
TERRITORIES. 3 * = i < * | 3 # § 3: . . ;
4 || 5 || 3 || 3 || || # = | ## ## ##
up ºf up rº, 3 ro º 3 gº «; 3 rd 3 rd
# 8, # 3 | ## à | # 3 | #3 ā ā #3
> > > > £r- [.. * | *. ſº-
to 14 | to 26 | to 45 |45 &c. to 14 to 26 to 45 45 &c.
Maine . . . .
New Hampshire .
Massachusetts . .
Rhode Island tº 2 1 1 I4 2 3 3 22
Connecticut . . 13 24 13 47
Vermont . . . .
New York . . . 1,861 1,624 932 671) 1,544. 1,579| 1,065 812
New Jersey e tº 860, 1,583 917; 628 592] 1,285| 1,036 656
Pennsylvania . . 1 1 18 65 3 2 36 85
Delaware . . . .j 1,244 839 337| 135 979 611 233. 131
Maryland . . . .] 24,736 14,846 10,718, 6,073| 22,740. 13,403 9,362 5,520
Virginia . . . . 96,881| 52,791| 45,438:23,164 92,468 51,972| 40,691.21,748
North Carolina . 48,914; 27,511| 19,395|10,731|| 45,055 25,663. 18,326|| 9,422
South Carolina (ex-
cept ...) 50,346 31,484 30,868|14,417|| 48,364; 33,064] 29,690,13,550
Georgia . . . . . 33,204] 19,541 16,249 6,922|| 32,141 19,879 15,631| 6,089
Alabama . . . . | 9,665 6,563, 4,200 1,352|| 9,140|| 6,141, 3,779; 1,039
Mississippi . . . .; 7,016| 4,600 4,061; 1,173| 6,677 4,807 3,506 974
Louisiana . . . . 11,675 10,876. 10,520, 3,495|| 10,763. 11,672, 7,758 2,305
Tennessee . . . . 20,314|| 10,078 6,529| 2,826|| 19,251] 11,153| 7,192 2,76
jºy © tº s 31,469] 17,132 10,944; 4,369|| 29,231. 17,407 11,801| 4,379
Ohio . . . . .
Indiana . . . . 43 37 11 7 40 21 21 10
Illinois tº º ſº 170 179 133 66 139 128 71 31
Missouri © tº e 2,49 || 1,511 852. 487| 2,281| 1,461 855] 284
Territory of Michigan
Territory of Arkansas 323 276 143 78 293 268 157 '79
District of Columbia 1,245 775 671] 3.16|| 1,311 990 696|| 373
Grand Total . 342,460|202,248|162,950|77,013||323,014,201,509|151,92270,320
N. B. THE opinion of General WASHINGTon, first president of the United States,
on the subject of slavery, may be learned from passages in his will respecting the eman-
cipation of those he held.
The opinion of President JEFFERson is quoted in page 12
of the preceding discourse; of President MADIson in pages 10, 21 & 24; and of
President MonFor in page 10.