H-49 
 
 C5-4- 
 
 18 
 
THE 
 
 EVILS OF SLAVERY, 
 
 CURE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 THE FIRST PROVED BY THE OPINIONS OF SOUTHERNERS 
 THEMSELVES, 
 
 THE LAST SHOWN BY HISTORICAL EVIDENCE. 
 
 BY MRS. V CHILD, 
 
 1 of 1 Jin Appeal in favor of that etas* ~of Americans called African*,* Anti- 
 Slavery Catechism, Frugal Housewife, History of the Condition of 
 Women, 1 The Oasis, Walker s Book, #c., #c. 
 
 Let us not betake ourselves to the common arts and stratagems of nations ; 
 U fear God, and put away the evil which offends him : and trust not in man, 
 * in the living God j and it shall go well for England William Penn. 
 
 Eli f tf on. 
 
 NEWBURYPORT: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CHARLES WHIPPLE. 
 1839. 
 

 
SENTIMENTS EXPRESSED BY THE SOUTHERNERS 
 THEMSELVES ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 
 
 " Now Naaman was a great man, and honorable j he was also a mighty man 
 in valor ; but he was a leper." % Kings, chap. 5. 
 
 Sentiments of Patrick Henry. 
 
 t( Is it not amazing, that at a time when the rites of 
 humanity are defined with precision, in a country above 
 all others fond of liberty, that in such an age, and in 
 such a country, we find men professing a religion the 
 most humane and gentle, adopting a principle as repug 
 nant to humanity, as it is inconsistent with the Bible, and 
 destructive to liberty? Believe me, I shall honor the Qua 
 kers for their noble efforts to abolish slavery. Every 
 thinking, honest man, rejects it in speculation; yet how 
 few in practice, from conscientious motives. Would any 
 man believe that I am master of slaves of my own pur 
 chase; I am drawn along by the general inconvenience 
 of living without them. I will not, I cannot justify it. 
 However culpable my conduct, I will so far pay my devoir 
 to virtue, as to own the excellence and rectitude of her 
 precepts, and to lament my own want of conformity to 
 them." Letter of Patrick Henry of Virginia, to Robert 
 Pleasants, of the Society of Friends. 
 
 Sentiments of Jefferson. 
 
 " The whole commerce between master and slave is a 
 perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the 
 most unremitting despotism on one part, and degrading 
 
 M147798 
 
submission on the other. Our children see this and learn 
 to imitate it. The parent storms, the child looks on, 
 catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs 
 in the circle of smaller slaves, gives loose to the worst 
 of passions, and thus nursed, educated, and exercised in 
 tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious pecu 
 liarities. With what execration should the statesman be 
 loaded, who, permitting one half of the citizens to tram 
 ple on the rights of the other, transforms those into des 
 pots, and those into enemies; destroys the morals of one 
 part, and the amor patriot of the other. 
 
 "And can fhe liberties of the nation be thought secure, 
 when we have refused the only firm basis, a conviction in 
 the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift 
 of God? That they are not to be violated but with hig 
 wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country, when I rec 
 ollect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep for 
 ever; that, considering numbers, nature and natural means 
 only, a revolution in the wheel of fortune, an exchange of 
 situation is among possible events; that it may become 
 probable by a supernatural interference. The Almighty 
 has no attribute which can take side with us in such a 
 contest." Jefferson s Notes on Virginia, published 1782. 
 
 In a letter, dated Monticello, 1814, Mr. Jefferson writes 
 thus in his old age. 
 
 "Dear Sir Your favor of July 31 was duly received, 
 and read with pleasure. The sentiments breathed through 
 the whole do honor both to the head and heart of the 
 writer. Mine on the subject of the slavery of the negroes 
 have long since been in the possession of the public; and 
 time has only served to give them stronger root. Yet 
 the hour of emancipation is advancing in the march of 
 time. It will come; and whether brought on by the gen 
 erous energy of our own minds, or by the bloody process 
 of St. Domingo, excited and conducted by the power of 
 our present enemy,* if once stationed permanently with- 
 
 * It will be recollected, that we were then engaged in war. 
 
5 
 
 i 
 
 in our country, and offering an asylum and alms to the 
 oppressed, is a leaf of our history not yet turned over. 
 
 "I am sensible of the partialities with which you have 
 looked towards me, as the person who should undertake 
 this salutary but arduous work. But this, my dear sir, 
 is like bidding old Priam buckle on the armor of Hector, 
 trementibns cmo humeri et inutile , ferrum cingi. No, 
 I have overlived the generation with which mutual labors 
 begat mutual confidence and influence. This enterprise 
 is for the young; for those who can follow it up, and bear 
 it through to its consummation. It shall have my prayers, 
 and these are the only weapons of an old man." 
 
 Sentiments of Governor Randolph. 
 
 "The deplorable error of our ancestors in copying a 
 civil institution from savage Africa, has affixed upon their 
 posterity a depressing burden, which nothing but the ex 
 traordinary benefits conferred by our happy climate, 
 could have enabled us to support. \Ve have been far 
 outstripped by States, to whom nature has been Jar less 
 bountiful. It is painful to consider what might have 
 been, under other circumstances, the amount of general 
 wealth in Virginia, or the whole sum of comfortable sub 
 sistence and happiness possessed by all her inhabitants." 
 Governor Randolph s Jlddress to the Legislature of Vir 
 ginia, in 1820. 
 
 Sentiments of John Randolph. 
 
 "Virginia is so impoverished by the system of slavery, 
 that the tables will sooner or later be turned, and the 
 slaves will advertise for runaway masters." John Ran 
 dolph, of Roanoke. 
 
 Sentiments of Mr. Read. 
 
 " Slavery is an unnatural state, a dark cloud, which 
 obscures half the lustre of our 1 ree institutions. 1 would 
 1* 
 
6 
 
 hail that day as the most glorious in its dawning, which 
 would behold, with safety to themselves and our citizens, 
 the black population of the United States placed upon 
 the high eminence of equal rights." Mr. Read, of Geor 
 gia, in the debate on the Missouri question. 
 
 Sentiments of Governor Giles. 
 
 Free blacks, when convicted of certain crimes, are 
 sold as slaves. Governor Giles, in his Address to the Leg 
 islature of Virginia, in 1327, alluding to this custom, says: 
 "Slavery must be admitted to be a punishment of the 
 highest order; and, according to every just rule for the 
 apportionment of punishment to crimes, it would seem 
 that it ought to be applied only to crimes of the highest order. 
 It seems but an act of justice to this unfortunate, de 
 graded class of persons, to state that the number of 
 convicts among free colored persons, compared with the 
 white population, is extremely small; and would serve to 
 show, that even this description of our population is less 
 demoralized than is generally supposed." 
 
 Sentiments of Amos Weaver. 
 
 "What! are thousands of our fellow-creatures within 
 eur State, destitute of every real protection afforded them 
 by law, either in their persons or property without any 
 law to guard their marriage rights, or without the law s 
 having any knowledge of marriage among them, for 
 such is the fact with regard to the whole slave population 
 among us, many of them under the control of cruel and 
 relentless masters, from whom they receive much inhu 
 man abuse and yet are we told that all this needs no 
 legislative interference? Monstrous, indeed, is the doc 
 trine! But on this subject, we appeal to the virtue and 
 good sense of our countrymen." Oration by Jlmos 
 Weaver, of Guilford County, North Carolina, delivered in 
 1829. 
 
Sentiments of B. Swain. 
 
 "Is it nothing to us, that seventeen hundred thousand 
 of the people of our country are doomed illegally to. the 
 most abject and vile slavery that was ever tolerated on 
 the face of the earth? Are Carolinians deaf to the pierc 
 ing cries of humanity? Are they insensible to the 
 demands of justice? Let any man of spirit and feeling, 
 for a moment cast his thoughts over the land of slavery 
 think of the nakedness of some, the hungry yearnings 
 of others, the flowing tears and heaving sighs of parting 
 relations, the waitings of lamentation and wo, the bloody 
 cut of the keen lash, and the frightful scream that rends 
 the very skies, and all this to gratify ambition, lust, 
 pride, avarice, vanity, and other depraved feelings of 
 the human heart. TW long has our country been un 
 fortunately lulled to sleep, feeding on the golden dreams 
 of superficial politicians, fanciful poets, and anniversary 
 orations. The worst is not generally known. Were all 
 the miseries, the horrors of slavery, to burst at once into 
 view, a peal of sevenfold thunder could scarce strike 
 greater alarm. We cannot yet believe the condition of 
 our country so desperate, as to forbid the judicious ap 
 plication of proper remedies." Address of B. Swain, of 
 North Carolina, in 1830. 
 
 Sentiments of Henry Clay. 
 
 "In our attempt to adopt gradual emancipation in, 
 Kentucky, we were overpowered by numbers, and sub 
 mitted to the decision of the majority, with the grace 
 which the minority in a republic should ever yield to such 
 a decision. But I have never ceased, and never shall 
 cease to regret a decision, the effects of which have been 
 to place us in the rear of our neighbors, who are exempt 
 from slavery, in the state of agriculture, the progress of 
 manufactures, the advance of improvement, and the gen 
 eral prosperity of society." Htnry Clay, of Kentucky. 
 
8 
 
 Sentiments of Mr. Faulkner. 
 
 " Slavery, it is admitted, is an evil. It is an institution 
 which presses heavily against the best interests of the 
 State. It banishes free white labor it exterminates the 
 mechanic the artisan the manufacturer. It converts 
 the energy of a community into indolence its power into 
 imbecility its efficiency into weakness. Being thus in 
 jurious, have we not a right to demand its extermination? 
 Shall society suffer that the slaveholder may continue to 
 gather his vigintial crop of human flesh? What is his 
 mere pecuniary claim, compared with the great interests 
 of the common weal? Must the country languish and die 
 that the slave-holder may flourish? Shall all interests 
 be subservient to one? Have not the middle classes their 
 rights rights incompatible with the existence of slavery ? 
 If there be one who concurs with the gentleman from 
 Brunswick, in considering the character of this institution 
 harmless, let me request him to compare the condition of 
 the slave-holding portion of this commonwealth barren, 
 desolate, and seared as it were by the avenging hand of 
 Heaven with the description which we have of this same 
 country from those who first broke its virgin soil. To 
 what is this change ascribable? Alone to the withering 
 and blasting effects of slavery. To that vice, in the or 
 ganization of society , by which one half its inhabitants are 
 arrayed in interest and feeling against the other half to 
 that condition of things, in which half a million of your 
 population can feel no sympathy with society, in the pros 
 perity of which they are forbidden to participate, and no 
 rattachment to a government at whose hands they receive 
 nothing but injustice." Mr. Faulkner s Speech in the 
 Legislature of Virginia, 1832. 
 
 Sentiments of Mr. Wirt. 
 
 Mr. Wirl, of Virginia, said that "slavery was contrary 
 to the laws of nature and of nations; and that the law of 
 South Carolina concerning seizing colored seamen wag 
 unconstitutional." In his life of Patrick Henry, speaking 
 of the different classes in Virginia, he says, "last and 
 ilowest, a /ecu/Mm of beings called overseers the most 
 
abject, degraded,- unprincipled race always whip in 
 hand to the dons who employ them, and furnishing ma 
 terials for their pride, insolence, and love of dominion." 
 
 Sentiments of Mr. Brodnax. 
 
 "That slavery in Virginia is an evil, and a transcendent 
 evil, it would be more than idle for any human being to 
 doubt or deny. It is a mildew, which has blighted every 
 region it has touched, from the creation of the world. 
 Illustrations from the history of other countries and other 
 times might be instructive; but we have evidence nearer 
 at hand, in the short histories of the different States of 
 this great confederacy, which are impressive in their ad 
 monitions, and conclusive in their character. "-Speech of 
 Mr. Brodnax, in the Virginia Legislature, 1832 
 
 Sentiments of Mr. Summers. 
 
 "Sir, the evils of this system cannot be enumerated. 
 It were unnecessary to attempt it. They glare upon us 
 at every step. When the owner looks to his wasted estate , 
 he knows and feels them. When the statesman examines 
 the condition of his country, and finds her moral influence 
 gone, her physical strength diminished, her political 
 power waning, he sees and must confess them. Will 
 gentlemen inform us when this subject will become less 
 delicate when it will be attended with fewer difficulties 
 than at present and at what period we shall be better 
 enabled to meet them? Shall we be more adequate to the 
 end proposed, after the resources of the State have been 
 yet longer paralyzed by the withering, desolating in 
 fluence of our present system? Sir, every year s delay 
 but augments the difficulties of this great business, and 
 weakens our ability to compass it. Like silly children, 
 we endeavor to postpone the work, which we know must 
 be performed." Speech of Mr. Summers, inthe Legisla 
 ture of Virginia, 1832. 
 
10 
 
 Sentiments of Thomas Clay. 
 
 :t The present economy of the slave system is to get all 
 you can from the slave, and give in return as little as will 
 barely support him in a working condition. Even where 
 there is not a direct intention to abridge his comforts, 
 they are but little consulted; and seeing his master wholly 
 engrossed by his own advantage, the slave naturally 
 pursues the same selfish course, and when not restrained 
 by higher principle, becomes deceitful and thievish. 
 The master takes no pains to conceal that he takes it for 
 granted the negro will steal and lie? and when the slave 
 is tempted to either, he feels that he has no character to 
 lose." Thomas Claifs Address before the Presbytery of 
 Georgia. 
 
 Sentiments of Z. Kingsley. 
 
 This writer informs his readers that he settled on a plan 
 tation in Florida, wilh about jifty negroes, many of whom 
 he brought from the coast of Africa himself. He is one 
 who luants to regulate the evil not abolish it. 
 
 "As far as regards the free colored people of the 
 south, the laws are dictated in a spirit of intolerant prej 
 udice, and irresponsible autocracy, holding out to people 
 they nickname free, no reward or premium whatever 
 for being virtuous; nothing to stimulate to industry, or 
 the acquisition of a good name, learning, or refinement; 
 no kind of protection either for person or property. Even 
 their punishments must be corporeal not excepting the 
 most delicate female, whom industry and virtue alone 
 would place at the head of society in any other country. 
 Liberty is merely nominal, without any constitutional pro 
 tection. They may be sold to pay partial, exorbitant, 
 and tyrannical taxes, or fines, all which are uncon 
 stitutional. Oppression is carried to its greatest extreme, 
 when a mother, of most unexceptionable moral character, 
 going out of her native State on account of ill health, is 
 inexorably punished by perpetual banishment from hus 
 band, children, friends, country, and all that is dear to 
 
11 
 
 her.* As for our laws to regulate slaves, they are all 
 founded upon terror." 
 
 Sentiments of President Monroe. 
 
 "We have found that this evil has preyed upon the 
 very vitals of the Union; and has been prejudicial to all 
 the States in which it has existed." James Monroe before 
 the Virginia Convention. 
 
 Sentiments of Washington. 
 
 General Washington, in a letter to Sir John Sinclair t 
 speaks of the prices of land in Virginia, and particularly 
 in the neighborhood of Mount Vernon. The land there 
 is described as exhausted and miserable plantations not 
 worth more than four or five dollars an acre, including, 
 buildings. He then alludes to the prices of land in Penn 
 sylvania and the free States, which averaged more than 
 twice as much; I think he stated it at sixteen dollars per 
 acre. He assigns as reasons for this mighty difference, 
 first, that foreign emigrants are more inclined to settle in 
 the free States. The second reason I transcribe in his 
 own words: 
 
 " Because there are in Pennsylvania, laws for the grad 
 ual abolition of slavery, which neither Maryland nor 
 Virginia have at present; but which nothing is more^ 
 certain than that they must have, and at a period not 
 remote." 
 
 Sentiments of Mr. Custis, of Virginia. 
 
 "Sir, The prosperity and aggrandizement of a State, 
 is to be seen in its increase of inhabitants, and consequent 
 progress in industry and wealth. Of the vast tide ofemi- 
 
 * Free colored people, if they go out of the State, for any reasoa 
 whatsoever, are never allowed to return, lest they should bring back 
 opinions that would make the slaves uneasy. 
 
12 
 
 gration, which now rushes, like a cataract, to the West, 
 not even a trickling rill wends its way to the ancient do 
 minion. Of the multitude of foreigners, who daily seek 
 an asylum and home in the empire of liberty, how many 
 turn their steps to the region of the slave? None. No, 
 .not one. There is a malaria in the atmosphere of those 
 regions, which the now comer shuns, as being deleterious 
 to his views and habits. See the wide spreading ruin 
 which the avarice of our ancestral government* has 
 produced in the south, as witnessed in a sparse population 
 of freemen, deserted habitations, and fields without cul 
 ture. "Strange to tell, even the wolf, which, driven back 
 long since by the approach of man, now returns, after 
 the lapse of a hundred years, to howl over the desolations 
 of slavery." 
 
 * Those who senk to get rid of the shame of slavery, by throwing 
 the blame on our English ancestors, ought to remember, that when this 
 government was formed, the Southern States insisted that no restriction 
 should be put on the importation of slaves for twenty years to come! 
 
HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 
 
 CONCERNING THE EFFECTS OF IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION. 
 
 " Elisha said unto Naaman, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh 
 shnll come again to thee, and thou shall be clean. 
 
 But Naaman was wroth, and he turned and went away in a rage. 
 
 And his servants said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great 
 thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather, then, when he saith 
 to thee, Wash and be clean ? 
 
 Then he went down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to 
 the saying of the man of God : and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a 
 little child, and he was clean." 2 KINGS, chap. 5. 
 
 WHEN the question of immediate abolition was first 
 started in England, the friends of slavery vociferated 
 nothing more loudly, than the danger of universal insur 
 rection and bloodshed; and nothing took stronger hold 
 of the sympathies and conscientious fears of the people, 
 than these repeated assertions. This is precisely the 
 state of things in our own country, at the present time. 
 We all know that it is not according to human nature for 
 men to turn upon their benefactors, and do violence, at 
 the very moment they receive what they have long de 
 sired; but we are so repeatedly told, the slaves will 
 murder their masters, if they give them freedom, that we 
 can hardly help believing that, in this peculiar case, the 
 laws of human nature must be reversed. Let us try to 
 divest ourselves of the fierce excitement now abroad in 
 the community, and calmly inquire what is the testimony 
 of history on this important subject. 
 
 In June, 1793, a civil war occurred between the aris 
 tocrats and republicans of St. Domingo ; and the planters 
 called in the aid of Great Britain. The opposing party 
 proclaimed freedom to all slaves, and armed them against 
 the British. It is generally supposed that the abolition 
 of slavery in St. Domingo was in consequence of insur- 
 2 
 
14 
 
 rections among the slaves; but this is not true. It was 
 entirely a measure of political expediency. Arid what 
 were the consequences of this sudden and universal 
 emancipation? Whoever will take the pains to search 
 the histories of that island, will find the whole colored 
 population remained faithful to the republican party 
 which had given them freedom. The British were de 
 feated, and obliged to evacuate the island. The sea 
 being at that time full of British cruisers, the French 
 had no time to attend to St. Domingo, and the colonists 
 were left to govern themselves. And what was the con 
 duct of the emancipated slaves, under these circum 
 stances? About 600,000 slaves had instantaneously 
 ceased to be property, and were invested with the rights 
 of men; yet there was a decrease of crime, and everything 
 went on quietly and prosperously. Col. Malenfant, who 
 resided on the island, says, in his historical memoir: 
 " After this public act of emancipation, the negroes re 
 mained quiet both in the south and west, and they con 
 tinued to work upon all the plantations: Even upon 
 those estates which had been abandoned by owners and 
 managers, the negroes continued their labor where 
 there were any agents to guide; and where no white 
 men were left to direct them, they betook themselves to 
 planting provisions. The colony was flourishing. The 
 whites lived happy and in peace upon their estates, and 
 the negroes continued to work for them." 
 
 General Lacroix, in his memoirs, speaking of the 
 same period, says: "The colony marched as by en 
 chantment towards its ancient splendor; cultivation 
 prospered; every day produced perceptible proofs of its 
 progress." 
 
 This prosperous state of things lasted about eight 
 years; and would probably have continued to this day, 
 had not Buonaparte, at the instigation of the old aris 
 tocratic French planters, sent an army to deprive the 
 blacks of the freedom which they had used so well. It 
 was the attempts to restore slavery, that produced 
 all the bloody horrors of St. Domingo. Emancipation 
 produced the most blessed effects. 
 
 In June, 1794, Victor Hugo, a French republican 
 general, retook the island of Guadaloupe from the British, 
 and immediately proclaimed freedom to all the slaves. 
 
15 
 
 They were 85,000 in number, and the whites only 13,000. 
 JV*o disasters whatever occurred in consequence of this 
 step. Seven years after, the supreme council of Guad 
 eloupe, in an official document, alluding to the tran 
 quillity that reigned throughout the island, observed: 
 " We shall have the satisfaction of giving an example 
 which will prove that all classes of people may live in 
 perfect harmony with each other, under an administration 
 which secures justice to all classes." In 1802, Buon 
 aparte again reduced this island to slavery, at the cost 
 of about 20,000 negro lives. 
 
 On the 10th of October, 1811, the congress of Chili 
 decreed that every child born after that day should be 
 free. 
 
 In 1821, the congress of Colombia emancipated all 
 slaves who had borne arms in favor of the republic; and 
 provided for the emancipation in eighteen years of the 
 whole slave population, amounting to 900,000. 
 
 In September, 1829, the government of Mexico grant 
 ed immediate and unqualified freedom to every slave. 
 In all these cases, not one instance of insurrection or blood 
 shed has ever been heard of, as the result of emancipation. 
 
 In July, 1823, 30,000 Hottentots in Cape Colony, were 
 emancipated from their long and cruel bondage, and 
 admitted by law to all the rights and privileges of the 
 white colonists. Outrages were predicted, as the inevita 
 ble consequence of freeing human creatures so com 
 pletely brutalized as the poor Hottentots; but all went on 
 peaceably; and as a gentleman facetiously remarked, 
 * Hottentots as they were, they worked better for Mr. 
 Cash, than they had ever done for Mr. Lash." 
 
 In the South African Commercial Advertiser of Feb 
 ruary, 1831, it is stated: " Three thousand prize negroes 
 have received their freedom; four hundred in one day; 
 but not the least difficulty or disaster occurred. Ser 
 vants found masttrs masters hired servants all gained 
 homes, and at night scarcely an idler was to be seen. To 
 state that sudden emancipation would create disorder 
 and distress to those you mean to serve, is not reason, but 
 the plea of all men adverse to abolition." 
 
 On the 1st of August, 1834, the government of Great 
 Britain emancipated the slaves in all her colonies,of which 
 she had twenty; seventeen in the West Indies, and 
 
16 
 
 three in the East Indies. The measure was not carried 
 in a manner completely satisfactory to the English abo 
 litionists. Historical evidence, and their own knowledge 
 of human nature, led them to the conclusion that imme 
 diate and unqualified emancipation was the safest for 
 the master, as well as the most just towards the slave. 
 But the West India planters talked so loudly of the dan 
 gers of such a step, and of the necessity of time to fit 
 the slaves for freedom, that the government resolved to 
 conciliate them by a sort of compromise. The slaves were 
 to continue to work six years longer without wages, un 
 der the name of apprentices; but during this period, they 
 could be punished only by the express orders of magis 
 trates. 
 
 The legislatures of the several colonies had a right to 
 dispense with the system of aprenticeship; but Antigua 
 and Bermuda were the only ones that adopted immediate 
 and unconditional emancipation. 
 
 Public proclamation of freedom was made on the first 
 of August, and wasevery where received in joy and peace. 
 Mr. Cobbett, a missionary stationed at Montego Bay, 
 Jamaica, writes thus: " The first of August was a memo 
 rable day! Our preaching place was crowded at an 
 early hour. At the close of the services, I read the 
 address of his excellency the governor to the negro pop 
 ulation, made several remarks in reference to the change 
 of their condition, and exhorted them to be obedient to 
 their masters and to the powers that be. There was in 
 every countenance an expression of satisfaction, and of 
 gratitude to God and their benefactors. The conduct 
 ofthe negroes during this eventful period has been such 
 as will raise them, I should think, in the eyes of all their 
 friends." 
 
 Mr. Wedlock, of the same place, writes thus on the 
 13th of August: "The first day of August, a day to which 
 the attention ofthe wise, the good, and the philanthropic, 
 of other countries besides our own, was directed, has 
 arrived and passed by in the most peaceful and harmonious 
 manner. Such congregations, such attention, such joys 
 and grateful feelings as are depicted in every countenance, 
 I never beheld! Up to this time, peace and harmony 
 prevail." 
 
 The marquis of Sligo, governor of Jamaica, in his 
 
17 
 
 speech to the assembly, after five months trial of eman 
 cipation, declares; " Not the slightest idea of any inter 
 ruption of tranquillity exists in any quarter; and those 
 preparations which I have felt it my duty to make, might, 
 without the slightest danger, have been dispensed with." 
 In a recent address to the assembly, he states that the 
 crops this year (1335), will fall short only about one six 
 teenth; and that this slight difference may be accounted 
 for by the unfavorableness of the season. 
 
 The enemies of abolition predicted that the crops in 
 Jamaica would perish for want of being gathered; be 
 cause the negroes could not possibly be induced to 
 work an hour longer than the law or the whip compelled 
 them. But as soon as the planters offered them wages for 
 working extra hours, more work was offered than the 
 planters were willing to pay for. Even the low price of 
 a penny an hour, operated like magic upon them, and 
 inspired them to diligence! 
 
 The numerical superiority of the negroes in the West 
 Indies is great. In Jamaica there were 331,000 slaves, 
 and only 37,000 whites. By the clumsy apprenticeship 
 system, the old stimulus of the whip was taken away, 
 while the new and better stimulus of wages was not ap 
 plied. The negroes were aware that if they worked well 
 they should not be paid for it, and that if they worked ill 
 they could not be flogged, as they had formerly been. 
 Yet even under these disadvantageous circumstances, 
 no difficulties occurred except in three of the islands; 
 and even there the difficulties were slight and temporary. 
 Let us inquire candidly how these troubles originated. 
 The act of parliament provided, that the apprentice should 
 work for his master forty and a half hours per week, and 
 have the remainder of the time for his own benefit; but 
 it did not provide that while they were apprentices (and 
 of course worked without wages) they should enjoy all 
 the privileges to which they had been accustomed while 
 slaves. The planters availed themselves of this circum 
 stance to put obstructions in the way of abolition; with 
 the hope likewise of coercing the apprentices to form 
 individual contracts to work fifty hours in the week, in 
 stead of forty and a half. While the people had been 
 slaves, they had always been allowed cooks to prepare 
 their meals; nurses to take care of the little children; 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 and a person to bring water to the gang, during the hot 
 hours; but when they became apprentices, these privi 
 leges were taken away. Each slave was obliged to quit 
 his or her work to go to his own cabin (sometimes a great 
 distance) to cook their meals, instead of having them 
 served in the field; water was not allowed them; the 
 aged and infirm, instead of being employed as formerly, 
 to superintend the children in the shade, were driven to 
 labor in the hot sun, and mothers were obliged to toil at 
 the hoe with their infants strapped at their backs. In 
 addition to this, the planters obtained from the governor 
 a new proclamation, requiring the apprentices to labor 
 extra hours for their masters, when they should deem it 
 necessary in the cultivation, gathering, or manufacture of 
 the crop, provided they repaid them an equal time " at a 
 convenient season of the year." This was like taking 
 from a New-England farmer the month of July to be re 
 paid in January. Under these petty vexations, and unjust 
 exactions, some of the apprentices stopt work in three of 
 the colonies, out of seventeen. But even in these three, 
 their resistance was merely passive. THE WORST ENE 
 MIES OF ABOLITION HAVE NOT YET BEEN ABLE TO SHOW 
 THAT A SINGLE DROP OF BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED, OR A SINGLE 
 PLANTATION FIRED, IN CONSEQUENCE OF EMANCIPATION, 
 IN ALL THE BRITISH WEST INDIES ! 
 
 In Jamaica they refused to work upon the terms which 
 their masters endeavored to impose. A very small mili 
 tary force was sent into one parish, and but on one occa 
 sion. Not a drop of blood was shed on either side. 
 
 In Demarara they refused to work on the prescribed 
 terms, and marched about with a flagstaff, as "the ten 
 hour men " have done in many of our cities. But the 
 worst thing they did was to strike a constable with their 
 fists. 
 
 In St. Christopher s the resistance was likewise entirely 
 passive. In two weeks the whole trouble was at an end; 
 and it was ascertained that, out of twenty thousand ap 
 prentices, only thirty were absent from work; and some 
 of these were supposed to be dead in the woods. 
 
 One apprentice, executed in Demarara for insubordina 
 tion, is the only life that has yet been lost in this great 
 experiment! and a few fisty cuffs with a constable, on 
 one single occasion, has been the only violence offered 
 
19 
 
 to persons or property, by eight hundred thousand eman 
 cipated slaves. 
 
 Antigua and Bermuda did not try the apprenticeship 
 system; but at once gave the slaves the stimulus of wages. 
 In those islands not the slightest difficulties have occurred. 
 The journals of Antigua say :" The great doubt is solv 
 ed; and the highest hopes of the negroes friends are 
 fulfilled. Thirty thousand men have passed from slavery 
 into freedom, not only without the slightest irregularity, 
 but with the solemn and decorous tranquillity of a Sab 
 bath! " 
 
 In Antigua, there were 2,000 whites, 30,000 slaves, 
 and 4,500 free blacks in 1836. 
 
 Antigua and St. Christopher are within gunshot of 
 each other; both are sugar growing colonies; and the 
 proportion of blacks is less in St. Christopher than it is 
 in Antigua: yet the former island has had some difficulty 
 with the gradual system, while the quiet of the latter has 
 not been disturbed for one hour by immediate emancipation. 
 Do not these facts speak volumes? 
 
 There are, in the West Indies, many men (planters, 
 overseers, drivers, and book-keepers), who, from pride, 
 licentiousness, and other motives, do not like a change 
 which takes away from them uncontrolled power over 
 men and women. These individuals try to create diffi 
 culties, and exaggerate the report of them. It is much 
 to be regretted that the American press has hitherto pre 
 ferred their distorted stories, unsubstantiated by a particle 
 of proof, to the well-authenticated evidence of magistrates 
 and missionaries resident on the islands. 
 
 Why are the friends of slavery so desirous to make it 
 appear that the British experiment does not work well? 
 It is because they are conscious that if it does work well, 
 America has no excuse left to screen her from the strong 
 disapprobation of the civilized world. 
 
Our Countrymen in Chains ! 
 
 BY JOHN G. WHITTIER. 
 
 " The despotism which our fathers could not bear in their native country is 
 expiring, and the sword of justice in her reformed hands has applied its exter 
 minating edge to slavery. Shall the United States, the free United States, 
 which could not bear the bonds of a king, cradle the bondage which a king is 
 abolishing? Shall a republic be less free than a monarchy. 1 Shall we, in the 
 vigor and buoyancy of our manhood, be less energetic in righteousness than a 
 kingdom in its age ? " Dr. Fallen s Address. 
 
 " Genius of America! Spirit of our free institutions ! where art thou ? How 
 art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning how art thou fallen from heav 
 en ! Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming ! The 
 kings of the earth cry out to thee, Aha ! Aha ! art thou become like unto u ? " 
 Speech of Rev. S. J. May. 
 
 OUR fellow-countrymen in chains! 
 
 Slaves in a land of light and law! 
 Slaves crouching on the very plains 
 
 Where rolled the storm of freedom s war! 
 A groan from Eutaw s haunted wood 
 
 A wail where Camden s martyrs fell 
 By every shrine of patriot blood, 
 
 From Moultrie s wall and Jasper s well! 
 
 By storied hill and hallowed grot, 
 
 By mo.ssy wood and marshy glen, 
 Whence rang of old the rifle shot, 
 
 And hurrying shout of Marion s men! 
 The groan of breaking hearts is there 
 
 The falling lash the fetter s clank! 
 Slaves SLAVES, are breathing in that air 
 
 Which old De Kalb and Sumpter drank! 
 
 What ho! our countrymen in chains ! 
 
 The whip on woman s shrinking flesh! 
 Our soil yet reddening with the stains, 
 
 Caught from her scourging, warm and fresh! 
 What! mothers from their children riven! 
 
 What! God s own image bought and sold! 
 Americans to market driven, 
 
 And bartered as the brute for gold ! 
 
21 
 
 Speak ! Shall their agony of prayer 
 
 Come thrilling to our hearts in vain?* 
 To us whose fathers scorned to bear 
 
 The paltry menace of a chain; 
 To us- whose boast is loud and long 
 
 Of holy liberty and light, 
 Say, shall these writhing slaves of wrong 
 
 Plead vainly for their plundered right? 
 
 What! Shall we send, with lavish breath, 
 
 Our sympathies across the wave, 
 Where manhood, on the field of death, 
 
 Strikes for his freedom, or a grave? 
 Shall prayers go up and hymns be sung 
 
 For Greece, the Moslem fetter spurning 
 And millions hail, with pen and tongue, 
 
 Our light on all her altars burning? 
 
 Shall Belgium feel, and gallant France, 
 
 By Vendome s pile and Schoenbrun s wall, 
 And Poland, gasping on her lance, 
 
 The impulse of our cheering call ! 
 And shall the slave, beneath our eye, 
 
 Clank o er our fields his hateful chain? 
 And toss his fettered arm on high, 
 
 And groan for freedom s gift, in vain ! 
 
 O say, shall Prussia s banner be 
 
 A refuge for the stricken slave? 
 And shall the Russian serf go free, 
 
 By Baikal s lake and Neva s wave? 
 And shall the wintry-bosomed Dane 
 
 Relax the iron hand of pride, 
 And bid his bond nen cast the chain 
 
 From fettered soul and limb, aside? 
 
 Shall every flap of England s flag 
 Proclaim that all around are free, 
 
 From " farthest Ind " to each blue crag 
 That beetles o er the Western Sea? 
 
 * "An inquiry having been made by an honorable gentleman from Massachu 
 setts (Mr. ADAMS), whether a paper which he held in his hand, purporting to 
 be a petition from certain slaves, and declaring themselves slaves, came within 
 the order of the House of the 18th of January, and the said paper not having 
 been received by the Speaker, he stated, that in a case so extraordinary and 
 novel, he would take the advice and counsel of the House. 
 
 Resolved, That this House cannot receive the said petition, without disregard 
 ing its own dignity, the rights of a large class of citizens of the South and the 
 West, and the Constitution of the United States. Adopted. Yeas, 160; nays, 
 35. 
 
 Resolved, That slaves do not possess the right of petition secured to the peo 
 ple of the United States by the ConstitutionT Adopted. Yeas, 162; nays, 18." 
 CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Feb. 11,1837. 
 
22 
 
 And shall we scoff at Europe s kings, 
 When Freedom s fire is dim with us, 
 
 And round our country s altar clings 
 The damning shade of Slavery s curse? 
 
 Go let us ask of Constantino 
 
 To loose his grasp on Poland s throat, 
 And beg the lord of Mahmoud s line 
 
 To spare the struggling Suliote. 
 Will not the scorching answer come, 
 
 From turbaned Turk, and fiery Russ, 
 " Go, loose your fettered slaves at home, 
 
 Then turn and ask the like of us ! " 
 
 Just God ! and shall we calmly rest, 
 
 The Christian s scorn the heathen s mirth,- 
 Content to live the lingering jest 
 
 And by-word of a mocking earth? 
 Shall our own glorious land retain 
 
 That curse, which Europe scorns to bear? 
 Shall our own brethren drag the chain, 
 
 Which riot even Russia s menials wear? 
 
 Up, then, in Freedom s manly part, 
 
 From gray-beard eld to fiery youth, 
 And on the nation s naked heart 
 
 Scatter the living coals of Truth. 
 Up whiie ye slumber, deeper yet 
 
 The shadow of our fame is growing ; 
 Up while ye pause, our sun may set 
 
 In blood, around our altars flowing ! 
 
 O, rouse ye ere the storm comes forth, 
 
 The gathered wrath of God and man, 
 Like that which wasted Egypt s earth, 
 
 When hail and fire above it ran. 
 Hear ye no warnings in the air? 
 
 Feel ye no earthquake underneath? 
 Up up why will ye slumber where 
 
 The sleeper only wakes in death ? 
 
 Up now for Freedom! not in strife, 
 
 Like that your sterner fathers saw ; 
 The awful waste of human life, 
 
 The glory and the guilt of war; 
 But break the chain the yoke remove, 
 
 And smite to earth Oppression s rod, 
 With those mild arms of Truth and Love, 
 
 Made mighty through the living God ! 
 
Prone let the shrine of Moloch sink, 
 
 And leave no traces where it stood; 
 Nor longer let its idol drink 
 
 His daily cup of human blood ; 
 But rear another altar there, 
 
 To Truth and Love and Mercy given, 
 And Freedom s gift and Freedom s prayer 
 
 Shall call an answer down from Heaven ! 
 
Kl 
 
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