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AN INttUIRY 
 
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 C/ 
 
ENTERED according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by 
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 the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 

 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION . .... PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 I. Why first appeal to Abolitionists result of their measures 
 doubtful. Writer, once an abolitionist how cured. 
 
 II. Ultraism of the present day in theology and benevolence. 
 
 III. Writer s views of slavery caused by man s depravity no 
 remedy but Christianity moral influence of our national pros 
 perity. Coronation of England s queen Dr. Franklin. 
 
 IV. Circumstances in which slavery may be a blessing theory 
 and practice of abolitionists inconsistent reference to St. Paul 
 objections to holding slaves. 
 
 yr*A~f*} 
 
 >:h7* c, 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 V. Action and measures of abolitionists, why wrong abolition 
 periodicals Mr. Garrison editor in New York should be 
 judged charitably. 
 
 VI. Slaveholders ideas of abolitionists why many slave-owners 
 anxious to get rid of slavery what abolitionists ought to have 
 done arguments not admitted abolitionists seriously ques 
 tioned. 
 
 VII. Abolition in District of Columbia opposed why ? p. 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 APPEAL TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 I. Design of the writer. Slaveholders and abolitionists ignorant 
 of each other. 
 
 II. Character of abolitionists misunderstood enthusiasts in 
 creased by opposition many of them well-meaning men. 
 
 III. Slavery, general view negroes human beings, capable of 
 improvement. 
 
 IV. Power of the master slaveholders interrogated. Fearful 
 responsibility in holding human beings as slaves. 
 
 V. The Bible on that responsibility. 
 
 VI. Brief survey of practical slavery moral aspect ignorance 
 dishonesty, facts in proof licentiousness, slaveholders aware 
 of the evil. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 g 
 
 VII. Influence of slavery on individuals character of slaves 
 their influence on masters on poor white men. 
 
 VIII. Influence of slavery on national prosperity monopoly of 
 cotton southern system not favourable to improvement 
 comparison with imperial Rome with Peru and Mexico. 
 
 IX. A better system recommended to the South. Question of 
 moral right will be agitated among slaveholders. 
 
 X. Slaveholders plead that a manufacturing country makes actual 
 slaves some weight in the plea radical difference. Southern 
 states should depend on agriculture. " Plan " of independence 
 considered. 
 
 XI. Views of the North on slavery tendency of abolition 
 ridiculous action among some northern manufacturers. 
 
 XII. Dissolution of Union threatened its preservation urged upon 
 the South. North not inimical to the South. 
 
 XIII. The probable result of the controversy. Influence of British 
 emancipation. Modern slavery compared with Roman and 
 Grecian. Conclusion . . . . . P. 63 
 
 fcf* 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 
 I. Free and slave states diametrically opposed what influence 
 this should exert on the former why oppose the spirit of abo 
 lition how the South may be reached. 
 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 II. Why slaveholders should be judged charitably and the sub 
 ject investigated northern ministers appealed to northern 
 men at the South severe taskmasters why. 
 
 III. Power of habit, the stronghold of slavery, influence of filial 
 and venerable associations among slaveholders opposed to 
 unconditional emancipation why. 
 
 IV. Universal conviction of the right of property. Value of 
 slaves. Ignorance of northern men respecting slavery. 
 
 V. Condition of the slave observations of the writer house 
 servants many advantages field labourers negro houses 
 bad mode of feeding slaves various resources among them 
 public opinion in favour of humanity dress of slaves 
 personal treatment mode of labour general appearance and 
 manners many of them in places of trust general views of 
 the whites influence of the age on the slave. 
 
 VI. Free blacks of the South situation unfavourable to improve 
 ment interesting exceptions. 
 
 VII. Condition of the free blacks at the North anecdote de 
 graded outcasts vicious neglected by the whites deep- 
 rooted prejudice against them proofs what justice requires 
 of the free states. North not guiltless respecting slavery 
 what atonement for her own wrongs. 
 
 VIII. South devoted to the Union. Interference of the North, 
 on the question of moral right appeal to the free states 
 to the clergy examine motives forbearance recommended 
 among equals injurious effects of northern denunciation. 
 Example of the Saviour. . . . . . p. 11G 
 

 CONTENTS. 11 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TO THE UNION. 
 
 I. What can be done ] Subject of vast magnitude radical 
 difference of opinion. 
 
 II. Three modes of settling the question stated. 
 
 III. Faint hope that either side will abandon its position ultra 
 slaveholders violence of southern excitement a favourable omen 
 no prospect of the North becoming in favour of slavery rea 
 sons will not use force against it. 
 
 IV. Dissolution of the Union considered its probable conse 
 quences and result. 
 
 V. Third mode of settling the question by compromise and 
 concession why it may be hoped for desirable that southern 
 men should express their views prevented by abolition move 
 ments. 
 
 VI. Colonization recommended abolitionists opposed mista 
 ken philanthropy colonization emancipation must become a 
 national question. South will reject every other mode urged 
 from motives of regard for the welfare of the coloured race ne 
 groes cannot rise to equality with the whites proved in the free 
 states in Philadelphia slaves to remain in the country as hired 
 servants considered South will oppose it, and why no encour 
 agement from the example of the North. British emancipation 
 referred to final consequences not known. 
 
 VII. Why the coloured man should go to Africa climate con 
 sidered comparisons invited America owes it to Africa to send 
 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 back her children. God intends it by our prosperity government 
 must do it influences of colonization on Africa. Question of 
 expense alluded to money lost in Florida war. 
 
 VIII. Some slave states have begun the work reasons for 
 government interference partizan politics, the curse of our coun 
 try the only, hope of benevolence in the future. . p. 161 
 
 Conclusion . .... p. 205 
 

 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE story of Washington and the Declaration 
 of Independence are the first lessons treasured up 
 in the memory by American youth ; and one of 
 the first subjects on which the reasoning powers 
 are exerted, is an attempt to reconcile slavery with 
 the declaration that all men " are created free and 
 equal," and " entitled to life, liberty, and the pur 
 suit of happiness." The youth of ingenuous dispo 
 sition, educated in the free states, in reflecting upon 
 this subject, early obtains a deep impression of the 
 fallibility and inconsistency of human character. 
 
 First, all men are free and equal; secondly, 
 some of the men most distinguished in American 
 history were slaveholders, that is, bought and sold 
 their fellow-men like cattle ; thirdly, among these 
 distinguished men, some (as the author of the 
 Declaration of Independence) condemned slavery 
 in the strongest terms of language while they lived, 
 and others, (as General Washington,) in their final 
 acts, cancelled the obligation of the slave, and gave 
 him freedom. 
 
 These reflections greatly puzzled the writer of 
 2 " 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the following pages in his boyhood, and induced a 
 spirit of inquiry on the subject of American slavery, 
 which has increased with maturer age. In common 
 with the youth of the free states, he early imbibed 
 a strong prejudice against slavery, as being in 
 compatible with the freedom of our government : 
 although this prejudice was subsequently somewhat 
 softened, by reflecting, that some of the men whom 
 Americans are taught from their childhood to 
 venerate as great and good, were slaveholders; 
 and also, by the consideration that the government, 
 in all its acts and subordinate departments, has, 
 (until very recently at least,) recognised the law 
 fulness of slavery. There are multitudes, doubtless, 
 at the North, who will at once comprehend the 
 embarrassment of the writer at this period, by their 
 own experience ; fully convinced of the urong of 
 slavery as an abstract question, and yet not feeling 
 authorized to openly denounce it, under the cir 
 cumstances in which it is tolerated in our country: 
 and it was not until the writer had mingled with 
 slavery, and observed its practical operation and 
 bearing upon the community, with a circumspection 
 prompted by the curiosity and unsatisfied inquiries 
 of twenty years residence in the free sates, that he 
 was enabled to form an opinion of its merits, as it 
 exists in the United States and also to see the 
 reason why great men had been engaged in it, and 
 why the people of the South so tenaciously adhered 
 to the practice. The result of these observations 
 is given in the following pages ; and the writer 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 feels an anxious interest in the diffusion of inform 
 ation on this subject at this time, for two reasons : 
 1st. A crisis is approaching. Every man of com 
 mon observation must be aware of the fact, that 
 this subject the moral and political influence of 
 slavery has been increasing in public interest for 
 the last few years ; and there are evidently causes 
 at work, which will continue to increase this in 
 terest, until public opinion shall be centred upon 
 it with a force, which can neither be evaded nor 
 repulsed. The rancor of a most bitter political strife 
 has for a time withdrawn public attention from it, 
 but the elements are yet in a state of commotion, 
 and only wait a favourable opportunity to burst 
 forth and overspread the whole horizon. And no 
 honest man can, in view of our national interests, 
 wish the settlement of this great question delayed. 
 If slavery is that grievous, heaven-daring oppres 
 sion, which some of its opposers are clamorous in 
 denouncing, it should be speedily abolished ; if it 
 can be shown that the practice is consistent with 
 republicanism and Christianity, the slaveholder 
 should be relieved of that load of obloquy which 
 many now heap upon him, and be permitted to hold 
 his possession in peace. 
 
 I call the attention of southern men to this point. 
 Free discussion is the only method of eliciting light, 
 and establishing correct principles in this land of 
 liberty. We have here no absolute monarch to 
 think, and speak, and act for the people " by the 
 grace of God." Free discussion is not only the 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 prerogative but the genius of our people. It is 
 the great manufactory of public opinion, which is 
 the supreme law of the land. Every question, 
 whether of village or national notoriety, must be 
 submitted to it, and decided by it. It is as impos 
 sible to prevent this as to stop water from running 
 down a declivity ; and the attempt to arrest the 
 progress of discussion on this great subject, if per 
 sisted in, must lead to the most disastrous results. 
 A practice that will not bear investigation is always 
 liable to suspicion. If the South are determined 
 to resist every attempt to discuss and investigate 
 the merits of slavery, it will not only increase the 
 prejudice of its opposers, but the consequence will 
 be to produce rival orders of public opinion at the 
 North and South, diametrically opposed to each 
 other, and tending to cherish sectional and jarring 
 interests. 
 
 Without a free interchange of sentiment, there 
 cannot be such an enlightened understanding of 
 the subject as will lead to a righteous decision by 
 this people. Even now there are many anxious 
 minds labouring under an impression that slave 
 holders are unwilling to bring the question of slavery 
 to a free and full discussion of its merits ; and this 
 impression is strengthened by the acts of the 
 national legislature. At both the sessions of the 
 twenty-fifth Congress, the House of Representa 
 tives voted (after much animated and excited 
 debate) to reject all petitions, and to allow no dis 
 cussion on the subject of slavery. This act is to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 be regretted. Its policy is more than questionable : 
 it is unwise. It is like checking a current in its 
 natural channel : the accumulated waters may 
 be arrested for a time, but when the barrier gives 
 way as it surely must the torrent will sweep 
 every thing in its course. The calm which seems 
 to acquiesce in this act, is no evidence of its approval. 
 The fires are becoming more intense in the pent-up 
 volcano. On a subject not involving the safety of 
 the dearest interests of the community, a reflecting 
 people will yield an unwilling assent to the decision 
 of a large majority, and submit to the rejection of 
 their petitions, constitutionally expressed and of 
 fered ; until the manifest justice of their cause, and 
 the exertions of its friends, have removed the op 
 position to their wishes. This mode of rejecting 
 petitions is manifestly unjust contrary to the spirit 
 and letter of the constitution and can only be de 
 fended on the ground that extreme exigences war 
 rant the setting aside of established constitutional 
 provisions. The slaveholder pleads that the reckless 
 violence of the abolitionists has produced this 
 result, and no doubt this is true ; but whether the 
 ultimate decision of the country will sustain the 
 act, and thereby declare that the exigence required 
 the sacrifice, time only can determine. It cannot 
 be questioned that one effect of this act will be, a 
 stronger conviction among the people of the North, 
 that the South are inclined to shut up every avenue 
 to the investigation of slavery. Arid the final 
 consequences of such a conviction at the North, or 
 2* 
 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 such a determination at the South none can foresee, 
 but all must dread. 
 
 2d. The object of the writer is to diffuse infor 
 mation on the subject among the popular ranks 
 of his countrymen. 
 
 Many books have been already written on both 
 sides of the question ; but they have generally been 
 elaborate treatises : on one side condemning slavery 
 on the abstract principles of moral right, or on 
 the other defending the practice, from the usages 
 of mankind in all ages ; or by denying and contro 
 verting the opinions of their opponents. Such 
 works are but little suited to the popular taste, and 
 produce but little practical effect upon the body of 
 society. The great mass of the people, the owners 
 and cultivators of the soil, and the artizans men 
 who acquire a proud independence by honest and 
 persevering toil who are seldom concerned in 
 tumults or mobbish excesses, and to whom dema 
 gogues and enthusiasts generally preach in vain 
 a class of men to stand by the laws in the hour of 
 peril, and which holds in check that spirit of insub 
 ordination, which seems eager to destroy these 
 are the men, who are to pronounce sentence upon 
 this momentous subject; and the sentence they 
 pronounce they will carry into execution. But 
 they will not decide this question, however enthu 
 siasm may invoke, or uncurbed passion may 
 menace, until they have had opportunity to ascer 
 tain facts, to hear evidence, and weigh the subject 
 in all its bearings. They constitute the supreme 
 
in 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 court of the country, from whose decision there is 
 no appeal. These men have little knowledge of 
 Latin, or the logic of the schools, and little time to 
 study the elaborate productions of doctors of law 
 or metaphysics. With them a well-attested fact 
 is of more value than a cart load of suppositions; 
 and their assent is given to theory, when it is re 
 duced to practice. They require no other wisdom 
 than that plain sense with which God has endowed 
 them and which their observation and industry 
 keep in constant exercise and improvement to 
 decide upon the most important subjects of na 
 tional interest when fairly brought to their com 
 prehension. 
 
 To this class of his fellow-countrymen, both 
 North and South, the writer addresses these pages, 
 without reference to politics, party, sect, or section. 
 They have an unspeakable interest in this question ; 
 for it needs not the spirit of prophecy to foretell, 
 that unless it be amicably settled, a crisis is ap 
 proaching, which will involve the whole country, 
 and come home to every man s bosom, from Maine 
 to the Sabine. Already the agitation is begun, 
 and a spirit is awakened which cannot be put to 
 rest, till a final verdict is rendered by the people. 
 Notwithstanding the magnitude of the subject, it is 
 becoming one of absorbing interest, and every man 
 in the nation must look it in the face. 
 
 To prepare the public to act understandingly, it 
 is important that information should be diffused. 
 Already, from ignorance of each other s circum- 
 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 stances, sectional animosity is gaining ground ; 
 and it will require all the wisdom which fallible 
 men can gain from moral obligation and experi 
 ence, to arrest the current of sectional prejudice, 
 and decide the question in the spirit of equity, 
 and with reference to the great interests at stake. 
 That the great mass of the people are ignorant of 
 each other s situation, and sectional and domestic 
 customs, and therefore greatly liable to err in 
 judging of them, the writer is abundantly satisfied 
 from his own experience and views, before and 
 after witnessing the operation of slavery. Should 
 he be instrumental in directing this class of men to 
 a sober and righteous decision on this momentous 
 subject, his object will be attained. He has no 
 selfish motives to favor. His own individual sug 
 gestions are alone responsible for this work. He 
 has consulted no man, and but few books. He 
 has no interests at stake, which will be involved 
 by the decision of this question, any farther than 
 as a single member of the community. The sub 
 ject has been one of engrossing interest to him 
 ever since he came to years of manhood, and he 
 has watched the progress and development of 
 public sentiment with great solicitude. His humble 
 efforts are intended to direct it, in its inquiries, to a 
 sober and thorough investigation; to a just, and, if 
 possible, an amicable settlement of the momentous 
 controversy. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 I. Why first appeal to Abolitionists result of their measures 
 doubtful. Writer, once an abolitionist how cured. 
 
 II. Ultraism of the present day in theology and benevolence. 
 
 III. Writer s views of slavery caused by man s depravity no 
 remedy but Christianity moral influence of our national pros 
 perity. Coronation of England s queen Dr. Franklin. 
 
 IV. Circumstances in which slavery may be a blessing theory 
 and practice of abolitionists inconsistent reference to St. Paul 
 objections to holding slaves. 
 
 V. Action and measures of abolitionists, why wrong abolition 
 periodicals Mr. Garrison editor in New York should be 
 judged charitably. 
 
 VI. Slaveholders ideas of abolitionists why many slave-owners 
 anxious to get rid of slavery what abolitionists ought to have 
 done arguments not admitted abolitionists seriously ques 
 tioned. 
 
 VII. Abolition in District of Columbia opposed why 1 
 
 " One great principle which we should lay down as immovably 
 true, is, that if a good work cannot be carried on by the calm, 
 self-controlled, benevolent spirit of Christianity, then the time for 
 doing it has not come." CHANGING. 
 
 I. As you had the honour or dishonour to begin 
 the modern agitation of that great question, which 
 has produced so much excitement in the country 
 the immediate abolition of slavery it seems very 
 
22 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 proper, in taking a survey of the subject, and 
 showing the bearing it has upon the various sec 
 tions of the country, and classes of the community, 
 to make the first appeal to you. You have declared 
 a war of extermination against slavery, and per 
 sisted in your plans for accomplishing its overthrow, 
 with an ardour worthy of good men in a good 
 cause. Whether your efforts will result in the weal 
 or wo of your country is very problematical. The 
 principal reason to hope for the former, is, that 
 wiser and discreeter men may arise, to wield the 
 elements which your zeal has put in commotion. 
 Great occasions give being and impulse to great 
 energies, but the pioneers of a grand enterprise 
 are seldom the men to guide it to a successful issue. 
 In our own history, the prudence and deliberation 
 of Franklin and Washington directed the storm 
 which the enthusiasm and ardour of the Adamses 
 and Henrys kindled. Without such an interference 
 to check your headlong impetuousness, there is 
 little hope of the future. If your past action in 
 word and deed is to be the measure of your future 
 progress and effort, then the patriot can only rest 
 his hopes upon anticipations of what may be in the 
 dispensations of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, be 
 yond the vision of erring and short-sighted mortals. 
 As one who claims an interest in the welfare of 
 his country, not exceeded by your own one who 
 possesses the same freedom of opinion, and right 
 of discussion ; as one having the same stake in the 
 issue, and accountable to the same tribunals here 
 

 
 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 23 
 
 and hereafter I take the liberty to make such re 
 marks upon your principles and measures, and 
 offer such views respecting their ultimate tendency, 
 as reflection and experience have suggested. In 
 doing this, I shall use great plainness of speech ; 
 thus, in one respect at least, following your own 
 example. But be assured, I have no sinister 
 designs to accomplish ; no feelings of enmity to gra 
 tify ; and God forbid that I should cast any stum- 
 blingblock in the way, to impede the progress of 
 truth, justice, and benevolence. 
 
 I was once a decided abolitionist in feeling one 
 of the " straitest sect." Looking on that side ex 
 clusively, as most of you do, absorbed in the con 
 templation of the injustice and horrors of slavery, 
 but at the same ignorant of the system I felt al 
 most strong enough, in view of the abstract ques 
 tion of right or wrong, to go forth, single-handed, 
 to silence every opposer, and break the fetters 
 from every slave in Christendom. A greater work 
 than Clarkson was twenty years in accomplishing, 
 I could have performed in about as many weeks. 
 Such is the ardour of an ingenuous disposition in 
 support of an exclusive idea, and just such is the 
 great body of your members. They have read 
 some abolition papers ; heard perhaps some anti- 
 slavery lectures, and become inflamed with a more 
 than patriotic ardour, in defence of the great doc 
 trine of human rights. Their arguments are very 
 summary and conclusive. Slavery is wrong ; there 
 fore every slaveholder ought to give his slaves instant 
 
24 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 freedom ! If his next neighbour does not imme 
 diately admit the conclusiveness of his reasoning, 
 the abolitionist marvels at his hardness of heart, 
 or obtuseness of intellect : if the slaveholder should 
 plead for time to consider the subject in view of 
 the circumstances in which he is placed, I fear the 
 spirit of modern abolition would equal the zeal of 
 the disciples, in wishing, on a certain occasion, to 
 call down fire from heaven. 
 
 The writer was led to serious reflection, and 
 ultimately cured of his abolition enthusiasm, long 
 before he ever saw a slave, by attending the anni 
 versaries of the Anti-slavery and Colonization Soci 
 eties in New York, four or five years ago. At the 
 meeting of the former, there was considerable 
 exultation manifested, that the latter was labouring 
 under great pecuniary embarrassment one of the 
 speakers stating to the assembly, " We have met 
 here to sound the death-knell of colonization." 
 At the meeting of the Colonization Society the day 
 following, some wit was displayed, and no little 
 mirth excited among a very reverend auditory, by 
 alluding to the ocular proof present, that coloni 
 zation was neither dead nor buried. 
 
 As a spectator the W 7 riter could not witness but 
 with painful feelings the malevolence of disposition 
 manifested by men claiming to be benevolent ; nor 
 could he but regret, that these two societies, having 
 the same ultimate object in view the improvement 
 of the coloured race should indulge in a bitterness of 
 invective, not allowable even in the fiercest sectarian 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 25 
 
 polemics. " Surely there is field enough for both 
 to labour without interfering with each other ; and 
 the narrow views which engender strife and con 
 tention between them, can only be equalled by 
 that profound charity of ignorant religionists, which 
 will not permit an opponent to be in the way to 
 heaven, unless he follows in the dim ray of its own 
 little rushlight." 
 
 The scenes above mentioned gave the writer un 
 favourable impressions respecting the motives of 
 abolitionists: since that, he has seen something of 
 slavery in its practical appearance, and is still 
 more unfavourably impressed with regard to their 
 measures. But even these are to be judged with 
 great allowances, except so far as they exert a 
 practical influence injurious to society, in view of 
 the spirit of the age. 
 
 II. Ultraism is the order of things at the present 
 day. Every thing runs into excess. " A sober 
 man, who can find !" The modern improvements 
 in the arts, and the discoveries in philosophy and 
 science, have given a kind of intoxicating impulse 
 to men s minds ; and nothing short of the velocity 
 of steam power is sufficient to fill their enlarged 
 capacities. Excited action is the natural result of 
 extravagant speculation; and men, not satisfied 
 with pitying the benighted state and groping igno 
 rance of their fathers, seem determined to make 
 them appear more diminutive by powerful con 
 trast. The aged patriarch who jogs along the 
 3 
 
26 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 road in an ancient vehicle, as his fathers did before 
 him, is rudely jostled by his flying grandchildren, 
 who measure his wisdom and judgment by the 
 motion of his wheels. 
 
 Theology has partaken of this spirit in a re 
 markable degree. The old land-marks are broken 
 down or neglected, and new avenues are laid out 
 to Bunyan s " celestial city." .Newlight reformers 
 have discovered that their plodding forefathers 
 entirely erred, in explaining the text of that old 
 guide book the Bible ; and the narrow, up-hill 
 path therein delineated has, in the plastic hands of 
 different reformers, been smoothed and M Adam- 
 ized ; or made wide enough for all to travel together. 
 The great change to be effected in man, may be 
 generally produced by joining " our side ;" that is 
 the only patent orthodoxy. The attentive observer 
 can almost hear the very language of worldly 
 rivalry, from these modern sectarians " this way, 
 sir, safest and cheapest line, through by daylight." 
 
 Benevolence has also caught the same spirit, 
 and shows a determination to make amends for 
 the sluggish apathy of all former generations. 
 Let me not be understood as being opposed to 
 benevolent enterprize. Among the almost in 
 numerable societies for improving the condition 
 of the human family, no doubt the most of them 
 are exerting a happy influence. There can be 
 no danger of circulating too many Bibles, or re 
 ligious tracts, or Sunday-school books ; nor of em 
 ploying too many devoted missionaries. There is 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 27 
 
 vice, and crime, and misery enough in the world, 
 to employ all the hands, and hearts, and means, 
 which Christian charity can call into action. But 
 there is a great amount of zeal on this subject 
 which is not according to knowledge. Among 
 the innumerable demands made on the public for 
 its aid in sustaining charitable and benevolent 
 operations, there is difficulty in deciding upon the 
 most worthy objects. The incessant call for giving, 
 has influenced many to withhold altogether. And 
 there is evidently a spirit of competition excited 
 among some societies for public favour, and a 
 jealousy of each others success. But on this sub 
 ject, as almost every other, enthusiasm has far 
 outstripped sober judgment. Men s minds have be 
 come so absorbed in the contemplation of existing 
 evils, that they seem incapable of adopting the best 
 mode of removing them. 
 
 This I believe is true in regard to the subject 
 of slavery. Among the great objects of modern 
 benevolence, the slave receives, at the present 
 moment, an unusual share of commiseration. The 
 subject is indeed one of unspeakable interest, and 
 worthy the attention of every philanthropist ; but 
 its very magnitude should teach us to approach it 
 with caution. Instead of this, a numerous class 
 appear bent upon deciding it in a summary man 
 ner. The abolitionists have no idea of allowing 
 any circumstances to affect their belief or to 
 modify their measures. They have seized hold of 
 this, with an exclusiveness of purpose, as though 
 
28 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 it were the only sin of the age, and, in their zeal 
 for its removal, have leaped over every consider 
 ation affecting the situation of those most deeply 
 interested, both masters and slaves : and their loud, 
 and unceasing cry is, repent, repent. Surely the 
 eyes which see such grievous beams in others, 
 should be clear of motes ; and the hearts which 
 condemn such hardness should be full of Christian 
 charity and meekness. But I fear the abolitionists 
 are not so guiltless of all sin, as to be authorized 
 to throw the first stone at slaveholders. 
 
 III. In making this brief appeal, I shall state 
 
 First, My own views with regard to slavery ; 
 and, 
 
 Secondly, My views respecting the plans and 
 measures of abolitionists, and their ultimate ten 
 dency. 
 
 Abstractly considered, slavery has been proved 
 to be a grievous wrong. It would require very 
 little reasoning to convince a free man of common 
 intelligence and common uprightness that he pos 
 sessed inherent rights and faculties, of which he 
 could not be justly deprived, except by the Creator 
 who bestowed them. Nor would it be difficult to 
 prove to him, that his fellow-men, by whom he is 
 surrounded, are entitled to the same privileges 
 as himself, being given by the same Author. The 
 equality of men in essential things, in likeness of 
 physical organization, in the attributes of body and 
 mind, is too evident to admit a doubt that God 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 29 
 
 intended each to be free and happy ; responsible 
 only to Him for the possession and exercise of 
 those endowments and faculties which he alone 
 could give or take away. 
 
 Were these great principles, which lie at the 
 very foundation of our theory of government, acted 
 upon by the human family, there would be no 
 crime, no misery, no tyranny, no slavery in the 
 world, and a community, whether large or small, 
 will be individually and socially happy, and ap 
 proximate towards perfection, just in proportion to 
 its adoption and practice of these principles. But 
 alas ! we are speaking of principles which have 
 had but a very limited influence among men since 
 the garden of Eden was deserted ; and which will 
 never prevail in the world, till God regenerates 
 our race. 
 
 It will not probably be heresy in the view of 
 abolitionists to declare a belief in that ancient 
 doctrine, the fall of man from his original rectitude, 
 that event which 
 
 " Brought death into the world and all our wo." 
 
 From that period to the present, man, having 
 lost the moral image of his Maker, has followed 
 the devices of his own heart ; what these are, 
 the Bible will inform us : and the history of five 
 thousand years will attest the truth of the re 
 cord. Without holy affections, without innocence, 
 mankind prefer the pleasures of sense to moral 
 obedience. And as God has so ordered, that his 
 laws cannot be broken with impunity, either in the 
 3* 
 
30 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 moral or physical world, just so far as men have 
 trampled upon the authority of God, have they be 
 come obnoxious to the penalty of transgression. 
 This penalty is exacted in the moral world in the 
 guilty conscience, the shame of discovery, the fear 
 of punishment and of future retribution. In the 
 physical, it is seen in the shape of every evil that 
 "flesh is heir to." Tyranny and oppression, beastly 
 vice, haggard poverty, sickness and death, are its un 
 erring results. God never made a man to be a slave, 
 neither did he ever make one to be sick, or poor, or 
 unhappy. But sickness and poverty are the certain 
 consequences of the transgression of the immutable 
 laws of Providence ; nor does slavery constitute an 
 exception. There can be no doubt that the regular 
 action of the functions of the human system will 
 always preserve health : it is only their obstruction 
 by intemperance and excess which produces disease ; 
 and this obstruction when complete must necessa 
 rily end in the premature dissolution of the body. 
 So in civil communities, did each regard the great 
 laws of individual and equal rights, joined with the 
 evident acquirements of duty, to be industrious and 
 temperate, peace and happiness would universally 
 follow. But it is this disregard of the order of 
 Providence which obstructs healthy action in so 
 ciety, just as in the human system. Men are 
 very sagacious to discover, and very prompt to 
 assist their own inherent rights and privileges, but 
 the equal rights of others are not included in their 
 process of reasoning. 
 
 And the same cause which makes the monarch 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 31 
 
 an oppressor, makes his servant a brute. Both 
 have cast off their obligations, and each is pur 
 suing his self-gratification in the course most 
 agreeable to his condition. Perhaps in the next 
 generation their situations may be reversed : the 
 son of the tyrant may be a groveling beast ; the 
 other an oppressive despot. But from the circum 
 stances of men in most countries, comparatively 
 few can be lords or tyrants. Wealth, and talent, 
 and hereditary privilege generally combine to hold 
 the reins of power, but the avenues to sensual 
 gratification are open to all. Hence the mass of 
 men, by indulging their propensities for such grati 
 fications as are within their reach, have been in 
 every age debased and vicious. The gradations 
 are many, but the tendency is always downward ; 
 and vast numbers in every community have ever 
 been at the bottom of the scale. They have 
 yielded every sentiment of honour and humanity to 
 the inexorable demands of a brutalizing lust; have 
 suffered the fire of heaven to be extinguished in 
 their bosoms, or given themselves over, self-bound, 
 to be beasts of burden. In elevating the scale of 
 human character from cannibalism to civilization 
 and Christianity, there is a stronger assertion of 
 national right and individual thought; but even at 
 the highest point yet attained, the structure of so 
 ciety is like the feet of the image in Nebuchad 
 nezzar s vision, part of iron and part of clay. 
 
 In this highly favoured country if a digression 
 from the subject may be allowed the community 
 
32 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 appear to be intoxicated with the idea that the 
 golden age is returning; when liberty and equal 
 rights, emanating from this union as a centre, will 
 overspread the world. I invoke the blessing of 
 Heaven, that this feeling, so extensively pervading 
 the public mind, may not prove to be a mere fit of 
 intoxication, and nothing more nor worse. But 
 let us not be deceived. I fear we are anticipating 
 the most important effects, from very inadequate 
 causes looking for good fruit from an evil tree. 
 As a nation, although but just emerged from 
 childhood, we have made some progress in the 
 arts, some in science, much in improvements of 
 practical utility ; and are perhaps in advance of 
 all others in the freedom of our constitution. But 
 we are as yet scarcely on the threshold of civil 
 liberty. Unless we enter far enough to see the 
 beauty and glory of the inner temple, our worship 
 will be confined merely, as it has been in all ages, 
 to the dazzling exterior. There is a charm which 
 captivates, in the sound of liberty ; but unless it 
 has its seat in the heart of pure moral affections, 
 its exercise cannot be depended on for guiding its 
 possessor aright, or for exerting a salutary influ 
 ence upon others. 
 
 Nothing but the spirit of Christianity can elevate 
 us as a people. No man but a Christian can be a 
 true republican, in the highest and best sense of the 
 term. Of freedom of opinion and action w r e have 
 enough, more perhaps than the mass of men (liable 
 as they are to be swayed by corrupt and unprin- 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 33 
 
 cipled partizans) know how to exercise to advan 
 tage; and unless our moral improvement advances 
 in the front rank of our social progress, the liberty 
 to do wrong will eventually overcome the dispo 
 sition to do right. Could the arts have regenerated 
 the world, it would not be in so deplorable a con 
 dition; for it is a question even now, whether 
 Egypt, three thousand years ago, was not our 
 superior. Could literature have done it, then the 
 Augustan Age had stayed that long night of dark 
 ness which overspread twelve centuries of our era. 
 And of science, it will not be too much to say, that 
 it has been always harnessed to the car of ambi 
 tion, and its highest attainments oftener exerted for 
 the destruction than the welfare of man. 
 
 Intelligence without piety is like the giant in the 
 fable, strong and blind, more likely to do evil than 
 good. An intellect that could measure the universe, 
 would not promote the best interests of man, with 
 out being guided by a sense of moral obligation. 
 Political economists and philosophers, reasoning 
 ct priori, have concluded that there is necessarily a 
 period of advancement, of elevation, and decline in 
 national affairs. Because Egypt, and Assyria, and 
 Rome, rose, and reigned, and declined, therefore 
 all nations must. Such a doctrine is a libel on the 
 divine character ; a stretch of assumption which 
 even infidelity has hardly dared to make. It is 
 mere fatalism an adoption of one of the grossest 
 sentiments of heathen mythology, that the fates are 
 above the gods themselves. Such a doctrine 
 
34 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 teaches but one thing conclusively ; and that, some 
 of its advocates would abhor, viz., the entire de 
 pravity of man. That communities and nations 
 have not continued to rise and flourish, the history 
 of the past is a melancholy proof: but to say they 
 cannot, is to question the sincerity, authority, and 
 power of Jehovah, in his warnings, exhortations, 
 and promises to the Israelites in the Mosaic record. 
 In pursuing these reflections a little further, 
 suffer me to inquire, what is the ultimate object of 
 all our toil? what the glittering prize, which en 
 larges our organs of vision ? What the great idol 
 on whose altar the whole community is mad 1 Is 
 it any thing higher than lofty conceptions of indi 
 vidual and national aggrandizement? Whence is 
 the loud boast of our commerce, our manufactures, 
 our internal resources, our rail-roads and canals? 
 Is it any thing more than the flattering belief that 
 these will elevate us in power and grandeur above 
 the nations ? Without suitable acknowledgments of 
 the Divine sovereignty, and a heartfelt conviction 
 of our dependence, and obligations to Him, as our 
 constant benefactor; the blessings which are poured 
 into our lap without measure, will only enlarge our 
 ability, and increase our dispositions to do evil. 
 We have the Bible in proof, " The love of money 
 is the root of all evil." Was there ever a people 
 whose entire energies were so devotedly conse 
 crated to the acquisition of gain, as ours? And 
 there is greater cause for apprehension in the fact, 
 that religion has, to a great extent, caught the 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 35 
 
 spirit, and appears ambitious to follow the maxims, 
 and keep up with the improvements of the world. 
 Her temples are crowded her votaries innumer 
 able; for the profession is in honor. Who are 
 indeed striving for " a crown of glory that fadeth 
 not away" will only be known, when the Son of 
 God shall come to claim his jewels. Heaven will 
 not lack inhabitants, if it be as easy to join the 
 church triumphant as to get into the church (mis 
 called) militant. 
 
 Still, there is hope of our country, in the diffu 
 sion of the means of light in the spread of the 
 Bible in the sacrifices for missions in the exten 
 sion of Sunday-schools, and more in that unobtru 
 sive piety, which seeks out the objects of its 
 benevolence among the wretched, and mingles its 
 prayers and tears with the neglected outcast, un 
 known to the world ; leaving its reward to " the 
 resurrection of the just." I would rather rest the 
 welfare and safety of my country, on the interces 
 sions of one such soul, than on the valor of the 
 mightiest captain. Ten such souls would have 
 saved Sodom. A nation of such would convert 
 the w r orld. 
 
 It was a beautiful emblem of the ancient Greeks 
 in lighting their altar fires from the sun. The 
 offering of common fire was unworthy the deity 
 they invoked. They undoubtedly borrowed the 
 idea from the Israelites, whose altars were some 
 times kindled by fire miraculously descended : but 
 although they had lost the knowledge of the true 
 
36 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 God, they kept up the allusion in drawing fire from 
 the principal object of his visible creation. In pro 
 portion to the number of hearts, which are daily 
 kindled with fire from heaven, will our country 
 obtain the protection and blessing of Infinite bene 
 volence. 
 
 I will close this digression, by referring to a fact 
 of recent occurrence, which has been a subject of 
 serious reflection, from its contrast with parallel 
 scenes in our own country. I allude to the late 
 crowning of the Queen of England. In view of 
 the wealth and power of the British empire, the 
 splendor and talent of the embassies which came 
 to do it honour, it was perhaps the grandest and 
 most magnificent pageant which the world ever 
 witnessed. But the fact to which the attention of 
 the reader is directed, is the religious, yea, devo 
 tional spirit of the august ceremonies. The high 
 priest of all England appears to have been the 
 second personage in the scale of attractions on 
 that solemn occasion. The sacred anthems, the 
 services of the church, the offerings, the presence 
 of the Bible, and the distinct acknowledgment of 
 its Author, as the source whence " kings reign and 
 princes decree justice, * presented a spectacle 
 worthy of a Christian nation, and which cannot 
 but have a happy influence upon its morals and 
 institutions. Would that our republican legislators 
 might so far overcome their patriotic horror of the 
 union of church and state, as at least in their public 
 ceremonies of national interest to acknowledge the 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 37 
 
 sovereignty and beneficence of the Supreme Go 
 vernor of the universe, and give pious hearts in 
 their vast assemblies an opportunity and an impulse 
 to invoke the blessings of God upon their public 
 servants and their own beloved country. 
 
 There is indeed one event in our own history, 
 which will be remembered as an instance of the 
 moral sublime, and one on which a good man can 
 not reflect without the keenest emotion. It was 
 when Franklin arose in the Congress which adopted 
 our constitution, and acknowledged there was a 
 God who ruled in the affairs of men, and proposed 
 that prayers be daily offered, for His wisdom and 
 guidance through the angry and stormy strife 
 which impeded all their deliberations. I am not 
 aware that Franklin was a professor of religion ; 
 but this act of his will increase the veneration for 
 his character and services among the good and 
 wise of his countrymen in all generations. 
 
 IV. To return from this digression to the ques 
 tion of slavery. 
 
 If the view we have taken of the moral state of 
 man be correct if the tendency of human nature, 
 when left to itself, is headlong downward then 
 slavery, by arresting the progress of man in his 
 brutalizing course, may prove a blessing. For this 
 reason, God has permitted slavery, probably, to 
 avoid a greater evil. On this principle can I ac 
 count for the plain declarations of scripture in the 
 4 
 
38 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 Old Testament. I know not how a proposition 
 can be expressed more plainly in words, than the 
 permission given the Israelites to hold slaves. 
 Lev. xxv. 44-46. This is more than mere permis 
 sion, it is authority; and the reason for it is plain, 
 on the principle I have assumed. Of the heathen 
 round about them, the Israelites might buy servants 
 to serve them for ever. The moral and physical 
 condition of such persons would be greatly im 
 proved as slaves to the Israelites; in comparison 
 with their lot as heathen, sunk in the grossest 
 idolatry and brutality. 
 
 And on this principle, I understand the curse 
 pronounced upon Ham, Gen. ix. 25-27 ; not that 
 it was for ever absolute and irreversible ; but that 
 Ham was so debased and prone to vice his very 
 affections were so given up to the greedy pursuit 
 of sinful indulgence that servitude to his brethren 
 would be the means of restraining him and his 
 posterity from the lowest depth of wretchedness. 
 
 And nowhere in the Bible is the possession of 
 slaves prohibited. I know it is contended, that the 
 great law of loving our neighbour as ourself utterly 
 condemns it. There can be no doubt among good 
 men, that when the principles of this law prevail 
 in the world, there will be no slavery. But I can 
 not find any example or authority in sacred history, 
 for agitating its overthrow ; except by such a dif 
 fusion of the light of the Gospel, as shall naturally 
 produce its extinction. It is evidently left by the 
 

 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 Saviour and apostles as an evil appertaining to the 
 present state of man, to be overthrown by the 
 gradual adoption of the principles of Christianity. 
 In illustration of this it may be remarked, that 
 there was probably never a people in a state of 
 greater moral delinquency, than the Jews in the 
 time of our Saviour. Slavery among them, and 
 among their masters the Romans, was a cup of 
 unmingled bitterness. The slaves of that period 
 drank it to the dregs. And yet Jesus Christ did not 
 preach insurrection or insubordination to the slave, 
 nor condemn the owner for possessing them. It 
 was no part of his mission to change the institu 
 tions of society by a miracle. He did not inter 
 fere with established usages and customs. He 
 admitted the order of society as he found it. " Ren 
 der unto Cesar the things that are Cesars." The 
 great principles of morals he inculcated, when 
 adopted by an individual, will teach him the love 
 of God and man; when adopted by a community, 
 will overthrow every evil which that community 
 has cherished or practised. It was his object to 
 make the tree good ; not by a miracle to produce good 
 fruit from an evil tree. Of what advantage would 
 it have been to mankind, had he freed the slaves, 
 without giving them and their masters new mo 
 tives of action ? On this point it appears to me, 
 the abolitionists greatly err, in pressing the im 
 mediate and unconditional emancipation of the 
 slaves in our country, without considering the con- 
 
40 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 sequences which would result to masters and ser 
 vants from such an act.* 
 
 Again, this rule of doing to others what we 
 would have them do to us, was never taken in its 
 broadest literal signification. Such a construction 
 is not sustained by the Bible, nor the institutions of 
 the wisest men. In the present moral state of the 
 world, it would lead at once to the dissolution of 
 society. Its legitimate effect would be an agrarian 
 division of property, and another subdivision, as 
 soon as the improvident and vicious had wasted 
 their dividend. The abolitionists will contend that 
 by this rule the master ought to treat his slaves as 
 his children. But who ever did it ? who ever re 
 quired it? They will not certainly object to be 
 judged by their works. Are their servants on an 
 equality with their children? Do they eat, and 
 drink, and sleep with them, as with their children 
 send them to the same schools occupy the same 
 seats in the church use the same means to train 
 them up? Do they alternately send their daugh 
 ters into the kitchen, and bring their maid servants 
 into the parlour to acquire polite accomplishments ? 
 " Consistency is a jewel." Have they first cast 
 the motes out of their own eyes ? Their practice 
 in the circumstances above mentioned is sufficient 
 proof that they do not regard the exhortation of 
 the apostle, " masters, give to your servants that 
 which is just and equal," as a command to make 
 
 * The reader is referred to the writer s views on this sub 
 ject more fully in another part of this work, Appeal to the 
 Free States. 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 41 
 
 them equals. If the inspired writer had intended 
 to make them free by this injunction, he would not 
 have used the term servants, which implies subjec 
 tion. 
 
 Subordination and gradation prevail throughout 
 the world, and they will forever. I speak it with 
 reverence, they prevail in heaven. The creation 
 of different orders of intelligence requires it : and 
 this is perfectly consistent with the moral govern 
 ment of God. In a state of unmingled joy and 
 happiness, every being will enjoy the blessing to 
 the extent of his capacity, but the capacities of all 
 will not be equal. 
 
 Again, to refer to the doctrines and example of 
 the New Testament on this subject, I can but wish 
 our modern abolitionists would drink in more of the 
 spirit, and copy more the example of St. Paul. 
 We read that on one occasion, " his spirit was 
 stirred within him when he saw the city wholly 
 given to idolatry." That city was as full of slavery 
 as of idolatry ; but we do not read of any denun 
 ciations against it in the language and spirit of 
 modern abolitionism. He even did not rail and 
 scoff at their idolatry. Did Paul in his epistles 
 teach servants that insubordination, or obedience, 
 was well-pleasing unto God ? Did he exhort mas 
 ters to treat their slaves in view of an accountability 
 hereafter, and in the fear of God ? or did he de 
 nounce them as deserving of utter wrath for the 
 mere act? Did he teach submission or rebellion 
 to the laws? even of tyrants. Did he bring 
 
42 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 railing accusations against those who opposed 
 him ? or was he content to say " the Lord reward 
 him according to his works ?" Did he assist and 
 secrete runaway slaves ? or return such to their 
 Christian masters ? What was his course in the 
 vineyard of his Lord, in the midst of a most un 
 godly generation but one of meekness, forbear 
 ance, patience, prayers, and tears! These are 
 evidences, known and read of all men, of the spirit 
 and power of Christianity, for they are qualities 
 and virtues which do not flourish in the hearts, nor 
 show themselves in the practices of the world. 
 
 On the principles heretofore mentioned, I hold 
 the doctrine of slavery. I believe the sin to be in 
 the abuse, rather than the use of slaves. 1 cannot 
 think of any circumstances in which I would pur 
 chase a slave except to manumit him ; but have 
 no hesitation in declaring my conviction, that 
 should slaves fall into my hands by marriage, inhe 
 ritance, or otherwise, I might possess them, and so 
 discharge my duty towards them, as to avoid con 
 demnation of heaven. On this point, I have no 
 doubt ; but may God spare me the trial. It is a 
 fearful responsibility to have one s temporal and 
 eternal destiny put into his own hands : who, then, 
 is sufficient to incur that of many others in addition 
 to his own ? I should fear the result, when my 
 principles and self-interest were at strife, over a 
 rational, immortal being like myself, and his welfare 
 was the stake. His moral accountability, his life 
 and health, his riches and poverty, his virtue and 
 vice, his ignorance and knowledge, would be so 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 43 
 
 much under my control, that on my head must 
 rest a fearful obligation. 
 
 But there is another objection which, as an in 
 dividual, I should plead against holding slaves ; and 
 which, although of an entirely different character 
 from the one just mentioned, would be conclusive, 
 viz., their comparative worthlessness as laborers. 
 Except in a country where Divine Providence has 
 poured out its bounty upon the soil with an un 
 sparing hand, they are not profitable. On a sterile 
 or exhausted soil they are a moth, scarcely pro 
 ducing their living. If this fact is an argument 
 against slavery, so be it : it is no part of my design 
 to shield it from fair and close investigation. 
 
 Before leaving this part of the subject I wish to 
 anticipate a question, which many readers may 
 wish to propose, " Admitting the correctness of 
 your views respecting slavery, would it not be more 
 consistent with our professions, as a moral, benevo 
 lent people, to endeavour to teach and elevate the 
 poor and degraded, rather than by consigning them 
 to bondage, merely coerce them into a state of 
 negative goodness?" Certainly. No man who has 
 the most distant pretension to Christian character, 
 can hesitate to decide this point. But the question, 
 in this form, does not apply to our subject. We 
 are not to consider the propriety, expediency, or 
 sinfulness of adopting certain measures ; but the 
 influence of measures which have been adopted* 
 and incorporated into society for generations. 
 The difference is as great, I apprehend, as between 
 
44 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 deciding whether a certain regimen if adopted, will 
 injure a man s health ; and the best method of 
 counteracting the effects of that regimen upon the 
 system, after it has been practised for years, and 
 found to be pernicious. 
 
 V. I purpose to make some remarks upon the 
 plans and measures of abolitionists. 
 
 And, first, it appears almost evident, that a con 
 viction must force itself upon the minds of sober 
 reflecting men, who have taken an interest, in this 
 controversy, that the abolitionists have not fol 
 lowed the Christian rule laid down by the Saviour, 
 Matt, xviii. 15, nor the golden rule, of doing as they 
 would have others do to them. On the abstract 
 question of right and wrong, they commenced a 
 most violent attack upon slaveholders indiscrimi 
 nately ; denouncing them all as guilty of a most 
 horrible, unnatural crime ; and with an assurance 
 unbecoming fallible men, anticipating the extreme 
 judgments of Heaven. And then, for accomplishing 
 its overthrow, they took a step, for the wisdom of 
 which the history of the world can not furnish a 
 parallel. That step was, the sending of these 
 bitter, indiscriminate denunciations all over the 
 South, hurling their direful anathemas in the face 
 of a community, which neither acknowledged their 
 right to judge, nor the correctness of their as 
 sumptions. 
 
 2d. As an appendage to these denunciations, 
 they held up slavery as a monster of cruelty, and 
 

 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 45 
 
 impurity, and oppression ; virtually saying to every 
 slaveholder who received one of these inflamma 
 tory papers, " thou art the man." Can it be won 
 dered at, if the whole South was instantly in a 
 blaze. For my own part, I am only surprised, 
 that the utterance of southern feeling and indigna 
 tion was not more outrageous. The unanimity of 
 the South, in repelling these attacks, and throwing 
 back these denunciations is without a parallel. 
 Not only the slaveholder from principle, but the 
 thousands who were anxiously looking for some 
 way to abolish it, all united in resisting this wanton 
 attack. Even now, in the national and state legis 
 latures, every question is viewed by southern men 
 with regard to the bearing it has upon immediate 
 abolition. 
 
 In another respect the action of abolitionists has 
 been contrary to every principle of justice, recti 
 tude, and fairness. As a body they know com 
 paratively nothing of practical slavery, and yet 
 they continually denounce it for its cruelty. They 
 have seized hold of individual instances of great 
 tyranny and personal oppression, and charge the 
 crime upon the whole community. This is mani 
 festly unjust. By the same rule every denomina 
 tion of Christians yea, Christianity itself might. 
 be condemned. Probably not one person in a hun 
 dred who has subscribed t to abolition societies 
 and petitions, has ever been in a slave state. Their 
 information is derived, in a great measure, from 
 travelers and transient residents many of whose 
 
46 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 statements are of an exparte character, and of 
 whom comparatively few had sufficient opportuni 
 ties, or took sufficient interest in the subject, to 
 judge it fairly or comprehensively. The inhabi 
 tants of the free states, who have never been at 
 the South, can form no more definite ideas of the 
 practical operation of slavery, than they can of the 
 face of a country, from the description of a tra 
 veler. The traveler will show you a hill here, and 
 a valley there, but. of the numberless inequalities of 
 surface, a single view will give you a correcter 
 idea, than a hundred pages of description. So on 
 this subject, it is impossible to form a comprehen 
 sive view of the detail of slavery, without actual 
 inspection. The writer had conversed with, and 
 questioned hundreds respecting it, but two days 
 actual observation gave him altogether a clearer 
 view of the system of what slavery is, than the 
 answers to a thousand questions. 
 
 Another measure of abolitionists, which has been 
 the cause of much excitement, was the invitation 
 and cordial reception given to a foreign emissary 
 to denounce slavery, at the North. This excited 
 feelings of great irritation at the South, as it did 
 feelings of humiliation among the majority in the 
 free states. It was in effect declaring that Ameri 
 cans were not capable of managing their own 
 domestic concerns, without foreign interference. 
 Had this missionary gone to the South, as the ap 
 propriate field of his labours, it would have been 
 in character ; but his moral courage could not have 
 
. 
 
 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 47 
 
 been of a very high order, to shoot his artillery from 
 behind a barrier, and fear to meet his opponents 
 face to face. The views of the writer at that 
 period were inclined to favour abolition, but as an 
 American he heartily rejoiced that this intermed 
 dling philanthropist was driven from the country by 
 the force of public sentiment, without personal 
 injury. 
 
 Again, the resolutions introduced and carried, 
 and the speeches delivered at abolition meetings, 
 are frequently characterized by illiberality ; full of 
 violent and bitter denunciation against the whole 
 South, without respect to age, sex, or character. 
 If we are to believe some of them, the ministers 
 of the slaveholding states are more deserving the 
 Penitentiary than the pulpit. Such wholesale ma 
 ledictions are a source of constant irritation, excit 
 ing deep feelings of prejudice and animosity at the 
 South, and they retard the progress of true bene 
 volence. 
 
 In connexion with this may be mentioned the 
 abolition periodicals. I regret to say they are far, 
 immeasurably, below that standard of Christian 
 forbearance and moderation, which should charac 
 terize the discussion of so important a subject. 
 They have descended from that elevation which 
 should ever be sustained in pleading the cause of 
 humanity and philanthropy, to wallow in the dirty 
 waters of malevolence and abuse. A good cause 
 never requires the aid is never promoted by the 
 use of opprobrious language. " Soft words and 
 
48 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 hard arguments" is the maxim of Christianity ; not 
 feeble arguments in harsh words. It seems almost 
 impossible for a paragraph writer on the abolition 
 side, not to get into a passion, and to scatter fire 
 brands on all sides of him. Not satisfied with 
 depicting scenes of inhuman cruelty and oppression 
 which he never witnessed, he pours vials of worm 
 wood and gall upon a whole community. 
 
 Among these periodicals the " Liberator" de 
 serves notice, as being the oldest ; the great 
 pioneer of anti-slavery. I never read it except as 
 accident threw it in my way ; but it will be safe 
 to assert, that I never saw a copy, which did not 
 contain sentences and epithets, which Christianity 
 would blush to own. One of these papers, the only 
 one seen for a year, now lies before me. I will 
 copy a few sentences in proof of the statement 
 above. The writer is speaking of some coloniza- 
 tionist in New Jersey. It ought to be stated, how 
 ever, that this communication is not original in 
 the Liberator, but adopted from another paper. 
 
 " One Honourable persecuting inquisitor, who 
 has more presumption than brains, already in a 
 certain neighbourhood, has done more mischief, 
 and created more prejudice against the poor un 
 offending coloured people, and thrown more diffi 
 culties in their way, than his body hung upon 
 pitch-forks could atone for in purgatory, in a 
 thousand generations. Contemptible wretch ! Is 
 it not enough that coloured men are already sought 
 out and abused by every vagabond in the land, 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS, 49 
 
 through colonization instrumentality ? will this gray- 
 headed totterer upon the brink of the grave and of 
 eternity, fill up the measure of his iniquity by 
 becoming more notorious for cruelty and wicked 
 ness than Satan himself?" 
 
 I will leave this extract, with the single observa 
 tion, that I have entirely mistaken the character of 
 the people in JNew England, if they sustain a cause 
 which is supported by such language, and such a 
 temper as the above. 
 
 It is with no pleasure these references are made 
 to the Liberator. For the writer had formed a high 
 opinion of Mr. Garrison tinctured no doubt with 
 boyish enthusiasm from an anecdote which is 
 current in some parts of the North. It is this : His 
 mother consecrated him to the work of slave 
 emancipation from childhood ; instilled into his 
 youthful bosom a horror of the practice ; and 
 charged him to prosecute its abolition, as the great 
 purpose of his earthly being. The writer disclaims 
 all intention of injuring any person by relating this 
 anecdote, nor does he indorse its correctness. 
 Even if it be true, it will not be believed that Mr. 
 Garrison imbibed the gall and bitterness of his 
 paper from such a source ; and perhaps there are 
 palliating circumstances in the fact, that he has 
 been publicly denounced as an incendiary, and a 
 reward offered for his apprehension and delivery 
 to the South. But a man who places himself in 
 the front rank in a great moral enterprize, must 
 not only forego all stipulations affecting his personal 
 
50 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 destiny, but should bear himself above the petty 
 strife and clamor of the multitude. It is painful 
 to reflect, that in a man of his talents and influence, 
 the " milk of human kindness" should so soon be 
 dried up, or that he should ever be girded with 
 other armour than that which becomes a Christian 
 philanthropist. 
 
 And the abolition periodicals abound in such Chris 
 tian sentiments. 1 will instance one more from a 
 reverend editor in New York : " Truly, we believe 
 the destiny of the most abhorred beings that ever 
 lived on earth, will be mild compared with the repro 
 bation that awaits the clerical defenders of American 
 slavery." Then perdition unavoidably awaits nine 
 tenths of the ministers of all denominations south 
 of the Potomac and Ohio. And oh ! such an ag 
 gravated doom ! The writer has some clerical 
 acquaintance in the slave states, who he had no doubt 
 until this malediction appeared would be found 
 worthy to walk the streets of the New Jerusalem ; 
 and even now he will continue to hope, reflecting 
 with respect to these men in the spirit of a royal 
 and a grievous sinner of old, who in the depth of 
 his penitence said, " who can tell ?" 
 
 But the above, and similar expressions from the 
 same paper, should be read with great allowances ; 
 for the writer can bear witness that this same 
 reverend editor .is a very serious, conscientious, 
 estimable man, except when he is seized with these 
 terrible ague-fits of immediate abolition. He is 
 indeed, upon the whole, a very fair reasoner on 
 the subject of slavery ; but occasionally, after pre- 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 51 
 
 paring a very palatable dish, even for his opponents, 
 he will, in one of these paroxysms, dash in worm 
 wood enough to nauseate even his friends. 
 
 O 
 
 The writer would suggest in the kindest manner 
 to this reverend editor to commence a series of 
 essays on charity, founded upon the thirteenth 
 chapter of First Corinthians. By keeping the ske 
 leton in the drawer of his editorial table, where he 
 could seize it in a moment, and employ a half hour 
 in filling it up, when he felt one of these wormwood 
 fits coming on, it might greatly promote the cause 
 of rational abolition. 
 
 There is one feature in many of the productions 
 of abolitionists to which 1 would seriously call 
 their attention, as it is evidently proof either of an 
 unusual degree of human frailty or of superhuman 
 knowledge. They are very much inclined to ex 
 tend their denunciations beyond the limits of time, 
 and assign their opponents to a doom more or less 
 aggravated, it would seem, in proportion to their 
 want of faith in, or opposition to, the scheme of 
 immediate abolition. From the example of the 
 Bible, it appears that the future destiny of sinners 
 was seldom pronounced except by Him who knew 
 what was in man an apostle but in one instance 
 saying " thou child of the devil ;" and even an 
 angel, when disputing with an opponent, was con 
 tent, to say, " the Lord rebuke thee." 
 
 . 
 
 VI. Permit me now to state, what the aboli 
 tionists have already effected at the South. 
 
 And first, they have loaded themselves with not 
 
52 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 only the indignation, but the deep execration of 
 nearly a whole community. It is impossible for 
 language to express the feelings of slaveholders on 
 this point. Imagine a monster with the heart of a 
 fiend and the strength of a tiger ; which delighted 
 in filling a peaceful hamlet with midnight shrieks 
 and consternation that monster would be an ap 
 proximation to an aboli ionist, in the mind of a 
 southern slaveholder. I do not use this language 
 as mere declamation but only express the ideas 
 which have been conveyed to the mind, through 
 the medium of the eye and the ear. 
 
 And the question immediately arises; have they 
 deserved this execration? As an individual I do 
 not hesitate to say, they are not a together guiltless. 
 The reasons for this opinion have been recapitu 
 lated. It has been stated that abolitionists are not 
 proper judges of slavery, for as a body they know 
 nothing about it ; and it is equally true, that as a 
 body, slaveholders are not proper judges of abo 
 litionists, and for the same reason. Just in this 
 position the parties stand at present, ignorant of 
 each other s characters and motives ; but vindict 
 ively urgent in hurling at each other the most 
 violent denunciations, and applying the grossest 
 epithets of abuse which language can furnish. It 
 is impossible to say which has the advantage in 
 this contest, but it must be admitted that the abo 
 litionists were the aggressors. 
 
 Secondly. The abolitionists could not have de 
 vised a plan, more effectually to close up every 
 
TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 53 
 
 avenue leading to slave emancipation, than the 
 measures which have been referred to. They 
 have greatly increased a feeling of jealousy and 
 suspicion towards the North ; and they have rivet- 
 ted the fetters of the slave, abridging the few 
 pleasures he enjoyed, and throwing serious ob 
 stacles in the way of his redemption. I had often 
 heard this stated as one of the results of abolition 
 movements, but gave it little credit, believing it to 
 be the outcry of persons interested in the perpetua 
 tion of slavery. But a very slight acquaintance 
 with the South will place its truth beyond a doubt. 
 Pass over the boundary between the free and slave 
 states, at any point you please ; and as you advance, 
 ask the inhabitants their views of abolition, and 
 the effect its measures have had in abridging 
 the liberty of the slave. If the answers are not 
 unanimous, as to the fact, and the cause, I will 
 retract the statement. 
 
 In all the frontier slave states, several causes 
 have conspired to work a change in the public mind 
 prejudicial to slavery, for some years past. This 
 change had operated so far in most of these states, 
 as to produce more or less action touching the 
 question of slavery in the state legislatures. In Vir 
 ginia particularly, the subject had been freely dis 
 cussed with respect to measures for prospective 
 emancipation, and the people were watching the 
 progress of legislation with great interest. Almost 
 in a moment, the subject was dropped, when it was 
 seen what course the abolitionists were pursuing ; 
 5* 
 
54 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 and instead of measures for giving freedom to 
 slaves, it was considered necessary to make addi 
 tional laws for their security; and to counteract 
 what were looked upon as incendiary movements 
 in the free states. 
 
 Could abolitionists hear good men (for although 
 it may not be credited every where, there are good 
 men among slaveholders), I repeat, could they 
 hear good men in Virginia deplore this, as one of 
 the injurious results of their measures, they would 
 ponder their doings with more deliberation. The 
 wheels which had begun to move, and were ac 
 quiring accelerated motion by the action of public 
 sentiment, were effectually blocked ; and they could 
 never be set in motion again until the obstacle was 
 removed. When the whole South was assailed 
 with denunciation, and threatened with ruin and 
 perdition, it was to be expected that all parties 
 and opinions should sink their private views and 
 minor interests in the public welfare, and unite in 
 opposing the common enemy. Thus the public 
 agitation of the subject has been indefinitely post 
 poned through the mistaken zeal of abolitionists. 
 
 There can be little doubt in the minds of those 
 acquainted with the subject, that had there been no 
 cause of reaction, public opinion would have direc 
 ted legislation to provide for prospective emanci 
 pation, in more than one of the slave states, in a 
 very few years ; probably the work would have 
 been commenced at the present moment. There 
 is a continual outcry among a certain class of 
 
V 
 
 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 55 
 
 agitators, from one end of the slave states to the 
 other, appealing to southern interests, and southern 
 feelings, and having a direct reference to the insti 
 tution of slavery. This is a bond of union indeed, 
 and one which will not be easily dissolved ; but 
 there is a stronger bond even than this which go 
 verns men, and that is individual interest. And rest 
 assured, that just as soon as a majority of the talent, 
 the wealth, the free population of any state decides 
 that slavery is injurious to the best interests of that 
 state, it will be abandoned, notwithstanding all the 
 influence which may be brought to oppose it. And 
 there are powerful causes at work, tending to pro 
 duce this result, in all the frontier slave states. 
 
 Were the writer to undertake a mission to the 
 South to preach against slavery, he would, at least 
 in the five most northern states, take political eco 
 nomy for his text, and engage to convert fourfold 
 more slaveholders than could abolitionists. 
 
 But the last thing that can be done, will be to 
 drive them into emancipation. Almost every thing 
 in this world can be driven from its position, but 
 human nature ; and of this genus, perhaps the 
 American is the most intractable species ; and of 
 the American, the southern will claim its full share 
 of pertinacity in maintaining its opinions and de 
 fending its practices. 
 
 Had abolitionists adopted a different course, they 
 might have effected great good perhaps the ac 
 complishment of their object, slave emancipation. 
 Instead of confining their attention chiefly to the 
 
 
56 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 abstract question of moral right and wrong, and 
 bitterly reproaching the advocates of slavery on 
 their own assumption of the decision, they had de 
 liberated and inquired as other men, and even as 
 they do on other subjects, they would now sustain 
 a very different attitude before the community. 
 Had they at first made an appeal to the South 
 openly, and not as spies in the spirit of Christian 
 forbearance and meekness, appealing to their hearts 
 arid consciences as responsible and accountable 
 stewards, they would have found many persons 
 willing to listen to all their rebukes, and ready to 
 confer with them respecting any feasible plan for the 
 abolition of slavery. Had they gone, not as agents 
 of societies, but as simple individuals, and examined 
 slavery critically, in the various aspects of its prac 
 tical operation, they would have been better able 
 to judge of its enormity, and to apply a suitable 
 remedy. Had they preached the doctrines of the 
 New Testament not on the house-tops but at the 
 fireside they would have found multitudes ready 
 to respond to the truth, and would have been re 
 ceived with courtesy and Christian hospitality. 
 
 But let them not go now, as avowed abolitionists, 
 unless they aspire to a national notoriety. They 
 would hardly escape the honor of martyrdom, be 
 low the thirty-fifth degree of latitude : above that 
 line they might receive some permanent badge of 
 southern sensibility. And yet at this day, there is 
 no hesitation in a Virginian to converse freely, and 
 express his views frankly respecting slavery to a 
 

 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. o7 
 
 guest, who gives evidence that he has no sinister 
 design in view. 
 
 There are thousands of slaveholders who are 
 as anxious to get rid of slavery as abolitionists are 
 to have them though not in all cases, for precisely 
 the same reason. Perhaps the latter may take to 
 themselves the credit of this fact, but let them not 
 be deceived. The persons with whom the writer 
 conversed, who most deeply regretted the existence 
 of slavery among them, could scarcely restrain 
 their indignation when alluding to the abolitionists 
 for having effectually (at least for the present) put 
 a stop to all the plans in progress for the removal 
 of the evil. Perhaps it may not be universally 
 known, that the law prevents masters from giving 
 freedom to their slaves, unless they are sent out of 
 the state ; or bonds are required for their mainte 
 nance and good behaviour. 
 
 The creed of the abolitionist may be sammed 
 up in one sentence " do right, and leave conse 
 quences to God." This reads very well, but in the 
 view of slaveholders it is mere assumption, inas 
 much as it implies that slavery is not right. The 
 majority of slaveholders are conscious of no 
 wrong in the practice. And a very little reflection, 
 or a limited acquaintance v ith human nature, 
 might have taught the abolitionists, that a system 
 of so long standing, incorporated into society for 
 ages, combining the influence of almost the entire 
 community, would not surrender at discretion. 
 They might have known that, however individuals 
 
58 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 of that community might be affected by the ques 
 tion, there were multitudes upon whom their belief 
 would have no effect ; who would spurn their 
 anathemas, and scoff at dictation on a subject in 
 which their own interests were immediately and 
 vitally concerned. Foreseeing this, probably, and 
 wishing to array all the opposition to it in one 
 combination, they have exerted themselves in form 
 ing a system of affiliated societies in the free 
 states ; hoping, perhaps, by their exertions, and 
 trusting to the numerical strength and intelligence 
 of the North, to bear down slavery by the concen 
 trated force of public opinion. 
 
 But are they sure of being right in this view of 
 the subject. On this point, I would bespeak their 
 most serious and deliberate attention. They pro 
 fess to be governed by very disinterested and pure 
 motives, appealing to the Bible for arguments in 
 defence of their measures, and for their rectitude 
 of motive. But supposing they should succeed in 
 concentrating public opinion at the North against 
 slavery : is that opinion so enlightened, that it 
 would be controlled by the spirit of the Gospel ? 
 If not, then its concentration against slavery would 
 only produce evil, being governed by selfish mo 
 tives. I confess a decided belief, that the concen 
 tration of public opinion in the free states, (en 
 lightened and pious as they are,) would, at present, 
 be swayed much more strongly by political than 
 by religious motives. There are indications that 
 anti-slavery is becoming drawn into the vortex of 
 

 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. .59 
 
 politics ; if so, it will at once descend from its 
 peculiar position, and be merged in the strife of 
 parties; or should it become sufficiently influential 
 to make itself the most prominent subject of party 
 action which it will never do, until its tone is 
 changed it would lead at once to decisive, perhaps, 
 fatal measures. But as the stream cannot rise 
 above its fountain, neither can the moral agency of 
 a society exceed the moral aggregate of its mem 
 bers. If the abolitionists, by any possible event, 
 should succeed in obtaining a majority in the state 
 and national councils ; and should then press their 
 measures in the same spirit they now manifest; 
 can they depend upon the moral power of that 
 majority to wield the elements in the storms that 
 may arise ? Have abolitionists deeply pondered 
 the event of success in their headlong course? 
 
 VII. There is one more subject, having a most 
 important bearing on this question, to which I wish 
 briefly to allude, in closing this chapter. The 
 abolitionists have become clamorous for the expur 
 gation of the District of Columbia. Their efforts 
 on this point are destined, I candidly believe, to be 
 productive of evil. On this subject, sober reflection 
 has made an entire revolution in my opinion. 
 
 First. The South will always resist the proposition. 
 They will never consent to the measure (nor can 
 they consistently) until they are ready to abolish 
 slavery in the states. They look upon this district 
 in the light of a frontier post adjoining an enemy s 
 
60 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 territory, the yielding of which would open an 
 avenue for their admission into the whole country. 
 Under these circumstances, the continual agitation 
 of the question must be a source of exceeding irri 
 tation and apprehension. And in the zeal which 
 the people of the North have manifested on this 
 subject, it appears they have lost something of 
 that reputation for staidness and deliberation for 
 which they are wont to be characterized. I say 
 the people of the North, for I am persuaded but a 
 part of those signing the petitions for abolition in 
 the District of Columbia, would agree with the 
 abolitionists in their abuse, and their indiscriminate 
 and unchristian denunciation of the South. Com 
 paratively few of the petitioners on the long rolls 
 sent to Congress ever deliberately canvassed the 
 subject, or seriously reflected upon the consequen 
 ces of the success of their petition. They have 
 perhaps heard an anti-slavery lecture, and the 
 petition is passed round at the close, while the 
 thermometer of public feeling is above blood-heat, 
 under the influence of the eloquent lecture ; or some 
 busy-body with a long tongue in a small head goes 
 through the neighbourhood with the instrument of 
 abolition in his hand, and lectures by families. His 
 eloquence magnetises wherever it falls, and the 
 fever becomes contagious. The deacon signs it 
 because the minister did ; the farmer because the 
 squire did ; and all their hirelings, to be in good 
 company. Is it not so?" 
 
 Secondly. Although it is admitted that Congress 
 

 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 61 
 
 has unlimited power in the district, yet it may be 
 questioned, whether an act to abolish slavery there 
 would be in all respects an act of good faith. That 
 part of the district in which the city of Washing 
 ton is situated was formerly an integral part of the 
 state of Maryland. Would she have resigned her 
 jurisdiction over this territory, had she known that 
 Congress would have abolished slavery in it 1 Arid 
 if not, would it be proper for Congress to do 
 what she would not have done? Had the terri 
 tory in question been located in a free state, and 
 the South had petitioned Congress to admit slaves, 
 or the traffic of slaves in it, contrary to the esta 
 blished usages of the place, would there have been 
 no outcry, no resistance from the North 1 And 
 would not this very point have been urged, that 
 Congress was transcending its proper limits by 
 doing that which the state having original juris 
 diction would never have permitted ? 
 
 Thirdly. Another circumstance deserving atten 
 tion is the fact, that probably a majority of the 
 people in the district would at present vote against 
 the interference of Congress on this point: although, 
 while there is so much excitement in the country, 
 no attempt will probably be made to obtain an 
 expression of public sentiment. 
 
 Fourthly. I would suggest an opinion, that this 
 district should be held as common ground, on which 
 all the inhabitants of the country may meet on terms 
 of amity. Unhappily, the usages of the various 
 sections of our country are different ; on this very 
 6 
 
62 TO NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS. 
 
 account, the central point at which they legislate 
 should be a place where each may find its sectional 
 usages respected. Great forbearance should be 
 exercised, that the people of no section should 
 come here with the feeling, that their rights were 
 infringed or their privileges curtailed. If the 
 sight of a slave is offensive or painful to an aboli 
 tionist, he must not only keep away from slavery, 
 but should alter the laws of the United States, 
 which, as a citizen, he is bound to respect; for 
 these recognize the right of carrying slaves all 
 over the country. 
 
 Congress has always manifested a very liberal 
 disposition towards this district. It is a beautiful 
 section of hill and dale, well adapted from its 
 locality to be the seat of federal government ; and 
 its inhabitants have great reason to be thankful for 
 the liberality and favour of Congress. It has ex 
 tended a generous hand to aid public improve 
 ments, wherever there was a probability of their 
 being useful. It has done much to embellish 
 Washington in its public buildings ; and if private 
 enterprise keeps pace with the public munificence, 
 the city cannot fail to be a capital worthy of the 
 Union. 
 

 CHAPTER II. 
 
 APPEAL TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 I. Design of the writer. Slaveholders and abolitionists ignorant 
 of each other. 
 
 IT. Character of abolitionists misunderstood enthusiasts in 
 creased by opposition many of them well-meaning men. 
 
 III. Slavery, general view negroes human beings, capable of 
 improvement. 
 
 IV. Power of the master slaveholders interrogated. Fearful 
 responsibility in holding human beings as slaves. 
 
 V. The Bible on that responsibility. 
 
 VI. Brief survey of practical slavery moral aspect ignorance 
 dishonesty, facts in proof licentiousness, slaveholders aware 
 of the evil. 
 
 VII. Influence of slavery on individuals character of slaves 
 their influence on masters on poor white men. 
 
 VIII. Influence of slavery on national prosperity monopoly of 
 cotton southern system not favourable to improvement 
 comparison with imperial Rome with Peru and Mexico. 
 
 IX. A better system recommended to the South. Question of 
 moral right will be agitated among slaveholders. 
 
 X. Slaveholders plead that a manufacturing country makes actual 
 slaves some weight in the plea radical difference. Southern 
 states should depend on agriculture. " Plan " of independence 
 considered. 
 
 XI. Views of the North on slavery tendency of abolition 
 ridiculous action among some northern manufacturers. 
 
 XII. Dissolution of Union threatened its preservation urged upon 
 the South. North not inimical to the South. 
 
 XIII. The probable result of the controversy. Influence of British 
 emancipation. Modern slavery compared with Roman and 
 Grecian. Conclusion. 
 
 Slavery that consuming canker of great states. 
 
 SISMONDI. 
 
 I. In a former chapter I have given you my 
 views of the measures and movements of aboli- 
 
64 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 tionists ; permit me now, as a suitable introduction 
 to this, to tell you something of the abolitionists 
 themselves. If the description should differ from 
 the picture in your mind s eye, be assured there 
 is no intentional deception or false colouring ; and 
 that it is drawn from actual observation. The 
 writer did not enter upon this undertaking to build 
 up or pull down, to favour or traduce, any party 
 or man, and never entered into any calculation 
 respecting the degree of approbation or censure 
 which might accompany his labours. A good 
 cause never suffered by investigation ; a bad one 
 was never permanently benefited by falsehood or 
 intrigue. It is less the design of the writer to give 
 his own opinions, than to state facts, and leave 
 the reader to form his own conclusions. 
 
 With these views, it is to be regretted that so 
 much asperity of feeling should exist between the 
 great parties of this controversy the abolitionists 
 and those slaveholders which have taken a con 
 spicuous part in opposing them with so little 
 knowledge of each others characters and motives. 
 On each side judgment has been made up from 
 exparte statements, and a verdict rendered against 
 the whole body, from the inflammatory language 
 and excited action of a few. This is not only 
 unhappy, but it might have been prevented by more 
 deliberation and forbearance. It must be most 
 evident that neither party is deserving the un 
 qualified abuse which has been cast upon it by the 
 other. 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 65 
 
 II. The writer has been personally acquainted 
 with several abolitionists, some of whom have held 
 a prominent place before the public, since the first 
 agitation of the subject ; and he is ready to bear 
 witness that they are not the cutthroats and 
 monsters which slaveholders are led to believe. 
 Worse men than they, misguided or unprincipled 
 demagogues, having private interests to subserve or 
 hideous passions to gratify, have raised the hue 
 and cry against them have set on the mob to break 
 up their meetings, destroy their property, and put 
 their lives in peril to load them with infamy, and 
 quiet the South. No other result could reasonably 
 be expected, than that which followed. Instead 
 of a handful of quiet, unoffending men, who met 
 to pass resolutions on the subject of slavery, to 
 relieve their minds of a burden, they have grown 
 up, in spite of themselves, into a numerous body ; 
 and now occupy a large space in the public mind, 
 both north and south. Sober, reflecting men, who 
 witnessed the treatment they suffered for no illegal 
 act or offence against the laws, necessarily came 
 to the conclusion, that if such violence was to be 
 the penalty of believing and acting as every in 
 dividual has a right to do, then no man or society 
 would be safe from the exactions and injuries of 
 a lawless infuriated rabble ; and they befriended 
 or took sides with the abolitionists, not so much 
 from a belief of their sentiments, as to sustain the 
 peace and order of society. 
 
 The men who inflamed the mob and set them 
 6* 
 
66 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 to their task are utterly devoid of principle ; and 
 having only selfish purposes to gratify, would as 
 soon set fire to the south as the north, if they cou 
 thereby accomplish their interested designs. The 
 miserable beings who generally act as efcient 
 agents in such scenes men in the liken 3ss but 
 without the attributes of humanity who ve n 
 the rational intelligence into brutal vice, and who 
 have brought hopeless poverty and oppression upon 
 themselves in all ages, are probably destined in 
 this, as in every other country, to be controlled, 
 when in masses, like beasts of prey, only by powder 
 and ball. That this class were the workmen in these, 
 as in all mobs, there is no doubt ; and yet it cannot 
 be denied, that in almost all the tumults growing out 
 of abolition at the North, there have been large 
 numbers of orderly persons, and many respectable 
 citizens, looking on with approbation. If these latter 
 supposed they were aiding in pulling down abolition, 
 by their passive assent in countenancing the mob 
 in pulling down houses, they egregiously erred, as 
 experience has abundantly proved. 
 
 True, the abolitionists are enthusiasts they are 
 absorbed in the contemplation of this, as the greet 
 sin of the nation ; and believe they are called upon 
 by every principle of Christianity, and by the love 
 of man, to raise their voice against it ; and to use 
 every reasonable exertion for its extinction. If 
 they use unreasonable exertions, the fault should be 
 attributed in some measure to the headlong preci 
 pitancy of the times; and something should cha- 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 67 
 
 ritably be allowed for the infirmities of human na 
 ture, under the circumstances in which they have 
 been placed ; as all history, civil and ecclesiastical? 
 proves that the proper aliment on which enthusiasm 
 thrives and prospers is opposition. 
 
 But apart from their exclusiveness on this 
 point, the abolitionists, those of whom the writer 
 can speak from personal experience, are unas 
 suming, peaceable men, having at least as much 
 claim to the character of Christian as their op 
 ponents. They would not designedly hurt the 
 .air of the head of a single slaveholder. They 
 have not enlisted in this cause from motives of 
 self-interest, popular favour, or ambition. Were 
 you to sit down with them to discuss the subject 
 of slavery, however the argument might turn, I 
 would guarantee the abolitionist not to be the first 
 to lose temper. Of course, I except certain hot 
 headed ones, which in this, as in every other cause, 
 are always loaded and primed ready to go off. 
 That many of them are philanthropists, in the highest 
 sense of the term ; not giving to those who can 
 repay them, but devoting themselves to seeking 
 out, relieving, and instructing the miserable and 
 wretched, is susceptible of proof. They are ac 
 tively engaged in some northern cities, in drawing 
 those idle and vagabond children for whom " no 
 man cares" from the streets or their miserable 
 abodes, and collecting and teaching them in Sab 
 bath-schools. For these labours of unrequited 
 philanthropy, of pure, disinterested patriotism, and 
 true charity, I will honour them, and praise them, 
 
68 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 notwithstanding the frowns and scorn of popular 
 obloquy believing, that in the day which shall 
 " try every man s work, of what sort it is," these 
 labours will stand every test and be approved ; 
 whatever may be the fate of their abolition 
 measures. 
 
 III. The subject of American slavery is one of 
 such vast magnitude, involving so many interests, 
 and presenting such a variety of aspects, that to 
 trace even an outline of the whole field would re 
 quire time and research, which the writer is wholly 
 unable to command. He wishes, nevertheless, in 
 the brief space allotted to this chapter, to call your 
 attention to some points of great interest, and de 
 serving your deliberate and profound considera 
 tion. 
 
 And first, with respect to the main question, 
 slavery itself. It is not necessary to repeat or 
 add to what has been stated in another place. I 
 have there briefly but frankly avowed my own 
 sentiments on the subject. In presenting this ap 
 peal to you, I wish as frankly to address you first 
 as accountable beings, and in view of a tribunal 
 hereafter, where the judgments of men will be re 
 viewed and reversed, and where every man will 
 be judged according to his works. 
 
 I take the ground that the negro is a human be 
 ing, although now sunk in ignorance, and degraded 
 by slavery a being, having capacities for improve- 
 

 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 69 
 
 ment and enjoyment above his present lot a being, 
 accountable to God, and destined to future retribu 
 tion and a being who has claims upon the phi 
 lanthropy of the age, which cannot much longer 
 be slighted or overlooked. 
 
 All of you will agree to some of these proposi 
 tions ; some of you will agree to them all. But no 
 efforts for reformation will avail, unless founded 
 upon principles of Christian benevolence. Nothing 
 but the spirit of the gospel can essentially ameliorate 
 the condition, humanize and christianize the negro. 
 All other principles of reformation will degenerate 
 into mercenary and selfish practices. Human 
 nature is essentially the same, in all ages and 
 countries ; its great deity is self its highest attain 
 ment self-idolatry. 
 
 IV. You hold, by legal possession, by long un 
 questioned right, the person of the slave. He and 
 his posterity are yours to employ, and to dispose 
 of, according to your own pleasure. His time and 
 abilities are yours his task has no limit but your 
 will. Of freedom or property he has none. He 
 can make no alliances, no contracts his wife and 
 children are not his own, but yours. His igno 
 rance and knowledge, his virtue and vice, are 
 governed by the circumstances of his situation. 
 The employment of the faculties which God has 
 given him, and which are indestructible, is in 
 fluenced by your control ; yea, the manner in which 
 
 
70 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 he exercises them as an accountable moral being, 
 is shaped by your example and authority. 
 
 Now, without entering into any question of right 
 or responsibility, permit me to ask you, on what con 
 ditions would you agree to have the order of society 
 reversed, and yourselves and posterity destined to 
 the same state and situation in which you now 
 hold the negro ? I do not say, to the negro, but in 
 the most favourable circumstances, in which the 
 cases should be parallel ; so you would be con 
 trolled absolutely by a master, and held " as goods 
 and chattels." Are you indignant at the question ? 
 Then there are still stronger reasons for the pro 
 priety of asking it. It may not be in accordance 
 with the established rules of fashionable courtesy 
 to propose such a question, as the foundation of an 
 argument or discussion ; but in view of the great 
 interests of humanity of that moral accountability 
 of which we all are partakers the artificial rules 
 of society will never be permitted to suppress a 
 query, prompted by rectitude of motive, and having 
 for its object an investigation of the utility and pro 
 priety of customs and usages practised by a great 
 community. 
 
 Perhaps, if you deign an answer, you will sum 
 marily decide, that such a reversal is not within 
 the limits of possibility. Were the present state of 
 existence the end of man, this answer might be 
 conclusive, for there is scarcely a possibility that 
 the weak could overcome the strong that barba 
 rism and ignorance could triumph over civilization 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 71 
 
 and the arts. But this is not the view of the sub 
 ject we are contemplating, fn view of the control 
 you exercise over the slave, do you not sustain the 
 greatest weight of responsibility of which man is 
 susceptible 1 a responsibility greatly increased by 
 being exercised under the light of Christianity. 
 Unless you deny his relation to the human family, 
 you cannot forget that the negro is equally with 
 yourself the creature of the same infinite Creator, 
 that common Father of all who is no respecter 
 of persons ; and before whom, in all essential at 
 tributes, human beings of our race are equal. In 
 the closing hours of life, when the honours, and 
 riches, and colour, which now give you an enviable 
 superiority in the eyes of the world, shall be re 
 duced to their just estimate, this equality will ap 
 pear with a distinctness which you never imagined. 
 Even, if you are satisfied, beyond the reach of 
 doubt, that slavery in your case is morally right, 
 have you no reason to fear, in view of the frailty 
 and selfishness of our nature, that in the possession 
 of such powers your self-interest or passion will 
 obtain the mastery over reason and conscience 
 over the perception of right and wrong ; and that 
 you will exceed the measure of a rightful and just 
 authority. The rule of that measure is, what you 
 would have exercised over you were you the 
 slave. In view of the moral responsibility attend 
 ing the condition of master and slave, it appears 
 to me that a man having any adequate perception 
 of that responsibility, and of his own fallibility, 
 
72 TO SLAVEHOLEERS. 
 
 would not hesitate, were he destined to choose 
 between them, to accept the latter. 
 
 I have before stated my belief that slavery to a 
 good master might, by checking the propensities of 
 a debased and groveling human being, prove a bless 
 ing. On this point I have adverted to Scripture in 
 proof. Probably every reader of this can immedi 
 ately refer his thoughts to persons within his know 
 ledge, who would be better off physically, and as far 
 as he can judge morally, in a state of absolute servi 
 tude ; such persons, as are now sunk to the lowest 
 point of self-degradation. But would the responsi 
 bility of the master cease in such a case ? Cer 
 tainly not. It must be a law of morals, on which 
 I fear the slaveholder seldom reflects, that the mas 
 ter who consigns a fellow-being to bondage neces 
 sarily assumes his responsibilities, so far as he 
 controls him. And if this responsibility is great in 
 respect of the person who has already degraded 
 himself below a consciousness of moral perception ; 
 who would willingly incur it in the case of one, 
 possessed of all his faculties, in their full (though 
 untaught) vigour, and who, in favourable circum 
 stances, would assert the dignity and independence 
 of an intelligent free agent. 
 
 Slavery must necessarily forbid the develop 
 ment of the mental faculties the chain which 
 surrounds the body must be drawn so tight as to 
 close every anenue to the mind, or the master 
 would not be secure. If we say the slave has not 
 capacity for greater development or greater en- 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 73 
 
 joyment than he obtains in slavery, we say it in 
 the face of inspiration, which declares that every 
 man shall render an account of the talents com 
 mitted to his charge. If we bury a single talent 
 belonging to another, which but for our restraint 
 and control would have been improved by the 
 possessor, of us will he demand, to render his 
 account in the day of reckoning. 
 
 V. If the Bible teaches us that God permits 
 slavery, it a-lso teaches us the accountability of the 
 master. Nowhere have we more striking proof 
 of the beneficent regard of the Creator for his erring 
 creatures, nor of his endeavors (if the expression 
 be allowable), for the preservation of their liberty 
 and happiness, than in the Mosaic history. Notwith 
 standing the immediate and frequent revelations 
 which the Almighty gave to the Israelites the 
 signal interposition of his providence in their de 
 liverance from difficulty and the impressive obli 
 gations resting upon them to deal justly and love 
 mercy he, their great legislator and guide, who 
 knew the character of man, in his positive insti 
 tutions for their government, made a provision for 
 their welfare wholly unknown among human legis 
 lators, and having a direct bearing upon their 
 social happiness and equal rights. This w r as the 
 institution of the Jubilee, at which period lands 
 were to revert to their former owners, and slaves 
 to be emancipated. The design of this institution 
 is thus stated, by a learned commentator, forcibly 
 
74 TO SLAVEHOLDERS, 
 
 showing the benevolence of the Creator, in provi 
 ding checks to the natural propensities of men to 
 become tyrants or brutes. 
 
 " The reason and design of the Jubilee was 
 partly political and partly typical. It was politi 
 cal to prevent too great oppression of the poor, as 
 well as their liability to perpetual slavery. By this 
 means the rich were prevented from accumulating 
 lands upon lands, and a kind of equality was pre 
 served through all the families of Israel. Never 
 was there any people so effectually secure of their 
 liberty and property as the Israelites vere, God 
 not only engaging so to protect those invaluable 
 blessings by his Providence, that they should not 
 be taken away from them by others, but providing 
 in a particular manner by this law, that they should 
 not be thrown away through their own folly, since 
 the property which every man or family had in 
 their dividend of the land of Canaan could not be 
 sold or any way alienated, for above half a cen 
 tury."* 
 
 Every reader of the books of Moses must be 
 struck with the following reflections : 
 
 First. That God intended the Israelites to be 
 equal in rights and privileges. All had an equal 
 interest in the division of the land of Canaan, 
 according to their families and numbers. No king 
 was appointed over them. Moses was merely a 
 deputy lawgiver under the Almighty, and the heads 
 
 * Home s Introduction, Art Jubilee. 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 75 
 
 of tribes were honored as counsellors, without any 
 superior share in the inheritance. It was a pure 
 republic, with provisions for its welfare and perma 
 nence such as infinite wisdom only could make. 
 
 Second. Slavery (from among the heathen) was 
 tolerated, but under positive restrictions of not 
 more than fifty years continuance ; at which 
 period also, lands sold were to revert to the origi 
 nal proprietors. 
 
 Third. The melancholy proof of the depravity 
 and impiety of human nature, in so soon forget 
 ting the awful manifestations of Deity, by which 
 the giving of these laws was solemnized in neg 
 lecting that reverence and love of God, which a 
 sense of his goodness and protection should have 
 kept burning in their hearts and, finally, in viola 
 ting his positive commands, and utterly disregarding 
 the penalty annexed, thus daring the execution of 
 that penalty, which they have suffered to the utter 
 most, and under the doom of w r hich they remain 
 to this day. 
 
 In connection with this it may be observed, that 
 the most fearful judgments, perhaps, in the whole 
 Bible, are denounced against oppressors ; those 
 who grind the face of the poor, and withhold from 
 the hireling his due. The most grievous calami 
 ties, and especially the scattering of the Jews 
 among all nations, (Jer. xxxiv.) are particularly 
 threatened for their oppression, in not giving the 
 freedom promised and ordained in the law of 
 Moses. How far these threatenings are applicable 
 
76 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 to modern slavery, is a question which fallible men 
 should be cautious in determining. 
 
 VI. I purpose now to take a brief survey of 
 slavery, with regard to its moral and political 
 aspect; for this is the only sure test of utility in 
 every human institution. I will not designedly 
 overcolour the picture, nor give it a single hue 
 which reality will not sanction. Every man, how 
 ever humble, exerts an influence on society for 
 good or evil ; and every writer probably adds some 
 thing to the aggregate of human happiness or 
 misery. In this belief, 1 would write nothing with 
 out a deep-felt consciousness, that the eye of Omni 
 science is upon me, and that for my words and 
 sentiments, and their influence upon the world, an 
 account must be rendered. 
 
 And first, the moral aspect of slavery as it is 
 developed in our own country. On this subject I 
 have no wish to go into detail. I will state some 
 of those prominent facts, which are known and read 
 of all men in a slave country submitting to those in 
 terested to judge the fairness of the statements, and 
 leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions. 
 The first question touching the morals of a com 
 munity, is in respect to its religion. And the slaves 
 as a body must be without intelligent piety, for 
 they are without any learning. The laws gen 
 erally and I know not but in all the states interdict 
 their being taught to read ; and even when it may 
 
TO SLAVEH OLDERS. 77 
 
 perhaps be left to the discretion of the master, the 
 result is essentially the same. 
 
 Ignorance is always an attendant upon slavery. 
 Yet, while every advocate or apologist of slavery 
 must admit the necessity of this, enlightened piety 
 must deplore the consequences, in regarding them 
 as accountable beings. Reading is emphatically 
 the key of knowledge, and how ministers and 
 Christians can reconcile with the precepts of the 
 Bible, their taking away this key from one-half the 
 community of human beings, is beyond my com 
 prehension. A land of Bibles, and one-half the 
 immortal souls not permitted to read it ! We de 
 plore the biblical ignorance of the people in popish 
 countries ought we not to lament the moral dark 
 ness of our own? Surely Christian slavery gives 
 the strongest evidence of man s corruption and 
 depravity, for it virtually declares these to be more 
 influential in governing men than the Bible. 
 
 Hence the slave, whose only knowledge of religion 
 is derived from example and oral instruction, forms 
 his estimate of its value from its practical influ 
 ence upon those around him. I fear this reflected 
 light from example would be so feeble, even from 
 the most pious community in the Union, as to be 
 but a very uncertain guide to the ignorant. There 
 are many persons in the south, who take an active 
 interest in the subject, and devote much time to 
 the oral instruction of the negro ; and no doubt the 
 ministers of the gospel generally encourage and 
 assist in the work : but whether they discharge all 
 
78 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 their duty to the slave, must be left to Omniscience 
 to decide. Very many of the slaves in the large 
 towns are regular attendants upon worship, and com 
 municants in the church ; and most of the masters in 
 the country encourage their slaves to attend : and 
 although the number of attendants in the country, 
 so far as the writer s observation extended, is small, 
 he has been informed that this is by no means gen 
 erally the case. Some masters practically en 
 courage the desecration of the Sabbath, by requiring 
 six days labour of the slaves; thus leaving them 
 only the seventh for the cultivation of their own 
 garden, and the performance of other necessary 
 duties ; but by far the greater number give them a 
 portion of time expressly for their own services 
 and duties, and most of these also discountenance 
 their labouring on the Sabbath. 
 
 Another feature characteristic of southern sla 
 very is dishonesty perhaps I should say pilfering 
 and its sure concomitant, lying. Two facts which 
 are peculiar to the south will prove this statement. 
 
 First, almost every house is guarded by one or 
 more dogs generally a pack a great nuisance to 
 the traveller who is unaccustomed to such society 
 extremely savage, and especially taught to seize 
 the negro in his night maraudings. 
 
 Secondly, every mistress or housekeeper in town 
 and country keeps her rooms locked, forbidding 
 entrance without permission. This practice ap 
 pears to be reduced to a system, and vigilantly 
 attended to; thus giving evidence that the danger 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 79 
 
 is not from without, as in cities, but from within. It 
 seems to be a household maxim, that servants are 
 not to be trusted. Having no liberty, no property 
 of his own, is it surprising that the slave should 
 covet, and in his moral and mental ignorance ap 
 propriate to his own use, something of the abund. 
 an :e wh ch surrounds him, or whatever accident 
 throws in hi-; way, that may minister to his gra 
 tification ? Naturally of a social disposition, but 
 denied by his situation from enjoying his propensity 
 during the day, his nights are frequently given to 
 visiting, frolicking, rambling, plundering. 
 
 But the darkest moral feature in the South is 
 licentiousness. It walks like the pestilence at noon 
 day lurks in every corner and by-way at night 
 and nothing is free from its contamination. I am 
 satisfied but few slaveholders themselves know 
 the amount of this vice carried on among them. 
 Sensuality is a strong propensity in the negro, and 
 in his state of degradation, and in the absence of 
 mental pleasures, it is not wonderful that sensual 
 indulgence should have a strong dominion over 
 him. Besides, it cannot be questioned, that this vice 
 is often practically encouraged by his white supe 
 riors ; and where every tie of family kindred is 
 liable to be broken at the will of the master where 
 the slave is permitted to have no individual will, 
 but is personally and mentally subjected where 
 passive acquiescence to the demands or wishes of 
 a superior may prove a source of mitigation of 
 evils where all these are combined with the na- 
 
80 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 tural inclination of the negro, what can prevent a 
 flood of pollution from pouring over the land. 
 Nothing can prevent it, but a strong sense of moral 
 principle; and whether a state of domestic slavery 
 is more or less favourable to the formation and 
 exertion of such a principle, is submitted to the con 
 sideration of slaveholders. From impressions on 
 the mind of the writer, he is confident that a little 
 observation and inquiry will give such a view of 
 the subject, as to make a moral man ashamed that 
 he belongs to the species. Pen should not write, a 
 virtuous mind should not for a moment retain ex 
 pressions of deeds, of which men, called respectable, 
 openly boast. 
 
 And a southern slaveholder never ought to utter 
 a word of reproach, or speak of amalgamation, in 
 connection with the free states. Were every black 
 there to be married to a \vhite, the result would not 
 exhibit such a motley complexion, as the South now 
 presents, in open defiance of every moral and reli 
 gious precept. The one might offend the estab 
 lished rules of society ; the other outrages every sen 
 timent of decency. You may very frequently at the 
 South see a black woman with two or three children, 
 each of a different coloured hue such things pass 
 Without observation as a matter of course. And I 
 have sometimes while traveling, asked the ques 
 tion respecting a fellow-being before me, " is that 
 man black or white?" The answer was generally, 
 " he is a slave." And I need not allude to the end 
 less varietv of shades which meet the eye, in ob- 
 

 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 81 
 
 serving the coloured population, in all the cities of 
 the south. Leaving out of view entirely, the idea 
 of moral responsibility, what are the prospects of 
 such a state of society? Who can be secure, when 
 the very atmosphere is loaded with pestilence ? Who 
 can be surrounded with fire, and not be scorched ? 
 What an introduction to manhood, have the youth 
 of such a society! 
 
 I know that many persons at the south, many 
 slaveholders, view this picture of society with dis 
 may, and are anxiously looking for some ray of light 
 to break in upon the surrounding darkness. They 
 know that it is poisoning the fountains of morals, 
 and undermining the very foundations of society. 
 They know also that slavery is the procuring cause 
 of the evil, by placing the cup within the reach 
 of every individual, and that public opinion silently 
 acquiesces in the practice. In the frontier states, 
 these men have hope of removing the evil by des 
 troying the cause ; but in the far south, where self- 
 interest, worldly prosperity, the climate and habits 
 of society, combine to perpetuate slavery, some of 
 these men do not hesitate to express a belief, that 
 slavery is destined to take a terrible revenge not 
 by insurrection, but by amalgamation the black 
 swallowing up the white. 
 
 VII. Secondly. The influence of slavery, with 
 respect to individual and national prosperity, were 
 there no other objection to slavery, I would urge 
 emancipation upon the master from motives of 
 
82 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 political economy alone. No country or state ever 
 was or can be permanently prosperous, where the 
 mass of the population are slaves. That slavery is 
 contrary to the original designs of the Creator, and 
 the established laws which govern the world of 
 mind, is sufficiently proved from its unprofitable 
 ness. We need not appeal to history or human 
 science for the proof of these propositions. That 
 slave-labour is necessarily unproductive, must be 
 evident to the most common reflection. As a 
 general principle, with rare exceptions, no man 
 will exert himself to do any thing without an object 
 in prospect, and every man s exertion and perse 
 verance will be in proportion to the value he 
 places upon that object. Now, on this common 
 sense principle, what motive has the slave to 
 labour ? He is a mere passive instrument in the 
 hands of another : he has no voice in the direction, 
 no profit in the result of his labour : he will have 
 his food and clothing, although the cattle destroy 
 the corn ; he will have no more, although it yields 
 an hundred fold.* 
 
 He has no attachment to the soil except from 
 
 * Upon reading this chapter to a slaveholder from an 
 agricultural district, he objected to the above, stating, that in 
 his neighbourhood, there was a very manifest rivalry among 
 the slaves of different plantations, to make the best crop of 
 cotton, and a feeling of pride among those that succeeded. 
 I very cheerfully give his statement a place, and should be 
 happy to learn that the same was true of the slave states 
 extensively. 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. oo 
 
 habit ; and the force of his application is a com 
 pact between his sluggish indifference and the 
 value he sets upon the ill or good will of his 
 master. He has no motive to be saving or econo 
 mical; for every thing around him belongs to 
 another. He is a machine impelled by extraneous 
 force just like a watch, which will go as long 
 as it is wound up ; and, like a watch, the slave 
 must be wound up every day; he must have 
 his orders daily, and must have a command 
 repeated every time a certain service is required, 
 although it may be only " to water the horse," or 
 " shut the gate." His want of care, his negligence 
 and forgetfulness, are complete established traits 
 of character. Of consequence, a great deal of his 
 labour, inefficient as it is, is unproductive, or ren 
 dered of no avail. 
 
 It is a common remark of those persons ac 
 quainted with slave-labour, and northern free- 
 labour, that their proportion is as one to two. This 
 is not too great an estimate in favour of the free 
 labourer ; and the circumstances of their situation 
 produce a still greater disparity. The absence of 
 motive, and the consequent want of mental energy 
 to give vigor to the arm of the slave, is the source 
 of another great drawback upon the usefulness of 
 his labour. His implements or tools are at least 
 one-third (in some instances more than twofold) 
 heavier and stronger than the northern man s, to 
 counteract his want of skill and interest in his 
 work. A negro hoe or scythe would be a curi 
 osity to a New England farmer. Of course the 
 
84 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 extra exertion required in the use of these tools, is 
 a deduction from the profit of his labour. All his 
 manufacturing and repairing, except regular trades 
 men, of which there are some respectable workmen 
 at the South, are of the rudest kind ; and a northern 
 man, seeing his heavy cart attached to a mule, with 
 the relics of a harness, kept together by cords and 
 straps, is at once led to reflect upon the probable 
 advancement the American negro has made in 
 mechanical ingenuity over his brethren on the banks 
 of the Goliba. 
 
 There is another view of this subject to be taken 
 also, in the light of political economy; and that is 
 the influence of slavery upon the white population. 
 Some writer has said " every man is as lazy as he 
 can be ;" but the remark should be taken with the 
 same limitation as that, in which the inspired 
 Psalmist called " all men liars ;" he said it " in his 
 haste." Notwithstanding, there is one denuncia 
 tion in the Bible, which mankind, in all ages and 
 countries, have regarded with peculiar dislike, and 
 used all their efforts to shun. There is indeed, 
 comparatively, a few who have looked upon this 
 denunciation as a blessing in disguise, and have 
 therefore cheerfully acquiesced in it ; but their num 
 ber has always been so small, and they themselves 
 adjudged by the world to be a class of old-fashioned, 
 mean-spirited beings, that they have made very 
 few converts to their faith or practice. The pas 
 sage alluded to may be found in one of the first 
 chapters of Genesis, and reads thus " in the sweat 
 

 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 85 
 
 of thy face shalt thou eat bread," which in modern 
 paraphrase is generally understood to mean, "thou 
 shalt work for a living." Of all the punishments 
 inflicted or threatened upon man by his Creator, 
 this appears to be regarded as the greatest, and 
 men have exercised every ingenuity to escape it. 
 
 But there is no reason to believe that southern 
 men or slaveholders are sinners above all others 
 in this respect ; for the New Englander has at 
 heart as great a horror of the spade and hoe : but 
 the former has a great advantage over the latter 
 in situation, being supplied with a plenty of other 
 hands, in the sweat of whose faces, instead of his 
 own, he eats bread. The wealthy planter need 
 not work, and does not, neither does the wealthy 
 northern farmer. On lands fertile in soil, and 
 large in extent, he can bid defiance to Franklin s 
 maxim, 
 
 " Whoever by the plough would thrive, 
 Himself must either hold or drive" 
 
 as he has one or two grades of officers between 
 himself and the labourer ; and therefore takes but 
 little interest in the detail of his great estate. Be 
 tween these proprietors of the first class, and those 
 whites who are absolutely poor, there are a num 
 ber of grades which, in proportion to the quality of 
 their lands and the number of their slaves, are en 
 abled to live more or less at their ease, in respect to 
 worldly competence. But most of these take some 
 8 
 
86 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 direct and daily interest in the management of their 
 estates. 
 
 A class of these, in moderate rather than affluent 
 circumstances, probably enjoy life with more real 
 satisfaction, than any other. With a few negroes, 
 not more than they can personally superintend, and 
 not enough to preclude the necessity of their con 
 stant supervision, and assistance in labour they 
 work almost as regular and perseveringly as the 
 New England farmer. Many of this class are also 
 wise enough to bring their sons up to labour take 
 them into the field, and put them side by side with 
 the slave. This is the most virtuous and truly 
 independent class of southern men, the true lords 
 of the soil the strong framework of society. In 
 all these classes, except perhaps the highest, the 
 negligence and carelessness of the negro requires 
 a degree of vigilance, and causes an amount of 
 anxiety, which makes a large deduction from the 
 ease of the master. 
 
 And besides, the fixed habits of the negro have 
 exerted a powerful influence to the master s injury. 
 The latter seems from a kind of necessity to have 
 accommodated himself to the slovenly course of 
 the slave. There appears to be a great want of 
 method, and destitution of energy in almost every 
 thing about him. His inclosed fields are too large 
 for profitable culture; his pastures generally open 
 in commons ; his fences rude and out of repair ; 
 and his buildings and tools, and vehicles, not of the 
 best construction for available profit. There is an 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 87 
 
 appearance of want of thrift generally, which strikes 
 an observer from the old states of the north, as 
 evidence that there is some cause operating exten 
 sively against the inhabitants, preventing them from 
 reaping the natural benefits of their situation, with 
 respect to climate, soil, and local advantages. 
 
 But there is another class of whites, equal per 
 haps to all the others in number, upon which slavery 
 has had an indirect but decided influence. In a 
 country where slaves perform all or nearly all the 
 work, it cannot be expected that labour will be 
 considered respectable ; and this public sentiment 
 of the rich operates with fatal influence upon the 
 energy of the poor man. By a poor man is meant 
 one too indigent to own slaves. As a general fact, 
 they are unwilling to be hired, to go into the field 
 with the slave. Some of them are overseers or 
 managers for the planters, a situation I believe in 
 which few accumulate property. Many of them 
 possess considerable tracts of land (which is very 
 cheap) from which, in the vicinity of navigable 
 waters, they carry considerable quantities of wood 
 to market. Many of them near the large towns 
 are small gardeners, others are sailors, boatmen^ 
 fishermen, while great numbers probably depend 
 more on their dogs and guns, and female industry, 
 for support, than any regular business. As a body, 
 so far as the writer can judge, the class of poor 
 whites are ignorant. Great numbers even in the 
 Old Dominion can neither read nor write. In this 
 respect, however, there is a better prospect for the 
 
88 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 children. And I need not prove, that as a body, 
 the poor class of whites in the slave states are 
 vicious, if rum drinking, profanity, and laziness 
 entitle men to that appellation. To what extent 
 the effects here spoken of are to be attributed to 
 slavery, must be left for others to decide. 
 
 VIII. I shall probably be met here with the 
 assertion, that the South, even with its slave labour, 
 produces three fourths of all the exports of the 
 country ; and shall be asked how this fact is recon 
 cilable with the wastefulness of that labour, and the 
 poverty it tends to produce. 
 
 This will bring us to a consideration of the 
 influence of slavery, in respect to political economy. 
 The fact is conceded, that the states of the South 
 produce most of the exports of the nation in numer 
 ical amount; but it does not thence follow, that 
 these states are adding to individual and national 
 prosperity in the same proportion. Slavery and 
 slave labour are inherently the same in all parts of 
 the world, but various circumstances modify their 
 influence in different states and countries. In 
 Alabama and Louisiana slave labour is more valua 
 ble than in Virginia not because the slave is more 
 industrious or less wasteful but because the arti 
 cles he produces are more profitable. In many 
 parts of Virginia, a slave in cultivating corn will 
 hardly produce his own support; take the same 
 slave to Mississippi, and with the same time and 
 exertion of labour in producing cotton, he would 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 89 
 
 be worth annually several hundred dollars clear 
 profit. Evidently then, the advantage is not in the 
 slave, but in his situation. 
 
 The South, from its local position, possesses a 
 monopoly of one of the greatest staples of traffic 
 in the commercial world. Its virgin soil produces 
 cotton in abundance, and the demand for the arti 
 cle in all the manufacturing districts of Europe 
 and America, in this age of universal peace, and 
 improvements in the arts, sustains a price which 
 affords an enormous profit. It has been stated that 
 the labour of a slave in producing cotton or sugar, 
 would in two or three years amount to his value, 
 1000 or 1500 dollars. 
 
 Much is said at this day about national prosper 
 ity, but without definition, it is a mere abstract 
 term, and has no political meaning. If by national 
 prosperity is meant, the useful and profitable em 
 ployment of all the individuals of a nation; and at 
 the same time suitable provision for increase of 
 population, then the expression has a very significant 
 meaning. If the individuals of a nation are pros 
 perous, it will be a prosperous nation of course. 
 That the cotton states produce national prosperity 
 in this sense, by adding to the profitable employ 
 ment of individuals, is very true ; but the least part 
 of this prosperity is realized at. the south. Let us 
 enter into an examination of this statement. In 
 conformity with southern usage, we shall consider 
 the whites alone as population or individuals, 
 leaving the slaves entirely out of view, as passive 
 8* 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 agents, or mere cattle. Now, how the planter can 
 be said to be usefully or profitably employed in 
 cultivating a square mile of cotton with 200 labour 
 ers, thus absorbing the means of sustaining 100 
 individuals, I do not see. With all this estate he 
 can live in but one house, eat and drink, and sleep 
 for one, and enjoy life only as an individual. True, 
 he may travel, possess fine equipages, be clothed 
 like a prince, and spend money like a prodigal 
 but this does not improve his land, add to his re 
 sources, nor make room for an increase of popu 
 lation. 
 
 Again, the cotton which he produces (without 
 other human agents) is carried to New or Old 
 England, and in the process of manufacture em 
 ploys 100 persons, or 20 families ; each of which 
 must have a house to live in ; and must have food 
 and clothing, giving useful employment to many 
 others. Now which possesses the greatest resour 
 ces of prosperity, the plantation of the cotton culti 
 vator, or the place (suppose the same extent of 
 territory) where the cotton is manufactured ? The 
 former contains a population of one or two fami 
 lies, and one or two houses ; the latter contains 
 a population of twenty families, in twenty houses, 
 with plenty of vacant room for more, the price of 
 which is continually advancing, as new houses are 
 called for : as the number of manufacturing opera 
 tives is increased, the demand for other mechanics 
 is extended, and the increased consumption of 
 
, 
 
 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 91 
 
 agricultural products greatly enhances the value 
 and price of land. 
 
 Now let us enlarge the scale, without changing 
 the principle. On ten thousand square miles of 
 territory are five thousand cotton planters assu 
 ming that the cotton land of each is one half of his 
 estate or plantation having splendid houses to live 
 in immensely rich and with every luxury at 
 command which money will purchase, or man has 
 a capacity to enjoy. On the other hand, on ten 
 thousand square miles are forty thousand families, 
 and although not living in the same splendour use 
 fully and profitably employed. In the latter case, 
 the activity of the people, and the increase and 
 facilities of business invite population ; the very 
 circumstances of the former repel it. Now which 
 of these communities adds most to the wealth and 
 strength of a nation? In case of war, which 
 would most likely be attacked? That where 
 wealth was concentrated in a few hands, or that 
 where conquest would afford the least plunder in 
 proportion to the inhabitants, and where an attack 
 would be opposed by a greater force 1 In which 
 of these communities will there probably be the 
 greatest improvement and skill in the useful arts : 
 the most activity, industry, and physical and 
 mental energy ? Which of them will most proba 
 bly establish and sustain schools, and become an 
 intelligent community 1 
 
 If the foregoing contrast is founded on facts and 
 reason, the southern planter may see the direct 
 
92 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 tendency and result of the system on which he 
 acts. His productions are a source of great 
 national prosperity (in a nation so extensive and 
 various as ours), but unfortunately they benefit him 
 self and his part of the nation the least.* The 
 cotton states add immensely more to the wealth^ 
 resources, and strength of England, than they do 
 to themselves but this is no fault of the former, 
 rather their own. She is pursuing a course which 
 invites an increase of active population ; and which 
 gives momentum and energy to every branch of 
 industry every department of science ; they repel 
 such population. Hence they pay an exorbitant 
 tax for the services of transient mechanics and 
 merchants, who retire to spend their profits else 
 where. The grand secret is the difference in their 
 
 * The aggregate of southern exports is immense in annual 
 amount so many millions for cotton so many for rice^ 
 sugar, and tobacco. But it is easily demonstrable that the 
 amount of northern agricultural production, independent of 
 her commerce and manufactures, exceeds that of the South, 
 even in proportion to her population. This is true of the 
 two sections taken as a whole, or of any particular portions 
 compared together. For instance, the annual amount of pro 
 duction of western New- York or Ohio, from the forest, the 
 grass and grain fields, the pastures and gardens, will exceed 
 the amount from an equal territory, selected from any portion 
 of the South. The great difference is, the productions of the 
 latter are sent abroad, while those of the latter are consumed 
 at home; and, therefore, not so tangible or visible, except in 
 the progressive improvement, and rise and accumulation of 
 property in the immediate section itself. 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 93 
 
 systems. The manufacturing country (if free) must 
 necessarily expand itself. The system of the South 
 will not bear expansion. 
 
 And this system is alike unfavourable to the 
 development of internal resources, of physical and 
 moral power. With their monopoly of products, 
 and fertility of soil, the states of the South ought to 
 be the richest in the world. Those on the Gulf of 
 Mexico possess a mine in these respects, which 
 might produce wealth enough to plate their surface 
 with silver. But the blessings of Providence are 
 poured into their lap in such profusion, that frail 
 human nature is incapable of making the best use 
 of them. They spend their immense incomes in 
 personal accomplishments, in personal enjoyments, 
 in lordly munifience. Each man is for himself, 
 living and enjoying in his isolated grandeur; never 
 dreaming that there is any bottom to the fertility 
 of his soil, or limit to his pleasures. His individual 
 (personal) prosperity is apparently unbounded and 
 enviable. But it is delusive. He is, politically, like 
 a man in a balloon, sailing at an amazing elevation 
 above the rest of the world, but liable every mo 
 ment to be dashed down to earth. His children 
 are not so likely to be taught the value of time, of 
 money, of character, of morals, of physical energy. 
 One certain result of that indolence and luxurious 
 mode of living, consequent upon the sudden influx 
 and increase of wealth in a family or state, is to 
 effeminate the physical powers, deteriorating man 
 more and more in every successive generation. 
 
94 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 Rome in her richest days was in similar circum 
 stances to the states enjoying this monopoly, and 
 she sunk under the burden. Central Italy was too 
 much occupied in war, and her freemen were too 
 proud to labour, while the necessaries and luxuries 
 of life were profusely supplied by the distant pro 
 vinces. These, although possessed by the wealthy 
 patricians of Rome, were cultivated by slaves so de 
 graded and brutalized, as to offer no resistance 
 even to barbarian invaders. Hence, between the 
 luxurious effeminacy of the masters, and the despic 
 able condition of the labourers, the empire became 
 an easy and an inviting prey. 
 
 But a more exact parallel may be drawn between 
 these states and the mining countries of Mexico 
 and South America. So utterly subversive of all 
 moral principle, and all physical energy, is the 
 acquisition of great wealth without personal effort, 
 that these countries, although possessing the very 
 fountains of money whence the streams flow all 
 over the world are among the weakest in power, 
 and the most abandoned in morals : while the 
 passion for gold, absorbing all other passions and 
 interests, has entirely paralysed the energies of 
 the mother country, and in two centuries, almost 
 completely prostrated one of the proudest and 
 most powerful states in Christendom. I do not 
 say the South would ever descend so low in the 
 scale of moral and mental degradation as these 
 states it is in a great measure free from their 
 ignorance, and from the influence of a corrupt, 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 95 
 
 irresponsible priesthood ; but the tendency of its 
 system the accumulation of the wealth of the 
 state and that wealth immense in comparatively 
 a few hands, is precisely the same ; and, unless hu 
 man nature is changed, must lead to the same 
 result. 
 
 IX. Now, permit me to ask the southern planter 
 if it would not be better for him, better for his 
 state and section, better for the nation, and better 
 in every point of view, to divide his twelve 
 hundred acres, or tw r o square miles of land, into 
 farms of one hundred acres each, and farm it 
 out to twelve men or families. By giving them, 
 long leases (on the English system), these tenants 
 would have a direct interest in preserving the 
 fertility of the rich, and replenishing the exhausted 
 soils ; and by actual personal inspection of the 
 whole and that prudent economical management 
 which men generally exercise in their own con 
 cerns greatly increase the amount of production. 
 If, by this means, the planter should obtain the 
 same income from his estate that he does at pre 
 sent, and at the same time his estate should sup 
 port twelve other industrious families, would he 
 not enhance the value of his own property, and 
 add to the resources of his community ? 
 
 By being relieved of the responsibility and anxi 
 ety of watching and directing one or two hundred 
 idle, wasteful, and refractory hands, would he not 
 be happier ? As long as he remains isolated in his 
 
96 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 present situation, he cannot improve his property. 
 He will wear out and exhaust, but will not re 
 plenish. He will be behind the age in construct 
 ing internal improvements for the public good. 
 Old Virginia will show him by ocular proof the 
 inevitable result of his own system. She practised 
 it on a soil, perhaps somewhat originally inferior 
 to that of Alabama, and a hundred and fifty 
 years has exhausted her entirely. Let him go 
 to the North, and examine the condition of the 
 same extent of land as his own plantation, see 
 the number of inhabitants on it the industrious 
 competition continually active and he may at 
 once see the reason why real estate is continually 
 advancing in all the old free states, and actually 
 declining in the old settled parts of the slave states. 
 He may easily tell the reason why Massachusetts, 
 with its bogs, and rocks, and cold climate, would 
 sell in market for more money than old Virginia, 
 with her double population, her eightfold extent, 
 her navigable waters, and unrivalled situation. 
 Let him compare their systems of operation, and 
 he will see further, that if the population of Mas 
 sachusetts were placed in Virginia, it would, in a 
 few years, resuscitate the exhaustion of her mari 
 time section, tunnel her mountains to the Ohio, and 
 bring to light the inexhaustible mineral wealth 
 hidden in her interior. He would see, that one- 
 fourth of the population of Virginia, carrying with 
 them the Virginia system, spread all over the 
 former state, would soon perish with famine. 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 97 
 
 In stating this contrast, I have made but slight 
 reference to the question of morals, or of human 
 rights. But they must enter deeply into every 
 question affecting the welfare of society. That 
 luxury and pride, idleness and haughty independ 
 ence, almost certainly follow the acquisition 
 of sudden wealth, requires no proof. Impiety 
 to God, and hard-heartedness to man, follow in 
 the train. That the morals of the South are not 
 too deeply imbued with that spirit of meekness and 
 forbearance which the Bible inculcates, is evident 
 from the number of gentlemanly assassinations in 
 affrays and duels which so frequently occur. 
 With regard to human rights, there are some per 
 sons who would be inclined to ask in their simpli 
 city whether it is right for one man to make two 
 hundred fellow-beings, (perhaps as honest, as vir 
 tuous, as capable of improvement as himself), 
 labour, that he may spend their earnings accord 
 ing to his pleasure. And the time will come when 
 this question will be asked at the South, not in 
 corners and whispers, but openly and loudly, 
 and all over the South. And the social agitation 
 which will accompany this inquiry, will give the 
 people new eyes to see things, which, although 
 lying on the very surface of society, unyielding 
 prejudice has hither prevented them from seeing. 
 I invoke the hastening of this period from motives 
 of sincere regard for the best interests and welfare 
 of the South. 
 
98 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 X. And here, I am aware the slaveholder may, 
 perhaps, plead the unfairness of this contrast so far 
 as slavery is concerned, and contend that the 
 manufacturing section, when densely populated, 
 will produce a class of labourers, poor, ignorant, 
 and debased slaves in every thing but the name. 
 Candour must admit that this plea is not without 
 weight. It has weight. The tendency of large 
 manufactories is the same as large slave planta 
 tions, viz. to absorb the wealth of the state, and 
 place it in a few hands. And whenever the manu 
 facturers should outnumber the agricultural popu 
 lation, the result would be a controlling influence 
 of an irresponsible, wealthy aristocracy. Experi 
 ence proves that the influence of manufacturing 
 upon labourers is bad ; as a class they are ex 
 ceedingly improvident, and the peculiar circum 
 stances of their situation, fosters ignorance, 
 licentiousness, and intemperance. In view of this, 
 the legislatures of some of the states have enacted 
 laws compelling the education of the children. 
 By banishing ardent spirits, also, the rapid descent 
 of this class to abject poverty and degradation will 
 be arrested. But as soon as the demand for manu 
 facturing labourers shall be exceeded by the supply, 
 competition will reduce the wages to a bare sub 
 sistence, and then the employer will control the 
 labourer, almost without responsibility: for what 
 is now common, viz. so great a degree of poverty, 
 as to be unable to remove a family from one factory 
 to another, will then be nearly universal. Nothing 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 but law and public opinion will then interpose in 
 favour of the labourer, and these have always been 
 a very feeble barrier to wealthy aggression. If 
 the remark of an English manufacturer to the 
 writer is to be credited, the females in the English 
 factories are as much in the power of their masters 
 as the southern slave, and perhaps as vicious. 
 
 And yet at the worst, there is an immeasurable 
 distance between the slave and free labourer. The 
 former is entirely passive, the latter voluntary. 
 No ray of mental light can reach the slave. If he 
 could see his chains, he would make an effort to 
 break them. But the freeman has liberty to rise, 
 and may surmount the hardships of his state, and 
 become a prominent man in society. The institu 
 tions of the state, and public sentiment, both invite 
 him to educate his children. There is no obliga 
 tion to hinder him from leaving his employment at 
 any moment, but such as he has imposed upon him 
 self. If he is not a slave to vice, the most grievous 
 of all slavery, there is always hope of his rising in 
 the world. Actual slavery destroys its victim at 
 once, and is no worse in generations but the 
 descent and degradation of the free labourer is gra 
 dual, and is frequently a long period in reaching 
 its ultimate depression. I cannot conceive an 
 obtuseness of intellect so great, as not to perceive 
 a radical difference between the two cases. 
 
 But there is no necessity or propriety in drawing 
 a comparison between the slave and the manufac 
 turing labourer. I bespeak no indulgence, and shun 
 
100 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 no responsibilities, in declaring (from actual know 
 ledge of both) that the lower class of whites at the 
 South are as poor, as ignorant, as vicious, to say 
 the least, as the labouring operatives in the northern 
 manufactories. Taken as an average, as a body, 
 or as individuals, the latter will not suffer in com 
 parison. 
 
 In leaving this part of the subject, I wish to 
 make a few observations to prevent misapprehen 
 sions respecting what has been stated of the south 
 ern system of labour. 
 
 Nothing in the foregoing remarks was intended 
 to bear, in the least, against the great business of 
 the South but against the mode of conducting it. 
 The Almighty Disposer, who allots to men their 
 destiny in this life, has evidently designed these 
 states to be agricultural ; and in their fertility, 
 facilities of production, and in a monopoly of 
 cotton, they are indebted to Him for a source of 
 wealth, an amount and aggregate of profit, which 
 no other community ever possessed. They only 
 need to avail themselves of the best plan of opera 
 tions for applying their resources to this business, 
 to be immensely rich and powerful. The product 
 is immense, and so is the profit: both might be 
 increased. But it would seem they are dissatis 
 fied with their circumstances, and aim at grasping 
 the business of their northern neighbours. Let them 
 be reminded of the fable " of the dog carrying the 
 meat over the river." If I were an enemy to the 
 South, I would encourage the "plan" to render 
 

 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 101 
 
 themselves " independent of the North," by export 
 ing their own produce and importing their own 
 goods. That they can buy goods as cheap in 
 England or France, as northern merchants, cannot 
 be doubted ; but that they can build ships and 
 carry on commerce, and diffuse foreign merchan 
 dize through the interior, as cheap as can be done 
 at the North, is out of the question, unless they can 
 anticipate a period of fifty years ; for to this 
 amount of time, the North are ahead of them, in 
 these respects : and it is but a poor compliment to 
 themselves, to suppose the North has any design of 
 injuring the South, in her manufactures or com 
 merce. The North was driven to extend her inter 
 est in these by the force of circumstances. The 
 poverty of her soil, and the severity of her climate 
 compelled her increasing population to seek other 
 channels of active business; and it was only by 
 perseverance against obstacles, and by a gradual 
 progress, that her commerce and manufactures 
 reached their present elevation. The increase of 
 these, naturally led to the construction of canals 
 and railroads. But none of these great enterprizes 
 can be successfully carried on without a dense 
 population. This is also necessary, in order to 
 develop the internal resources of a state. Has the 
 South so far extended her cultivation, that she can 
 spare labourers to dig the ore and work iron, to 
 build ships, to man them, to manufacture goods, 
 which she now receives from the North? If not, 
 then she will not succeed any better in extending 
 9* 
 
102 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 her commerce and manufactures, than would the 
 middle states, in endeavouring to cultivate their 
 own cotton. Each would be out of the sphere 
 in which Providence evidently designed it to act. 
 But perhaps the South covet the profits of the North. 
 Let them rather take good care of their own. I 
 am no merchant, but will guaranty that the im 
 porters, ship owners, manufacturers, and merchants 
 of New York, will exchange profits on the capital 
 invested in their employments, for the profits on 
 an equal amount invested in cotton cultivation. If 
 the South are fearful of becoming " dependent" let 
 them make the proposition. This " plan" before 
 mentioned seems to be started as an offsett to north 
 ern abolition. The scheme is entirely worthy of 
 that which gave it birth : and I cannot but hope 
 and believe, for the best good of the country, and 
 the whole country, that either will be discounte 
 nanced and abandoned before it involves its own 
 section of the Union in disaster and distress. 
 
 XI. It may not be improper, after giving my 
 views of slavery and slaveholding, to offer the 
 South some information respecting the state of 
 public sentiment at the North. On this point, a 
 right understanding is of immense importance. A 
 spirit of jealousy and suspicion is awakened in 
 each section of the Union, leading to crimination 
 and threatening ; and this arises chiefly from igno 
 rance of each other s views and circumstances. It 
 was a principal object of the writer in commencing 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 103 
 
 this appeal, to remove this ignorance, and if possi 
 ble make the great mass of the people on each side 
 better acquainted with each other. If this is 
 effected, there is hope that the question may be 
 amicably settled. I have often thought it must be 
 difficult for the people of the South to form any 
 correct opinion of northern feeling on this subject, 
 from the various and contradictory statements of 
 the press. One will aver that abolitionits are 
 silenced : another will declare they are increasing. 
 One states that the North is sound on this subject, 
 and the slaveholder has nothing to fear ; another 
 comes out boldly, and connecting the subject of 
 free discussion, declares that the North are all for 
 abolition. 
 
 The fact is, the free states, as a people, have not 
 yet spoken on this subject. They are a deliberate, 
 thinking community, not easily excited ; and there 
 is no great question of universal and absorbing 
 interest like slavery among them, to draw out 
 public sentiment. I will venture, as an individual, 
 to make two statements, as facts, respecting the 
 people of the free states. 
 
 First. They generally, almost universally, hold 
 slavery in abhorrence. This is the settled feeling 
 and conviction of their hearts. They believe it to 
 be cruel wrong to the slave, and as far as they have 
 information, believe it to be deeply injurious to the 
 masters. These are their views respecting slavery 
 in the abstract slavery everywhere. These are 
 the reasons which influenced them to abolish it 
 
104 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 among themselves, and which will always deter 
 mine them to reject it. 
 
 Second. I believe there is a firmly settled con 
 viction, that it would be wrong for them to take 
 any steps to enforce abolition at the South. In 
 addition to their convictions of a moral nature on 
 this subject, there is a very general belief that in 
 the compact of our government, slavery was fairly 
 though tacitly recognized, and left to the exclusive 
 control and action of the several states respectively. 
 Just in this position they are now inquiring what 
 is their duty with respect to any action on the sub 
 ject; and even if the South should now dissolve 
 the Union, they would still inquire and deliberate, 
 although that event would probably hasten their 
 decision, and also, probably change its character. 
 
 If asked, whether abolition is increasing, I should 
 answer, yes.* The numerous abolition societies, 
 
 * Since the above was written, circumstances have taken 
 place which require the answer to this question to be some 
 what modified. For a year past, the mobbing of abolition 
 ists has been a rare occurrence, and so far as the limited 
 observation of the writer has extended, the consequences 
 have not been favourable to the growth of immediate aboli 
 tion. The cause of that incitement, which persecution always 
 gives to a feeble party in a free, intelligent community, being 
 thus removed, the abolitionists appear to be falling out 
 among themselves, and earnestly intent upon discovering the 
 true Solomons of the party. It is to be hoped for the honour 
 of our country, and the cause of free discussion, that such 
 disgraceful scenes will no more be enacted. If left to stand 
 or fall on their own merits, the good sense of the people will 
 

 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 105 
 
 and the increase of petitions to Congress, are 
 sufficient evidence of the fact; but there is no 
 proof in this that the North will ever attempt to 
 force abolition. Nor is there any proof within the 
 knowledge of the writer, that any abolitionists have 
 this object in view. As a body they entirely dis 
 claim it. Some of the most elevated men in the 
 free states, elevated as Christians, as statesmen, as 
 philanthropists, men who are favourably known on 
 both sides of the Atlantic, are decided abolitionists 
 in sentiment, and unequivocally disclaim the thought. 
 The abolitionists disclaim the use of any weapons 
 but those of persuasion and moral force. They 
 have adopted the plan of affiliated societies, which 
 is one of the peculiar features of the age, and 
 adopted by all sorts of interests. As a means of 
 spreading their sentiments, and enlightening public 
 opinion, they employ agents to lecture on the sub 
 ject, and distribute their publications. They take 
 the ground, that every subject among a free people 
 is open to investigation that it is evidence of a 
 bad cause to shun the light and that good insti 
 tutions are never afraid to have the foundation on 
 which they stand thoroughly examined. When 
 questioned respecting their object, they answer that 
 public opinion requires to be enlightened on the 
 subject. When the North is brought to view 
 slavery in its proper light in other words, as they 
 
 pass a verdict upon the measures of the abolitionists, which, 
 whether it be condemnation or approval, will be final ; and 
 in that verdict every good citizen will acquiesce. 
 
10(5 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 view it they expect that its influence will be felt 
 with such weight at the South as to procure volun 
 tary abolition. 
 
 In all this, there is nothing illegal, and if left to 
 themselves, public sentiment at the North will pass 
 a righteous verdict upon their designs and mea 
 sures. But their numbers have been increased, 
 and their influence extended by the short-sighted 
 zeal and the reproaches of their opponents. Per 
 secution has added tenfold to their societies, and 
 has brought the subject home to the reflection of 
 tenfold more who never gave it reflection. It is 
 astonishing that the light of all history should be 
 lost upon the present age. Persecution never failed 
 in a free country to build up a sect or party, which 
 differed from the majority in matters of opinion 
 not amenable to the laws. I should fear the spread 
 of Mohammedanism, in this country, were one of 
 that belief located among us to be ridiculed and 
 persecuted, because he chose to pray in the streets 
 with his face towards Mecca. 
 
 Apply these observations to facts respecting 
 abolitionists. Look at New York, Boston, and 
 Utica, where the violence of mobs was put in re 
 quisition to break up their meetings. In all these 
 places they have increased tenfold, and can now 
 meet, and say, and do what they please, and pub 
 lish their proceedings without fear. It is a principle 
 of republicanism, which the North will adhere to, 
 while she is worthy of freedom, that truth and error 
 are to be left to combat each other in open field. 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 107 
 
 While on this subject, I wish to disabuse the 
 South on one point. The great excitement in the 
 slave states, a few years, ago, was followed by 
 meetings in various parts of the North, disclaiming 
 all connection with the abolitionists, and denounc 
 ing them as disunionists, disturbers of the peace, 
 &c. This was one of the most ridiculous farces 
 ever enacted in a civilized community. The osten 
 sible object was to convince the South that the 
 North w r as not hostile to slavery ; the real design 
 was to save the southern market, for the sale of 
 patent yankee notions. The writer is acquainted 
 in some of the places where these patriotic meetings 
 were held, and he doubts not if the views of the 
 persons assembled had been honestly expressed, 
 the preambles to their resolutions would have com 
 menced with the speech of the silversmith of 
 Ephesus, (Acts xxv. 19) whereas, " sirs, ye 
 know that, by this craft, we have our wealth." 
 Every high-minded man will respect those manu 
 facturers more (and such there are), who are open, 
 avowed abolitionists. 
 
 XII. Much has been said and written between 
 the North and South, since this controversy began, 
 respecting its ultimate tendency ; and the separa 
 tion of the Union has been repeatedly and loudly 
 threatened. This subject will be noticed in a fu 
 ture page ; but I beg the privilege of offering a few 
 suggestions on this head for the reflection of south 
 ern men leaving to their judgment, both the wis- 
 
108 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 dom of the suggestions and the motives which 
 prompted them. 
 
 The threatenings alluded to have generally come 
 from the South, and some persons have been led to 
 fear that the country was rapidly verging to such 
 a catastrophe. But recent observation has con 
 vinced me that many northern men are making up 
 their minds to this event, and that the North will 
 accept the dissolution, if it must come, without 
 reluctance. From such a period to our national 
 union, may Heaven preserve us. 
 
 But the most important suggestion I have to 
 offer the South, is preserve the Union, preserve it 
 at any sacrifice. I do not hesitate to say, preserve 
 it at the expense of slavery. It will be the less of 
 two evils. It is for your interest, at least as much 
 as for the North, to preserve it. Both sections might 
 undoubtedly exist as independent nations, but they 
 could not long exist in peace. Neither individuals 
 nor communities can be aware of the ultimate con 
 sequences of measures adopted in times of great 
 excitement. Suffer no sudden ebullition of feeling 
 to commit acts which cannot be rescinded, or to 
 take steps which cannot be retraced. A subject of 
 greater importance, more deeply, perhaps vitally, 
 affecting the best interests of man, probably never 
 agitated the world. Before deciding upon declar 
 ing or even accepting a separation of the Union, 
 look into futurity, and ponder the result. Be sure 
 that the great objects, for which you would barter 
 the Union, would be attained. The South cannot 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 100 
 
 avoid an investigation of the merits of slavery. 
 Whether welcome or not, she must grapple the 
 public opinion of the age on this question. Can she 
 go through this struggle alone, better than as a 
 co-equal branch of the Union 1 Again, will disunion 
 give security to the possession of her slaves in 
 peace ? These are points which should be deeply 
 and thoroughly weighed. 
 
 A breach like this, once effected, can never be 
 healed. As soon as divided, the North and South 
 are enemies. Even, if an amicable adjustment of 
 national interests could be produced, which is a 
 supposition verging upon the very borders of im 
 possibility peace could not long be preserved. 
 Unpleasant recollections would be deepened into 
 feelings of distrust, irritation would be changed to 
 bitter enmity. Thousands of men, unworthy the 
 likeness of humanity, would make it a business to 
 stir up dissention, that they might reap a golden 
 harvest, though steeped in blood. A civil or an 
 international war between the North and South, 
 would be conducted with a murderous strife. 
 Even now, the feelings of the great body of the 
 people on both sides, are far from being as friendly 
 as they ought. The South will not easily forget 
 the cause of the abolition excitement ; and on the 
 other side the treatment of some northern men in 
 Tennessee, in Georgia, and elsewhere, has pro 
 duced deep feelings in the public mind. 
 
 The South may be assured, that it is an entirely 
 gratuitous suspicion, which supposes the North to 
 10 
 
110 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 be unfriendly to her interests. The South may be 
 assured that the North rejoices in her prosperity. 
 The great interests of both, although not identical, 
 are reciprocal ; and it is susceptible of proof, that 
 they are mutually dependent upon, and flourish by 
 the aid of each other. The North is engrossed in 
 active enterprize, to which her situation and her 
 industrious habits both impel her and is too busy 
 about her own concerns, to devise schemes for 
 injuring the South ; and if the latter would put her 
 heads and hands to the like active enterprize, she 
 would have less time, and less inclination, to indulge 
 in suspicion that the North was endeavouring to 
 cripple or undermine her prosperity. 
 
 I have no hesitation in repeating what has been 
 frequently said, that the North has no disposition 
 to do injustice to the South. But still, if the former 
 believe that justice requires freedom for the slave, 
 and the latter by the same term understand a right 
 to keep him in bondage, there is a radical difference 
 of opinion between them ; and nothing but the 
 wisest deliberation, joined with forbearance and 
 Christian principle, and aided by God s mercy, can 
 ever settle the question in an amicable manner. 
 
 XIII. In closing this chapter, I will take the 
 liberty to state my views as an individual, respect 
 ing the result of this controversy. In view of the 
 circumstances and opinions of the age, affecting 
 slavery in the civilized world, there are evident 
 indications that it will be abolished. Do not at- 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. Ill 
 
 tribute this belief to the spirit of abolition. I do 
 not even give this opinion as a northern man, 
 actuated by feelings of opposition to the South. 
 Many of my prejudices were softened and removed 
 by an actual interview with slavery. I came from 
 that interview, impressed with a conviction, that 
 the slaves were better off than their forefathers 
 ever were in Africa ; better off, as a body, than 
 they would be, if emancipated and turned loose 
 upon southern society and with the strongest con 
 viction, that they were in every respect an injury 
 to their masters. 
 
 But I came from that interview opposed to 
 slavery ; because the spirit of the age in the middle 
 of the nineteenth century demands that the Ameri 
 can negro should be placed in a situation to culti 
 vate his moral and intellectual being because 
 slavery is detrimental to the moral, civil, and phy 
 sical interests of the master and because it is 
 utterly opposed to the spirit of American liberty. 
 Were I in Europe I could defend slavery upon 
 the broad principles of legal enactments, and the 
 customs of all ages; but, as an honest man, I could 
 not defend it, in the face of Jefferson s Declaration. 
 American slavery after all our protestations of 
 freedom, and boast of man s equality is gross 
 inconsistency. 
 
 With these views, although from the relative 
 situation and condition of the North it will doubt 
 less have a powerful influence in producing this 
 result (emancipation), I believe it would take place, 
 
 
11 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 were the free states blotted out of existence. The 
 spirit of Christianity and of civilization is against 
 it. The South will not always be able to with 
 stand the light which is pouring all around her. 
 She now laughs to scorn the incipient advances 
 of the enemy ; and, mighty in her opinion of right, 
 defies its power ; but she has not yet grappled the 
 giant. She has closed her doors, and looks out 
 from the window, in imagined safety ; but she 
 knows not the subtlety of the foe. He comes in 
 every wind, lurks in every corner : he presents 
 himself to the eye, the ear, to every avenue of the 
 understanding. The attempt to arrest the course 
 of public opinion, will be like rolling back the stone 
 of Sysiphus. The impulse which has been given 
 to the spirit of freedom across the Atlantic, by the 
 example of our institutions, is now re-echoed upon 
 our shores, and points directly to slavery. Its 
 voice is louder and louder. Almost all Protestant 
 and Catholic Europe is against it. And in Europe 
 our great national charter is understood to mean 
 what it says. And surely it is pardonable to be 
 lieve there is an inconsistency in declaring all men 
 to be born " free and equal," and keeping one-fifth 
 of these free and equal born in hopeless bondage. 
 Perhaps the inconsistency appears more glaring 
 from the fact, that some of the greatest American 
 statesmen have utterly condemned the practice. 
 Europe knows what Thomas Jefferson and Henry 
 Clay have said of slavery, although slaveholders 
 themselves. Yet it is possible the light from con- 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 113 
 
 tinental Europe might be shut out, were it not for 
 England. England, our own father-land, which? 
 as the home of literature, arts, and Christianity, 
 the South venerates far more than the North, has 
 set an example on this subject, on which the eyes 
 of the world are turned with eager interest. The 
 result of her measures for colonial emancipation is 
 not yet sufficiently obvious to be judged with cor 
 rectness. 
 
 Should that result be favourable, the example 
 and the influence of that country, will have a pro 
 digious effect upon slavery throughout the civilized 
 world ; and these United States will feel that 
 effect in its mightiest power. As well might the 
 South attempt to silence the roar of the Atlantic 
 upon her shores as to escape its influence. If 
 England, by emancipation in her colonies, should 
 prove to the world, not only that negroes are human 
 beings, but that they are capable of self control as a 
 free community, and of high intellectual, and moral 
 improvement that they are more virtuous, more 
 peaceable, more industrious as free hirelings ; in a 
 word, that they are worthy of the same rights and 
 privileges as men of Saxon or Roman descent 
 and should make these facts a comment upon the 
 Declaration of American Independence, that all 
 men " are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
 happiness," would southern slavery long be able to 
 withstand public opinion ; not of the free states 
 not of England and her dependencies alone but of 
 the civilized world ? 
 
 10* 
 
114 TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 
 
 I confess the idea of such a result elevates my 
 mind above all considerations affecting any section 
 or any interest of my native country, and gives 
 me a loftier tone of feeling as a well wisher to my 
 species. 
 
 In answer to all this it may be said, that slavery 
 is not incompatible with republicanism, and Greece 
 and Rome may be cited in proof. I will offer two 
 considerations touching this point, for the reflec 
 tion of the reader. 
 
 First. Slavery in ancient times was not confined 
 to a distinct race as with us, nor was the object 
 then, as now, merely pecuniary advantage. War 
 and conquest were then considered almost the only 
 ennobling employments, and upon the conquest of 
 a state, or the sacking of a city, the whole survi 
 ving population patricians and peasants were 
 dragged away by the conquerors, to be exhibited 
 as trophies of their valor. After the exhibition 
 they were slain, or sold by the soldiers being con 
 sidered only worthy to be menials, for their want 
 of spirit in being taken alive. " Come back with 
 thy shield, or on thy shield" the Spartan mother s 
 injunction to her warrior son is a true picture of 
 the spirit of that age, in which physical power was 
 more honoured than intellectual or moral. 
 
 The other consideration arises from the greater 
 responsibility which we incur as moral agents. 
 " Where much is given, much will be required." 
 Upon republican Greece or Rome Christianity never 
 dawned. They were swayed by mere worldly 
 
TO SLAVEHOLDERS. 115 
 
 motives in all their individual and national acts; 
 and the law to love their neighbours as themselves 
 had never sounded in their ears. The stream can 
 not rise above its fountain ; and their gods, the 
 fabrication of their ancestors, were of like passions 
 with themselves. One of the maxims to which, as 
 nations and as men, they most rigidly adhered, 
 was always to resent an insult; and it is evident 
 that human nature grows no better by age ; for, in 
 defiance of the law of God, it is a standing maxim 
 of the world at present. 
 
 In conclusion, I know not with what view the 
 considerations offered in this chapter may be re 
 ceived ; but to my own mind, the exhortation of 
 the apostle to the Athenians is strikingly applica 
 ble to American slavery " the times of this igno 
 rance God winked at, but now commandeth all 
 men every where to repent." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 I. Free and slave states diametrically opposed what influence 
 this should exert on the former why oppose the spirit of abo 
 lition how the South may be reached. 
 
 II. Why slaveholders should be judged charitably and the sub 
 ject investigated northern ministers appealed to northern 
 men at the South severe taskmasters why. 
 
 III. Power of habit, the stronghold of slavery, influence of filial 
 and venerable associations among slaveholders opposed to 
 unconditional emancipation why. 
 
 IV. Universal conviction of the right of property. Value of 
 slaves. Ignorance of northern men respecting slavery. 
 
 V. Condition of the slave observations of the writer house 
 servants many advantages field labourers negro houses 
 bad mode of feeding slaves various resources among them 
 public opinion in favour of humanity dress of slaves 
 personal treatment mode of labour general appearance and 
 manners many of them in places of trust general views of 
 the whites influence of the age on the slave. 
 
 VI. Free blacks of the South situation unfavourable to improve 
 ment interesting exceptions. 
 
 VII. Condition of the free blacks at the North anecdote de 
 graded outcasts vicious neglected by the whites deep- 
 rooted prejudice against them proofs what justice requires 
 of the free states. North not guiltless respecting slavery 
 what atonement for her own wrongs. 
 
 VIII. South devoted to the Union. Interference of the North, 
 on the question of moral right appeal to the free states 
 to the clergy examine motives forbearance recommended 
 among equals injurious effects of northern denunciation. 
 Example of the Saviour. 
 
 I speak as unto wise men, judge ye what I say. 
 
 I. IN the discussion of the subject of slavery, 
 now in agitation in our country, you cannot act at 
 

 TO THE FREE STATES. 117 
 
 all, nor exert any influence without incurring great 
 responsibility. Indeed it is probable, that the re 
 sult, or final decision of the question, will take its 
 character, in a great degree, from the manner in 
 which you treat it. You need, therefore, scarcely 
 to be informed that, upon your wisdom, and pru 
 dence, the future welfare and destiny of this great 
 nation depends. 
 
 The writer, being one of your number by birth 
 and education, may be presumed to know some 
 thing of your habits of thinking your prejudices 
 and sectional views, and will take the liberty to 
 animadvert plainly on the position you occupy in 
 relation to this controversy ; and endeavour to assist 
 your inquiries, in view of forming a right decision 
 upon the subject. 
 
 And the first, perhaps the most important point 
 about which you need to be admonished is, to 
 divest yourself of sectional prejudice. You have 
 much yet to learn as a community, in order to 
 judge this subject, with respect to reciprocal right. 
 
 You are deeply prejudiced against slavery, and, 
 as a very natural consequence, against slaveholders. 
 Many of you are ready to prove, as clear as de 
 monstration, that slaveholding in every case, in 
 every degree, is grossly wrong, a violation of every 
 sentiment of justice, a daring sin against Heaven. 
 In defence of this opinion, you will quote the Bible, 
 appeal to the views of moral and political right 
 in which you were educated, and your own free 
 dom from the sin. The slaveholder will make 
 
118 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 exactly the same appeal on his side quoting the 
 Bible. the views of right in which he was edu 
 cated, and his consistent practice as proof. In 
 this state of the subject, all the deliberation, the 
 forbearance, the wisdom which fallen man can 
 command, will be required in the progress and 
 settlement of this question. 
 
 And remember, you cannot even agitate this 
 subject, to produce any effect on the South, with 
 out being the aggressors. The South solicits you 
 to let her alone. She asks not your counsel re 
 specting the possession or treatment of her slaves ; 
 she earnestly requests you not to intermeddle with 
 her domestic institutions. She claims, and justly 
 too, that this is a question to be decided by her 
 own free will. 
 
 Many of you will plead perhaps that slavery is 
 a moral evil, and therefore ought to be abandoned. 
 Admitting this to be true, what practical effect 
 ought it to produce among you ? Are you thence 
 authorized to undertake its abolition by force? 
 Have you received a commission to vindicate the 
 cause of moral right, from the only source whence 
 such a commission could emanate the fountain of 
 truth and justice ? would you not individually, and as 
 a community, resist to the utmost, every interference 
 which assumed a right to dictate respecting the 
 moral tendency of your own actions ? The answer 
 is too plain to admit a doubt. 
 
 Every question involving moral obligation, ex 
 cept so far as it affects the peace of society, is 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 119 
 
 purely between man and his Maker. Of course 
 when men design to exert an influence upon others, 
 touching such questions, no weapons are allowable 
 but those of a moral kind. This truth is too ob 
 vious to admit any doubt : and the people of the 
 North have practised it with great effect on a 
 subject deeply affecting the temporal as well as 
 moral interest of society. I mean the subject of 
 temperance. 
 
 Had the first agitators of temperance reform 
 gone forth and taken the drunkard by the throat, 
 and commanded him to abstain from his cups, be 
 cause he was ruining himself; what would have 
 been the result? Would not the universal opinion 
 of society have condemned such measures ? and 
 would it not have increased rather than diminished 
 the evil ? What would be the effect, if ministers 
 of the gospel should leave their appropriate sphere 
 of "persuading men to be reconciled to God," 
 and, by anathemas and violence, compel them to be 
 pious 1 How soon would the pagan world be con 
 verted, if the missionaries sent to them should under 
 take to coerce their abandonment of heathenish 
 idolatry 1 
 
 But you do not harbour the idea of attempting 
 to put down slavery by force; I am fully persuaded 
 your views on this subject, as a question of moral 
 right, are correct ; but there is great danger, that, 
 although you would not raise an arm to free the 
 slave, the tendency of your measures will lead to 
 the same result. If you, by persisting in a course 
 
120 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 of opposition to the known will and wishes of the 
 South by reproaches, threats, and criminations 
 produce an excitement leading to a civil or a 
 servile war, will you not be answerable for the 
 consequences, to God and man ? The effect will 
 be the same as if you marched an army to put 
 down slavery. With this view of the subject, I 
 call on you, as a sober, reflecting people, to oppose 
 the temper of the immediate abolitionists. What 
 ever may be their principles, their tone and manner 
 are at war alike with religion, and reason, and 
 common sense. The spirit manifested in their 
 publications, and many of their public resolutions, 
 cannot be a good one. It is the spirit of denuncia 
 tion, and curses, and vengeance. It reveals itself 
 in reproaches, in bitter taunts, in indiscriminate 
 invective. It does not breathe benevolence and 
 good will to men, but exactly the reverse. It is 
 the spirit of the worst persecution, for it bitterly 
 denounces every thing that does not immediately 
 bow to its own assumptions. I hazard nothing in 
 asserting, that as soon as the tone of the immediate 
 abolitionists becomes the standard of northern feel 
 ing on the question of slavery, there is an immediate 
 end of this Union. The South would break the 
 bond of union at a blow, without taking time to 
 reflect upon the consequences. 
 
 But the South rejects your reasoning on this 
 subject altogether. She denies the premises, and 
 rejects the deductions. Probably a majority of 
 the religious and moral part of the southern com- 
 

 TO THE FREE STATES. 121 
 
 munity will contend that slavery is morally right, 
 and of the still larger class who profess no religion, 
 and are not governed by moral motives, it is suf 
 ficient to secure their adherence to the practice 
 even unto death, that it is for their interest. Now, 
 whether right or wrong, you must first remove 
 slaveholders from the ground they at present oc 
 cupy as moral and thinking beings, before you can 
 effect abolition. You must convince the man who 
 admits his moral accountability, that slavery is 
 sin ; you must convince the man governed by 
 wordly motives, that slavery is against his interest, 
 and then you may make an impression upon the 
 system. 
 
 To effect these objects, it is evident there is a 
 large field to be explored. Every thing relating 
 to slavery, as an institution or usage of society, is 
 of importance in examining the subject. Neither 
 individuals nor communities are ready at once, 
 nor even immediately after full conviction of its 
 injurious tendency, to renounce a practice which 
 they have long cherished. There can be no doubt 
 that the result of abolition movements upon the 
 South, thus far, has been to withdraw the minds of 
 slaveholders from all investigation of its moral and 
 political bearing, and make them adhere to and 
 support it more strenuously in self-defence. 
 
 II. I shall now endeavour to make such state 
 ments with regard to slavery, as some observation 
 of its practical operation and effect upon society 
 11 
 
122 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 suggested, with a view of adding something to 
 your knowledge of the subject, and enabling you 
 to form a correct opinion of its merits. 
 
 First, I purpose to offer some observations on the 
 situation and views of the whites or masters ; 
 which will lead us to contemplate the system in 
 the light of cause and effect. 
 
 And the first reflection which strikes the mind, 
 in taking a comprehensive view of the subject, is 
 one of a moral nature. In condemning slavery, 
 we unchristianize the South. The slave states, 
 like the free, are divided into a great number of 
 religious sects. These all, as a body, ministers 
 and laymen, are slaveholders. Her presbyteries, 
 associations, convocations, and conferences, all 
 recognize its lawfulness all participate in it all 
 repel charges brought against it. Surely this fact, 
 although no justification of slavery, should, at 
 least, influence us to be deliberate and cautious in 
 condemning it in a wholesale manner. Were the 
 practice sustained by one or two sects, and rejected 
 by the others, there would be more ground for 
 suspicion ; but there are multitudes of ministers 
 of each of the great denominations at the South, 
 who have no more conscientious scruples in hold 
 ing their slaves, than they have in preaching 
 sermons. Are you ready, at your distance, to 
 denounce a whole Christian community for holding 
 to a practice which you consider unlawful ? Until 
 you have their views explicitly unfolded, and can 
 comprehend all the circumstances which have a 
 

 TO THE FREE STATES. 123 
 
 bearing upon the subject, charity should admonish 
 you, not to be hasty in judging. 
 
 Either slavery is right, or these Christians are 
 blinded to the truth ; for it cannot be a moment 
 believed, that they are all hypocrites, openly avow 
 ing and defending a practice which they know to 
 be wrong. The question whether they are right 
 should certainly be investigated, before they are 
 summarily condemned ; and even if they are proved 
 to be wrong, passionate or harsh denunciation 
 will have but little effect in opening their blind 
 eyes, or in stopping their deaf ears. That they 
 are not sinners " above all others" with regard to 
 the deportment and character which should adorn 
 the Christian profession, any one may judge for 
 himself, if he will seek an interview. A minister 
 in Virginia told me, that rum-selling and visiting 
 horse races (a favourite amusement at the South,) 
 he considered subjects of church discipline, and in 
 his own church would not be tolerated. This min 
 ister was a slaveholder. Perhaps some of my 
 readers may be inclined to class him with those 
 who " strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." 
 And here I will remark, that I believe, the minis 
 try at the North generally, to say the least, are 
 becoming more and more opposed to slavery. I 
 have no reason to question their motives in this ; 
 but I must be permitted to enter a solemn protest 
 against their summary denunciation of the practice, 
 from conclusions formed in their own studies. If 
 they heartily believe that it is a crying national 
 
124 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 sin, one upon which the judgments of Heaven are 
 impending, they ought first to satisfy themselves of 
 its enormity; and, if possible, go and view the 
 offence and the offenders face to face, that they 
 may be able to preach understandingly against it, 
 and enforce their arguments by facts and illustra 
 tions drawn from their own observations. The 
 ministers of the South do not act in a corner, nor 
 would they be reluctant to meet a candid opponent 
 in argument, or to hear all his candid objections 
 against it. But a continual warfare and angry 
 discussion at a distance, is contrary to the spirit of 
 Christian benevolence, and to the first principles of 
 justice. It produces continual irritation, and deep 
 ens prejudices which otherwise might be easily 
 effaced. Even St. Paul did not thus act in his 
 intercourse with the heathen world. The town- 
 clerk of Ephesus exonerated him from the charge 
 of blaspheming the goddess of the Ephesians. With 
 a profound knowledge of human character, he 
 judged that clamorous denunciations of their abo 
 minable idolatries would fill the popular mind with 
 phrenzy or prejudice, and thus effectually exclude 
 the doctrines which he designed to inculcate for 
 their good. 
 
 And there is another observation to be made 
 here, to which the candid attention of northern 
 ministers is invited, while reflecting upon this sub 
 ject A great many ministers have gone from the 
 free states as missionaries, teachers, and residents 
 of the South. They had the fellowship and confi- 
 

 
 TO THE FkEE STATES. 125 
 
 dence of their brethren when they left, as pious, 
 devoted men. Now what is the result? In a 
 majority of instances, have they converted the 
 slaveholders, or have the slaveholders converted 
 them ? Have they fallen into the errors of the com 
 munity around them, or, like Noah, walked with 
 God, while all others apostatized from him ? Surely 
 this fact of the general adoption of the practice of 
 slavery by Christian men from the free states, should 
 at least give some room for charity in judging it. 
 And it is a source of complacency to the South, 
 and not very creditable to the northern denunci 
 ators of slavery, that northern men, upon becoming 
 residents of a slave state, very generally become 
 slaveholders ; and it is a notorious fact, that they 
 are frequently the severest masters. 
 
 It is a common remark at the South, that the 
 negro, when elevated to be an overseer, is the 
 hardest taskmaster over his fellow-slave, and the 
 slaveholder from the free states is the next. The 
 reason of this severity, in the case of the latter, is 
 easily explained ; although the explanation will add 
 more credit to northern character for enterprise 
 and energy, than for clemency and humanity. 
 The northern man is accustomed to a degree of 
 activity, energy, and skill among mechanics and 
 labourers, to which slaves are utter strangers. 
 Consequently, he becomes impatient at their in 
 dolence and carelessness, and will very probably 
 endeavour to hasten their operations by compul 
 sion. Among native slaveholders, the master has 
 11* 
 
126 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 been so long accustomed to the sluggishness of the 
 negro, or rather has been accustomed to no other 
 mode of labour, that it excites no surprise or impa 
 tience. After a sufficient experiment, the northern 
 man, weary of exerting himself in vain to make 
 the negro energetic and quick, gives up the point, 
 by falling into the custom of his neighbours, and 
 letting the slave pursue his own mode and system. 
 
 III. 2. The power of habit is perhaps nowhere 
 more strikingly manifest than in the practice of 
 southern slavery. The influence of this principle 
 is here observed, as having the same control over 
 a community that an inveterate habit has over an 
 individual. No person can have an adequate idea 
 of this fact, without actual residence among them. 
 Slavery is a mere matter of course. To agitate 
 the question of general emancipation in any form, 
 would strike the community at large like proposing 
 to them to give up their homes. The first question 
 would be in either case, " how could we live with 
 out them ?" The practice has been so long con 
 tinued, handed down from father to son, that it has 
 become necessary to the present organization of 
 society. The system is so interwoven with every 
 fibre of society, that, to think of abandoning it, 
 would seem like rending the different members of the 
 body asunder. It has thrown a chain round society 
 almost as difficult to cast off, as that which distin 
 guishes castes in India. The inhabitants live as 
 their fathers did, for they know no other way. 
 Those people of the North, who see comparatively 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 127 
 
 very few blacks, have very little idea of the con 
 struction of society at the South. Were some of 
 them who associate every thing offensive with the 
 idea of coming in contact with a negro, to see the 
 order of things, where one half the society are 
 blacks, they would soon learn there are more 
 things on earth 
 
 " Than are dream t of in their philosophy," 
 
 and would obtain some new ideas of human 
 character. It is mutually understood, both by 
 master and slave, that the former is to do the 
 head work, and the latter the hand work. And 
 although this is a distinctive characteristic, yet as 
 the direction of labour must constantly attend its 
 operations, it brings the two parties into familiar 
 contact, though entirely distinct. In the towns, 
 and among the large planters, the slaves do all the 
 labour, and perform all the menial services. As a 
 general fact, a white man can do nothing even for 
 himself personally, which another can do for him. 
 In the house and abroad, a servant is in attendance. 
 The parlour, the dressing-room, as well as the 
 kitchen, are full of them. They come in contact 
 with the family and guests at every corner. Hence 
 there are various grades, and various duties as 
 signed to each. A stranger to the system, closely 
 observing the movements of the parties, would 
 very soon see the effect of slavery upon the do 
 mestic organization of society. 
 
 Again, in another respect, the system of slavery 
 possesses a very powerful influence upon the feel- 
 
128 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 ings of the community. It has been so long 
 adopted and uncensured, been transmitted from 
 father to son for generations, that it is associated 
 with every thing venerable and filial. There is 
 not perhaps a stronger or more deeply cherished 
 feeling in the human breast, than respect and vene 
 ration for our fathers. And this feeling has a great 
 influence when applied to the subject under consi 
 deration. " Surely a system which our forefathers 
 approved and practised a state of society in 
 which they lived and died cannot be wrong. The 
 right to an inheritance, which was bequeathed to us 
 by them, and transmitted to us by their last solemn 
 act and testament ; sanctioned by the laws of the 
 land, and by the usages of the whole community, 
 cannot be questioned." Thus the slaveholder rea 
 sons, for he is bred in the same undoubted right to 
 the slave, that he is to the family mansion. The 
 wealth of the father purchased both ; his care and 
 affection preserved them for his children. Is it 
 strange, then, if under such circumstances, the son 
 should not join the immediate abolitionists in de 
 nouncing his father s memory, and proclaiming to 
 the world that his ancestors were all guilty of a 
 most hateful crime. Their filial respect and grati 
 tude are now indissolubly connected with their 
 interests, and, with their present views and feelings, 
 they would sooner perish on the tombs of their 
 fathers, than do a deed which, in their opinion, 
 would dishonour them. It requires but a limited 
 knowledge of human nature, to judge of the power- 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 129 
 
 ful influence which such reasoning possesses over 
 the minds of persons in their circumstances ; and 
 although the opposer of slavery will not admit its 
 weight as an argument, it is a strong hold, which 
 men of the world will hardly yield. 
 
 3. There is another objection, arising in the 
 minds of slaveholders, when thinking seriously of 
 emancipation, at which they revolt. It is the idea 
 of having the slaves set at liberty, and yet remain 
 in the community. There must be a complete 
 change in their views and feelings before they 
 will consent to this. There are many reasons 
 which influence their minds, in utterly rejecting 
 this proposition. A very strong one is the fact 
 that the few free negroes, now living among them, 
 are a miserable, idle class, outcasts of society, and 
 looked upon with universal suspicion by the whites. 
 So strong is the prejudice against free blacks, that 
 in some of the states there are laws against any 
 being made free, unless they are sent out of the 
 state. Again, there is no doubt, in many instances, 
 a feeling of proud superiority, which would not, for 
 a moment, brook the idea of having the slave re 
 leased from his condition of servility and depend 
 ence, and made in any respect an equal ! There 
 is also a very large class who would not be able 
 to endure the thought of living without the conti 
 nual services of the negro, so entirely dependent 
 has habit made them upon the eyes, ears, and 
 hands of others, for the most simple personal 
 services. 
 
130 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 But the grand objection of the community (and 
 it is probably nearly universal) is the belief, that the 
 negroes, if made free, would be the pest of society, 
 and live by plunder and mischief. Naturally indo 
 lent almost forced, at present, to perform their 
 slight work without intelligence to direct their 
 labours without any property in a state of utter 
 destitution they would continually prey upon the 
 whites, and live uncontrolled. Many, no doubt, 
 think the lives and property of the whites would 
 be at their disposal, and some even declare that 
 the latter would be obliged to abandon the coun 
 try to them. This is a serious question, and 
 demands deliberate attention. The South will 
 never harbor the thought of emancipation in this 
 mode, without a radical change in public senti 
 ment. It is sufficient to remark, that the southern 
 people are the only proper judges of the mode of 
 emancipation ; and that whatever individual or 
 community proposes a plan for their adoption, it 
 should be done in the tone and manner of friendly 
 counsel, not in the spirit of compulsive denuncia 
 tion. 
 
 IV. But perhaps the most prominent fact sug 
 gesting itself to the mind of the observer in the 
 slave states, is the almost unanimous conviction of 
 the right of property in the slave. However they 
 may differ in other respects, the slaveholders, as a 
 body, are generally agreed in this. Depend upon 
 it, the South at present feels a consciousness of 
 

 
 
 TO THE FREE STATES. 131 
 
 right on the main question at issue, which is very 
 little understood at the North. There are indeed 
 many in the frontier states, who are harboring 
 conscientious scruples as to the moral lawfulness 
 of slavery, who feel that it is burdensome and 
 wasteful, and know that it rests like a mountain 
 of lead upon the energies of the state ; but still, even 
 these are not ready to allow you to touch the right 
 of property. On this point, I will relate a single 
 fact, among many similar which might be given. I 
 was introduced to a gentleman, one who is well 
 known in his neighbourhood for piety and philan 
 thropy, as a northern man. In the seclusion of 
 the parlour, he opened to me his views fully, on the 
 subject of slavery commencing himself with the 
 remark, " I hope you have come to show us some 
 feasible plan of putting away slavery." He con 
 versed freely and openly, respecting his own views, 
 the state of public sentiment and the action of 
 legislation on the subject: but when the thought of 
 abolitionists entered his mind, (just such views of 
 northern abolitionists prevail all over the South, 
 indeed this is a very favourable specimen) his voice 
 and manner changed in a moment. " You," said 
 he, pointing his finger at me, " you, northern abo 
 litionists, have put a stop to all our designs for the 
 benefit of the slave." " Why," he exclaimed, 
 " should they attempt to take away my property, 
 I would take down my rifle there, and fight to the 
 last breath." This same man told me he could 
 not conscientiously sell his slaves, unless he knew 
 
132 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 they would be better off than with him, and I have 
 abundant proof that he was an indulgent master. 
 
 The South feel at present on this subject pre 
 cisely as the people of the free states would, if 
 some power, which had no shadow of right to 
 intermeddle, should agitate the question of taking 
 away " peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must," 
 one half of their property, embracing that part of 
 it which was most valuable and available. 
 
 Connected with this view of the subject is the 
 value of the slave. At a very moderate estimate 
 of the value of the slaves in the United States, as 
 property, they are worth five hundred millions of 
 dollars. To bring the question more within the 
 range of practical calculation, it may be safely 
 assumed, that the slaves are more valuable than 
 the plantations, were both put into the market, and 
 they are also more available property. With their 
 present views, all this property would be lost by 
 emancipation, and their estates be without value. 
 Have they not some reason to require, that if you 
 wish them to give up their slaves their means of 
 living leaving them entirely helpless you should 
 make them remuneration ? 
 
 Thus I have endeavoured candidly to state some 
 of the views of the South with regard to slavery, 
 in reference to emancipation. That the reasons 
 given operate with the weight of conclusive evi 
 dence in favour of slavery, need not be questioned. 
 Whatever may be the impression among the 
 people of the North, respecting the cogency of 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 133 
 
 these reasons, they may at least learn what obsta 
 cles are to be removed before peaceable emanci 
 pation can be effected. Those who consider 
 slavery as a mere appendage to southern society, 
 which may be thrown off with the same facility as 
 an extra garment from an individual are egre- 
 giously mistaken, and know nothing about it. It 
 is emphatically an integral part of society itself, 
 and its removal would produce a different organi 
 zation or order. There is another class perhaps 
 wiser men at the North, who would be willingly 
 considered profound thinkers, and deeply read in 
 the knowledge of human character and institutions, 
 who do not see any very terrible consequences, in 
 overthrowing the system at once, in the very face 
 of all these obstacles. They look upon these objec 
 tions, \vhich I have briefly considered, only as so 
 many deep-rooted prejudices, or more properly 
 bug-bears, having no existence but in the imagi 
 nation of the slaveholders. Like a man who has 
 got an idea that there is a tremendous precipice in 
 the path just before him, how cautiously and fear 
 fully will he grope his way, and shrink back, 
 involuntarily, at the thought of another step being 
 his last. But when he has passed the utmost 
 limits of the supposed danger, he will look back 
 with surprise and chagrin, at the mighty fears his 
 imagination had created. This is, indeed, a very 
 pretty supposition, and all that these deep thinkers 
 have to do is to get the slaveholders safe beyond 
 the verge of the precipice. 
 12 
 
134 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 V. What are the views and practices of the 
 slaveholder, simply as a master, possessing, govern 
 ing, and directing the slave, may perhaps be under 
 stood by considering 
 
 Secondly, The condition and treatment of the 
 slave. 
 
 My own observations will form the basis of my 
 remarks on this subject. I shall state what I have 
 seen rather than what I have heard. 
 
 Upon entering a slave community for the first 
 time, after thirty years residence in the free states, 
 my closest observation was directed to the condi 
 tion and appearance of the blacks. I went with 
 the feelings of a northern man a liberal prejudice 
 against slavery. My object was not to pry into 
 secrets, and explore hidden mysteries, not to hunt 
 up isolated facts to use as arguments against 
 slavery not to note down trivial circumstances, 
 to be expanded into marvelous narratives to feed 
 insatiable appetites. I had a great curiosity to see 
 a system or state of society, in my own country, 
 about which I had heard and reflected so much. 
 I wished to see it, and did see it, not in corners or 
 in peculiar circumstances of great interest, but as 
 an institution of society in its every day appear 
 ance. I had no interference with it did not go 
 out of my way to make discoveries but made such 
 use of my eyes, ears, and tongue, as inclination 
 prompted. 
 
 Such is the foundation of the following remarks 
 on the condition and treatment of slaves. I had 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 135 
 
 no motive in seeing, which I would not willingly 
 have made public I have none in writing, but the 
 well-being of my country. My first impressions 
 of slavery were favourable. Candor obliges me to 
 acknowledge that in no city of the North of the 
 same class have I ever been, where the black 
 population are so respectable in appearance so 
 well dressed well behaved, and apparently so 
 
 happy, as in the city of where I first landed. 
 
 I am also obliged to say, that this was the best 
 specimen I saw in these respects, of half a dozen 
 cities and large towns I subsequently visited in that 
 and the neighbouring states. 
 
 From what has been said of the familiar inter 
 course of household servants with their masters 
 and families, it will of course be inferred that the 
 former are expected and obliged to keep them 
 selves very neat and respectable in their personal 
 appearance, and habits, at least externally. And 
 they exhibit a very distinct relationship to the 
 human family of a lighter complexion, in their 
 fondness for dress and finery. The most exquisite 
 gentlemen in dress and politeness I ever saw, were 
 blacks in a slave city. House and body servants 
 frequently catch and copy the manners of their 
 masters, so as to exhibit in their address, and in 
 polite accomplishments, an exact imitation. You 
 may observe two dandies pass in the street, and 
 salute each other, and touch their hats with a grace 
 which few white men ever attain. 
 
 From the circumstances of their situation, the 
 
136 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 servants having close and constant intercourse 
 with the family, have many privileges and advan 
 tages. Their burdens are not heavy, their labours 
 far from being severe. They appear to enjoy life 
 as well or better than any other class in the com 
 munity ; and when not actually employed, the 
 streets and corners are loud with their gossip and 
 laughter. 
 
 In descending to the country, slavery wears a 
 different aspect. According to the circumstances 
 and style of the master, a greater or less number 
 of each sex are employed in the necessary services 
 of the house, as in the large towns ; the rest are field 
 hands or outdoor labourers. It is an object for 
 slaves to get a station about the house. The labour 
 is lighter, and the fare better, and they are all very 
 fond of the good things of the kitchen. 
 
 The field labourers live in huts by themselves, 
 which, on small plantations, are generally built in 
 the immediate vicinity of the family residence. 
 These huts are called the negro quarters, and the 
 impression they made on my mind was more 
 unfavourable to the practice of slavery than any 
 thing I saw. I hesitate not to say, they are too 
 often alike unworthy the master and the slave. I 
 doubt whether the cabins of the natives on the 
 banks of the Gambia are so poor and miserable. 
 I never entered one of them, but have looked into 
 several, and seen numbers in traveling. They are 
 constructed of plank or logs, or logs and clay, and 
 are very generally in a dilapidated condition ; and 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 137 
 
 from the specimens I saw, with nothing worthy 
 the name of furniture. The farmers hovels or 
 cattle sheds at the North, taking the average of 
 both, are better buildings, except that the cabins are 
 probably somewhat tighter. I regret to say these 
 things I say them in hope of producing reform. 
 
 There is a manifest pride in the master in hav 
 ing his slaves, particularly those about his house 
 and person, in good condition ; but to see a large 
 mansion, a worthy residence for a governor, with 
 its beautifully shaded inclosures and graveled 
 walks, and tasteful gardens, flanked at a little dis 
 tance in front by half a dozen wretched hovels, 
 unfit to tenant any human beings, is a scene un 
 worthy of old Virginia. 
 
 The slaves on small plantations, and with hu 
 mane masters, are generally supplied with food 
 from the household kitchen. A sufficient quantity 
 is prepared at each meal for the whole establish 
 ment, and after the master and family have eaten, 
 the remainder is carried out to the servants in their 
 quarters, without measure or weight. This is the 
 most favourable mode for the slave, as he has the 
 same food as the master. But the general practice 
 in feeding slaves is by rations a given quantity 
 to each person. The great staple is corn. This 
 is measured so much to a person or family, for a 
 given time, and prepared by themselves. I am 
 unable to state to what extent meat rations are 
 allowed. Some masters deny meat to slaves al 
 together, but I believe these are comparatively 
 12* 
 
138 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 few. In a country where pork is plenty, and an 
 article of universal consumption, the slaves are 
 extensively furnished with it, and is generally given 
 out to them, once a year, at the time of slaughter 
 ing, so much for an individual or family. Many 
 of them also raise pigs and chickens, which they 
 may consume or sell. And I believe it is a very 
 general practice all over the South, to allow slaves 
 patches of ground which they may appropriate as 
 they please. They raise corn, cotton, tobacco, or 
 vegetables, and sell them for their own profit. 
 This kind of tithing, or allowing slaves a part for 
 themselves, is observable also in other things. A 
 negro brings a load of wood to market, and you 
 will see several long sticks slung on the outside of 
 his cart. He delivers you the load, and you ques 
 tion him about the outside sticks. " Dat mine, 
 massa, I get quarter dollar for dat." You buy it 
 of course. 
 
 There is also a great variety of wild fruits, in 
 creasing as you proceed South to which the 
 negroes have access. On large estates, and where 
 the " force" is under the control of a hard-hearted 
 and selfish manager or overseer, I have no doubt 
 there are instances of deprivation and actual suf 
 fering. But the reader may be assured the negroes 
 perfectly understand the first law of nature self 
 support. If sufficient is not given them, they have 
 little difficulty in helping themselves. They gather 
 the crops, do all the work, and every thing that 
 is their master s passes through their hands. The 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 139 
 
 right is theirs, the moon and stars their friends ; 
 and dogs, bolts, and bars are insufficient to keep 
 them from providing for themselves in case of 
 necessity. They have also some resources, which 
 avail them more or less. One is grumbling. They 
 are inveterate grumblers when they are not suited. 
 I have seen a slave tell a white man, who threat 
 ened to give him no dinner, very respectfully of 
 course that " he could not work without he had 
 enough to eat," and I have little doubt that if the 
 slave was cut off from his dinner, the master was 
 cut short in his work. If the slave has not enough 
 to eat, he will obstinately neglect or spoil his work 
 Experience has taught masters that it is for their 
 interest to have servants well fed, well clothed, and 
 well treated. 
 
 I am unwilling to believe the southern slave, except 
 in rare instances, suffers for want of food. There 
 are here, as everywhere else brutes in human 
 form men who fear not God nor regard man. 
 An example was mentioned of a man, in Maryland, 
 who possessed several hundred slaves, and from 
 whose manner of feeding them, both as to quality 
 and quantity, humanity revolts. " What do his 
 neighbours say about him ?" I inquired. " What 
 do his neighbours say about him," repeated my 
 informant, (a slaveholder himself,) " what don t 
 they say about him." There is public opinion in 
 favour of humanity at the South ; and the man who 
 sets public opinion at defiance among slaveholders, 
 
140 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 is estimated in society there as he is everywhere 
 else. 
 
 The slaves are habituated to rise very early in 
 the morning and commence their labours, and, so 
 far as I have observed, quit their work at supper 
 or sunset, and then they are free till the next morn 
 ing. It is not customary to require services of 
 field labourers after night fall, except on extra oc 
 casions, although, at such times, I have no doubt, 
 unreasonable services are sometimes required of 
 them. 
 
 With regard to dress, the slaves are generally 
 comfortably supplied. Their clothing is strong 
 and coarse, but whole and decent. In many in 
 stances in the country, the master and servant are 
 clothed from the same piece. And yet there are 
 some so patched, like Joseph s coat, with many 
 colours, that it would puzzle even Yankee ingenuity 
 to discover the original cloth. I have seen some 
 suits, which must have represented all the garments 
 used in the family mansion since the revolution. 
 The common clothing is supplied by the master, 
 of course generally in the same mode as rations 
 so many garments and pairs of shoes per year ; 
 but whenever a holiday suit is required, the slaves, 
 unless lucky enough to obtain the cast off garments 
 of the family, supply themselves. I believe most 
 slaves of both sexes have suits better than their 
 every day clothing, and the fact is creditable to the 
 master and servant. The avails of their gardens, 
 and the means obtained for little services, from 
 

 TO THE FREE STATES. 141 
 
 guests of the family and others, are expended for 
 this purpose. Servants in large towns and vicini 
 ties obtain considerable money in this way, which 
 is considered their own. And probably not a few 
 purloin and sell the property of their masters, 
 and apply the avails to their own use. 
 
 The main question will here be asked, what is 
 the personal treatment of the slave ? It is a point 
 which should be satisfactorily settled if possible, 
 for there is a great prejudice against slavery in 
 some sections, on account of real or supposed in 
 humanity to the negro. And there are some very 
 compassionate people who believe the master is 
 engaged, a considerable part of his time, with a 
 terrible cat-o -nine tails, and who think the lash is 
 continually resounding from the Delaware to the 
 Sabine. I am by no means prepared to answer 
 this question, from extensive observation ; for during 
 a year a half contact with slavery, I have never 
 seen a slave flogged or sold. Doubtless I might, 
 had I been ambitious of looking up such spectacles, 
 but in " minding my own business," no such re 
 markable occurrence has fallen under my notice. 
 I will endeavour, however, to throw some light on 
 the subject, and at least put the reader in the way 
 of answering the question for himself. 
 
 And the first suggestion I would offer is this, 
 how do the people of the free states treat their 
 servants, and how would they treat them, were 
 they in the bondage of southern negroes ? The 
 northern reader can immediately refer his thoughts 
 
142 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 to certain persons of his acquaintance who would 
 be cruel masters, but of the great body of his 
 neighbours he has a better opinion. Human na 
 ture is radically the same every where. The North 
 will perhaps lay claim to more religion, purer 
 morals, and a higher philanthropy to soften their 
 dispositions; and so far as this is the fact allowance 
 is to be made, otherwise they may judge very 
 exactly of the treatment of southern slaves, by the 
 mirrors in their own bosoms. 
 
 The slave is taught from childhood that his busi 
 ness is to labour, and he goes to his snail-pace 
 employment as a matter of course. On large plan 
 tations there are overseers to direct the labourers 
 and "keep them at work. If the slave should be 
 refractory or disobedient, he would be subdued in 
 a summary manner. If, in the absence of the 
 master or overseer, he should not perform a reason 
 able amount of labour, he would very probably 
 suffer some punishment, most likely corporal 
 chastisement and certainly for a repetition of 
 neglect. That the master or manager follows 
 him into the field, and urges him forward with a 
 whip, is, I am persuaded, but a rare occurrence ; 
 and that the slaves, as a body, are not goaded and 
 driven in their tasks, I am satisfied from two con 
 siderations. 
 
 First, public sentiment is against it. There is, 
 as I have before stated, a kind of tacit agreement 
 between the master and slave, that the latter should 
 take his own course as to activity of muscular mo- 
 

 TO THE FREE STATES. 143 
 
 tion, provided he keeps regularly at work ; and out 
 of his accustomed track he cannot be driven with 
 impunity or safety. About a certain amount of 
 positive labour is expected of each hand, accord 
 ing to his ability. This certain amount is pretty 
 definitely understood by both parties, and does not 
 exceed half of what is performed by a northern 
 labourer. The master who should persist in 
 forcing his hands to much greater exertion, 
 would generally find himself in difficulty. His 
 work would be neglected or spoiled his slaves 
 would run away, if they did nothing worse he 
 would be marked by the community as an inhuman 
 master, and hated by his own subjects. It is im 
 possible to keep slaves from communicating with 
 each other ; what is done on one estate is known 
 through the neighbourhood. 
 
 Secondly, there is prima facie evidence of the 
 general freedom of the slave from great severity 
 of treatment, which to my own mind is of great 
 weight. I was greatly disappointed at the general 
 appearance and manners of this class of society. 
 As a body they are erect in posture, with manly 
 figures, personally in good condition or well fed, 
 and with a boldness of look, not found among 
 human beings, either burdened with guilt or ground 
 to the dust by an iron rigour. A slave will look a 
 white man in the face with as much confidence, 
 and as little wavering of the eye, as one of his 
 equals. There is an air of servility about them in 
 all their communications with the whites, as a 
 
144 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 matter of course a negro is taught to touch his 
 hat to a white man as a superior ; he does it al 
 most mechanically but there is very little abject- 
 ness of demeanor. I have been often struck with 
 these facts in my observation of slavery, and they 
 afford conclusive evidence that the negro has not 
 lost all sense of manliness in his bondage. There 
 is a large number among them who appear almost 
 to have lost the idea of slavery. Many of them 
 have the management of farms at a distance 
 from their masters, with a sufficient force to per 
 form the labour. I have had acquaintance with 
 some such, who for that information most useful 
 to farmers, such as is derived from experience and 
 observation, are equal to white men perhaps 
 superior; for being ignorant of letters, their mental 
 capacities are all centered in observing the opera 
 tions of nature, and the practices of other men 
 while for shrewdness and manliness in managing 
 bargains, they are not a whit behind their masters. 
 Many are teamsters or wagoners, who are in 
 trusted with loads of produce to carry to market, 
 sometimes on journeys of hundreds of miles ; 
 and carry back merchandize for the country mer 
 chants. Others are mechanics, millers, or coach 
 men, all of whom are men in manners, deportment, 
 and sagacity, far above the degree which ignorance 
 of practical slavery has assigned to such a state. 
 I believe the idea of degradation dwells much more 
 strongly in the breast of the master than the slave. 
 Some of the former, at least in sentiment, profess to 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 145 
 
 hold the latter as an inferior to the last degree. A 
 white man (and a Christian man if profession 
 makes a Christian), said, " I will lose the last drop 
 of my blood before I will be insulted by a negro," 
 although the insult in this instance consisted in the 
 slave refusing to do what he was ordered, having 
 received a contrary order from another, who had 
 at least an equal right to his services. Of course 
 this Christian man was in a tremendous passion. 
 
 There is a very general belief throughout the 
 South, that the negro requires a chastisement oc 
 casionally ; a sort of periodical flogging, to keep 
 him obedient and respectful otherwise he would 
 become impudent, insolent, and intolerable. I am 
 not sufficiently acquainted with slavery in detail, 
 to judge the correctness of this common, almost 
 universal, sentiment ; nor whether the practice of 
 the master accords with his belief. But I have 
 heard the remark from persons living in the slave 
 states, and who were opposed to slavery from 
 principle, giving, as a strong feature of the negro s 
 character, an inclination to be impudent and in 
 solent. 
 
 But one fact is very evident ; they are very 
 much inclined to scold, and fret, and quarrel 
 among themselves, especially females, and require 
 a firm voice and steady hand to keep them from 
 uproar, or injuring one another. It is a curious 
 fact, that the last epithet of reproach which they 
 can use in anger, is to call each other negro. If 
 ordered by one of their own colour to do any thing 
 13 
 
 
146 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 to which they have a disinclination, the scornful 
 answer is, " I don t do nigger s work." 
 
 In summing up the particulars mentioned on this 
 subject, I am ready to conclude that, in the physical 
 treatment of southern slaves, they are better off 
 than their fellows of any other age or country. 
 In view of the fearful power of the master to pos 
 sess, work, punish, or sell the slave almost beyond 
 responsibility ; and in view of the disposition of 
 men to exceed the bounds of justice or modera 
 tion where they have power, it must be conceded 
 the southern slave has a very tolerable lot ; and 
 his condition must of necessity grow better or 
 worse. He cannot stand still while the world is ad 
 vancing around him. The increasing light must be 
 hidden from him, or it will have a decided influence 
 upon him. Though at an almost immeasurable dis 
 tance, he follows in the footsteps of his master. 
 Although his fellow man has denied him the use of 
 letters, he cannot deprive him of those avenues to 
 the mind with which God has endowed him. The 
 negro sees the triumph of art in the steamboat and 
 rail-road, and he feels a degree of the enthusiasm 
 of his master. He even feels a pride of country 
 in these achievements of art. His constant inter 
 course with his white superiors has imparted a 
 portion of their intelligence to him. He reflects 
 and reasons, although in a limited sphere, and as 
 sociates the ideas of freedom and wealth with all 
 the improvements around him. To be sure, habit 
 and hereditary degradation have destined him to a 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 147 
 
 life of servility. Every thing about him all his 
 senses combine to teach him that his master is 
 strong, and he weak ; the one rich, the other poor. 
 But the advancement of society will find him a 
 willing disciple, and an apt scholar; and when the 
 amount of knowledge among slaves shall be suffi 
 cient for them to exert an influence upon each 
 other, and thus impart intelligence among them 
 selves, faster than that received by reflection from 
 the master, as at present, the relative position of 
 the community will soon be very different. The 
 influence or result of that change, time only can 
 determine. 
 
 VI. I will here make a few remarks on the free 
 blacks of the South. As a class, they are in a 
 worse condition than the slaves. They have little 
 more intelligence, and are more out of the way of 
 acquiring information, being at a greater distance, 
 and having less intercourse with the whites. They 
 look upon the slaves as being obliged to work, and 
 they exhibit positive evidence of being free from 
 the obligation by their idleness. It is also a very 
 general belief that they get their living mostly by 
 stealing. They are not so well clothed, and less 
 respectable in appearance and manners, than the 
 slaves. They are also a source of continual sus 
 picion, and their situation seems to be in every 
 respect unpleasant and unfavourable to improve 
 ment. 
 
 But to these general remarks there is an interest- 
 
148 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 ing exception. In all the cities of the South, there 
 is a class of free blacks who have risen above all 
 the obstacles that surround them, and, by perse 
 verance in well doing, have established a character 
 for honesty and industry, and are in prosperous 
 circumstances. They are barbers, mechanics, 
 porters, hackmen, and, especially, waiters. This 
 last appears to be the most suitable employment 
 for the negro. It is a situation which seems to be 
 adapted to his taste and genius, and he takes pride 
 in showing his capability in it. Experience makes 
 him an adept in all its details. It is here, if any 
 where, his activity and energy are brought to light. 
 And from the acknowledged worthlessness of the 
 great body of servants, those in whom confidence 
 can be placed are always in demand, and obtain 
 good wages. 
 
 VII. As a suitable conclusion to this part of the 
 subject, I purpose to offer a few remarks on the 
 condition of the blacks in the free states. In doing 
 this, I shall avoid all extended comparisons. It 
 has required some exertion of the will throughout 
 this work to keep my pen from instituting compa 
 risons between the North and South, while treating 
 of slavery. Many might be made highly illustra 
 tive of sectional characteristics, but I am aware 
 they might seem invidious to certain classes of 
 persons, and would perhaps have a tendency to 
 deepen that feeling of prejudice (already sufficiently 
 watchful), which it should be the aim of every 
 
% 
 
 TO THE FREE STATES. 149 
 
 person, whose object is the dissemination of truth 
 and justice, to allay. 
 
 This would be a suitable place for treating upon 
 the capacity and character of the African, but the 
 discussion of that subject does not fall within the 
 limits of this work. I will venture, however, to 
 remark, that, in the present condition of the negro, 
 the community will never agree respecting it. 
 Reflections will naturally arise in the minds of the 
 inquisitive, but it would be altogether unjust to 
 judge of what he is capable of attaining, as an in 
 tellectual being, from his present state. It is an 
 undeniable fact, that, throughout this Union, he 
 is considered and treated as a degraded inferior. 
 When we reflect upon the slow progress made 
 even by our English forefathers, in the arts of life 
 and mental cultivation for three hundred years 
 past, at which period the mass of the people were 
 probably behind the present American negroes, 
 we can form some opinion of the length of time 
 the latter would require, in the most favourable 
 circumstances, before it would be fair to decide 
 upon his capacity. That he partakes in an emi 
 nent degree of the indolence and the propensity for 
 animal indulgence, so conspicuous in the natives of 
 warm climates, cannot be questioned ; whether 
 they are increased or diminished by his condition 
 of slavery, it is difficult to determine. That he is 
 the subject of strong passions, both fierce and 
 gentle, must be evident to every one who has made 
 any observation on his character. The following 
 13* 
 
 
150 
 
 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 anecdote has often occurred to me in observing 
 the condition of the African race, as illustrative of 
 its degraded, unsocial state in this country. I was 
 acquainted with a very respectable coloured shoe 
 maker, while a resident of one of the northern 
 cities, a few years ago, whom I sometimes em 
 ployed in his occupation. I frequently entered into 
 conversation with him, and, observing several 
 white men in his employ, endeavoured to excite in 
 him a feeling of sympathy in favour of his race. 
 
 I immediately discovered that the subject was one 
 on which he had been thoughtful. " Sir," said he, 
 suspending his work, and looking me in the face, 
 " I have tried to do them good, but I can t. They 
 won t learn. I have had a dozen coloured appren 
 tices, and they every one left me after staying one, 
 two, or four months. They were never used to 
 any work, and it was so irksome to be confined 
 to it, they had rather run away, and live by begging 
 and stealing. Not one in twenty will make a man 
 good for any regular business. It is the fault of 
 their parents." 
 
 Every northern man can judge how far this 
 statement of the coloured shoemaker is a fair 
 representation of the character of the blacks of his 
 acquaintance. 
 
 Now permit me to ask you, citizens of the free 
 states, what is the moral and physical condition 
 of your black population? Are you authorized, in 
 view of a comparison between them and the south 
 ern slave, to throw the first stone? The fathers 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 151 
 
 of these blacks were slaves. In your wisdom, you 
 gave them prospective freedom. Their emanci 
 pation is now nearly complete. What improve 
 ment have they made as a community, and what 
 influence have you exerted on them, and they on 
 you 1 Again ; with a knowledge of their habits 
 and character would you be willing to have a 
 black population, as numerous as that at the South, 
 added to your own 1 If I mistake not, the condi 
 tion of the blacks among you, does not reflect much 
 credit upon your philanthropy. You hate slavery. 
 I fear you also hate the negro. Certainly there is 
 a great lack of evidence that you regard his wel 
 fare. Your blacks are in many respects in a worse 
 condition than those in the South. They are 
 actually, as a body, more out of the way of im 
 provement. You have no immediate intercourse 
 with them. You hold them at a great distance. 
 Generally ignorant, suffering under the ban of a 
 felt neglect and degradation, their liberty seems 
 to be comprized in a freedom to commit vice. In 
 a civilized and Christian community, they receive 
 scarcely any of its benefits. True, many of them 
 in the large towns are respectable waiters, barbers, 
 and kitchen servants, but in the country, and the 
 vicinity of your villages, the negroes are scattered 
 in rude huts perhaps a little better than those 
 mentioned in Virginia at a distance from other 
 habitations, and live precariously by day s work 
 and pilfering. The farmers generally reject their 
 services, because there is no dependence upon 
 
 
 
152 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 them. They almost universally drink to excess, 
 and are otherwise in gross debasement. The 
 churches and public schools are indeed open to 
 them, but it requires a degree of hardihood but few 
 persons in their circumstances possess to avail 
 themselves of these privileges. Do the ministers 
 look them up, like stray sheep, and invite them to 
 the sanctuary ? Do the teachers encourage them 
 to attend school ; and if any of them come, do they 
 take an interest in their instruction, or turn them 
 off, with such attention as is " good enough for 
 negroes ?" Do the community, as a body, exhort, 
 encourage, and strive to lead them in the ways of 
 well doing, or do they, by their neglect and re 
 proaches, pronounce them out of the pale of decency 
 and respectability ? In proof that the above is the 
 character and condition of your black population, 
 I appeal to the calendars of your courts, and the 
 records of your jails and penitentiaries. Examine 
 these, and see what proportion the convictions for 
 murder and penitentiary crimes bear to the rela 
 tive population of white and black. If there is 
 great disparity against the latter, the cause must 
 be found, either in a more vicious disposition, or 
 in the unfavourable circumstance of his situation. 
 I leave you to the choice of the dilemma. 
 
 It appears to me evident, that there is deep, 
 unmitigated prejudice against the negro. His con 
 dition and situation in the free states proclaim this. 
 In how many of these states can he be a legal 
 freeman or voter, let his property or respectability 
 

 TO THE FREE STATES. 153 
 
 be what they will? Legislative acts, and the 
 popular voice also, proclaim this. I will instance 
 only one fact, the result of the Canterbury School 
 in Connecticut. Public opinion was very deliber 
 ately brought to bear on that question, and the 
 consequence was, a judgment of the highest court 
 sustained by the public, and more recently sanc 
 tioned by legislative enactments, in the little but 
 enlightened state of Connecticut, that the negro 
 was not a citizen, in the high and proper sense of 
 the term but a being inferior to the white man. 
 Now it appears to me evident that justice requires 
 the free states to improve the condition of their 
 blacks, before they take any urgent steps for the 
 emancipation of the southern slave. The South 
 might now very justly say to them, if you have so 
 great a regard for the negro, begin at home ; 
 educate and elevate your own, make them good 
 citizens, honest and intelligent, and then you may 
 hold them up to the view of the world, as examples 
 of the capability and worth of the negro among a 
 community of whites. At present, we can see no, 
 improvement in the African by emancipatiori,/rom 
 your example. At least, let us have a plain example 
 to follow, before we are called upon to give up 
 our inheritance. 
 
 I have stated my conviction in a former chapter, 
 that slavery is destined to come to an end. But 
 there is no good foundation for the belief that 
 emancipation will be sudden or immediate. And 
 whenever the period arrives, the work must be 
 
 
 
154 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 accomplished either by the free action of the slave 
 states, or a civil convulsion. Suppose for a mo 
 ment, the righteous judgment of Heaven should 
 permit the latter, what reason have you to offer 
 why you should not suffer your full share of the 
 calamity 1 In a moral point of view, the North, 
 or free states, are not guiltless in this matter. 
 They have another burden to be removed, besides 
 the sin of being part of a slave nation. Northern 
 cupidity carried slaves from Africa, and sold them 
 to the South. And there are plenty of merchants 
 and sailors among you who would do it now, were 
 it not unlawful. Some of the most costly mansions 
 in New England were built with the profits of this 
 traffic, and still stand as monuments of its great 
 ness. Why not go to the owners of this property, 
 and bid them sell it, and give the money to bene 
 volent objects, as, in some measure, an atonement 
 for the guilt. In some instances the lineal de 
 scendants of the slave dealer occupy the premises, 
 just as the sons of the original purchasers possess 
 the southern slave. 
 
 Some of you have heard from the lips of the old 
 negro, by the youthful fireside, the story of his 
 being ambushed and stolen by the white man, 
 while playing with his mates among the palms of 
 his native Guinea. Could the cry of Africa for 
 retribution be heard by mortal ears, it would fall 
 with appalling sound upon the Christian land of 
 New England and the free states. What have 
 they done to atone for these forgotten wrongs ? 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 155 
 
 Has emancipation done it ? It does not acquit the 
 robber or assassin, to promise he will not repeat 
 the crime. Paying a thousand new debts will 
 never cancel an old one. After serving yourselves 
 as long as you thought prudent with these slaves, 
 you turned them loose upon the wide world, poor, 
 ignorant, friendless, without even a " God bless 
 you" to cheer their lot ; and now you spurn and 
 reproach, and heap indignity upon them, because 
 they do not in a moment rise up miraculously your 
 equals. Oh, the henrt that kindles in commisera 
 tion of human suffering is ready to wish these 
 injured outcasts might borrow the jewels of gold, 
 and jewels of silver, and precious things of their 
 neighbours, like their fellow bondmen of old, and 
 like them escape in their father-land, to enjoy, with 
 God s blessing, the reward of their fathers labours 
 in peace. 
 
 Or, what will you gain, morally or physically, 
 from the result of this fearful struggle ? Suppose 
 you demand emancipation. The South repels 
 your demand as unjust, and dares you to the trial 
 of right. Will you be more prosperous, or leave 
 a better name, or better inheritance to your pos 
 terity, or rejoice in emancipation, after the work is 
 accomplished by violence. Will you rejoice in. the 
 ruins of a country of a nation of brothers, which 
 your own doings have investigated 1 I have thus 
 imagined a scene, which may Heaven never suffer 
 to be realized. It is indeed not beyond the limits 
 of human folly, but there is great reason to hope 
 
 
150 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 that forbearance and justice will prevail, and this 
 fair and glorious inheritance of ours will be spared 
 the horrors of a civil or a servile war. 
 
 Let the North be assured that the South is not 
 a whit behind her in patriotic devotion to this 
 Union. The South loves the Union, and is willing 
 to make important sacrifices for its preservation. 
 Through the Revolution, and in all the national 
 struggles since, she has borne a conspicuous part. 
 In this controversy, she asks, as a question of simple 
 justice and legal right, for the same quiet posses 
 sion of her domestic policy that you enjoy in yours. 
 She asks it as a right conferred on her by the con 
 federation of the states. So far from being an 
 infraction of the Constitution, she claims that it 
 distinctly recognizes slavery. And she will charge 
 you with the consequences of breaking your solemn 
 obligations, in sealing that instrument, if you offer 
 such an interference with her rights, as will lead 
 to a dissolution of the Union. 
 
 But you claim to be actuated by higher motives 
 than mere patriotism. You found your interference 
 upon the question of moral right the claims of 
 eternal justice and truth. Exhibit your evidence 
 that Heaven has delegated you to sit in judgment 
 upon the moral conduct of your fellows, and every 
 good man in the Union will rally to your standard. 
 But your most distinguished writers on morals, 
 explicitly deny that you have any right to offer 
 coercive interference. Such a proceeding would 
 inevitably make matters worse. 
 
TO THE FREE STATES. 157 
 
 Rather than consent to this, I would say, leave 
 slavery to the course of events ordained by Divine 
 Providence. I do not ask you to abate your 
 abhorrence of slavery. I know its strength. But 
 I do ask you to ponder well the course of action 
 you pursue : as has been said in appealing to the 
 South, so I say to you, sacrifice even slavery to 
 the Union. In view of present evil, or future retri 
 bution, there can be little hesitation in the bosom 
 of a good man, in choosing whether to bear the 
 sin of belonging to a slave nation, or of taking a 
 part in forcibly overthrowing it. And I put this 
 question distinctly to the clergy of the free states, 
 a class of men whom 1 extensively know to be 
 philanthropists and republicans ; and generally 
 worthy of the great influence they possess on 
 questions of morals. In a community so intelli 
 gent, and moral, and religiously influenced as the 
 North, the clergy will have to bear, in a great mea 
 sure, the responsibility of the decision on this sub 
 ject, whatever it may be. 
 
 Again. If you begin deliberately to inquire what 
 you shall do to correct the wrong of slavery, first 
 examine the heart go down into its deepest re 
 cesses, and discover, if possible, the motives from 
 which you are to act. The judgment is greatly 
 liable to be prejudiced and influenced by early 
 associations, and long-cherished opinions, and 
 modes of thinking. What is your practice, or 
 what agency do you exert in abolishing other 
 evils ? As Christians you are opposed to intem- 
 *14 
 
 
158 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 perance and pagan idolatry, as republicans to mo 
 narchy and tyranny. But you never seriously think 
 of opposing these and other practices different from 
 your own, with any other weapons than those of 
 persuasion. Perhaps you will say, all these evils are 
 foreign ; whereas slavery is an evil in our own coun 
 try, and among our own citizens. True, but for that 
 very reason ought you to exercise greater forbear 
 ance and charity. These fellow-citizens enjoy the 
 same rights, privileges, immunities, and blessings as 
 yourselves. The liberty, civil and religious, which 
 you enjoy, is a common inheritance, equally 
 possessed, equally purchased. These citizens prac 
 tise customs different from your own, and in your 
 view incompatible with civil liberty and moral 
 accountability. But is it not an unwarrantable 
 assurance which arraigns them before the bar of 
 your judgment. They acknowledge neither the 
 crime nor the jurisdiction of the court. You send 
 missionaries to convert the heathen, but you in 
 struct them not to coerce, but to persuade and con 
 vince the gross idolater. Have you so little faith 
 in the agency of these instruments in reclaiming 
 your equals, that you resort to violence and de 
 nunciation 1 
 
 If you discovered your brother in a place of 
 danger of which he was unconscious, would you 
 endeavour to show him his situation in a kind or 
 a harsh manner? Would you burst forth in a 
 torrent of reproach at his folly or want of foresight, 
 in bringing himself into this danger ; or would you 
 

 
 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 159 
 
 propose some mode of relief or escape, in a spirit 
 of brotherly affection and sympathy I Which does 
 Christian and moral benevolence dictate 1 Which 
 will have the most powerful influence, in view of 
 the character of human nature ? Have you fol 
 lowed the guidance of wisdom, and the " golden 
 rules" in treating this subject 1 Instead of offering 
 friendly assistance and persuasion, have you not 
 oftener charged them as slaveholders, with the 
 crime of living in known violation of the laws of 
 God and man 1 while a great majority of them, 
 be assured, acknowledge no such crime. Instead 
 of exhorting them to repentance, in the spirit and 
 language of St. Paul, have you not frequently 
 denounced against them the judgments of Heaven? 
 Instead of offering to relieve them of a burden, you 
 have heaped ridicule upon it. 
 
 And especially, will you denounce all slave 
 holders as on one common level ? Will you, by 
 your action and measures, force those back with 
 the multitude, who are anxiously looking for some 
 way of escape from their bondage ? The reason 
 that the South fling back every thing that comes 
 from the North, is the fault of the latter. The 
 spirit and language of the North, when speaking of 
 slavery, has been without discrimination ; harsh, 
 bitter, reproachful. There are many exceptions, 
 but this is the fact generally. Comparisons have 
 been drawn unfavourable to the South, and touch 
 ing them in very sensible points. Besides this, 
 you make no allowance for the sanctions of time 
 
160 TO THE FREE STATES. 
 
 and custom ; none for the peculiar circumstances, 
 for the long-cherished feelings and habits of slave 
 holders. Believe it ; there are many men, men of 
 great respectability, south of the Potomac, who 
 consider themselves in far greater, more distressing 
 bondage, by the system of slavery, than their own 
 slaves. I say this, from a firm conviction of its 
 truth. There are others who are halting between 
 two opinions. Now I verily believe that the tend 
 ency of northern action, and northern language, 
 and northern feeling, is to drive these men back to 
 a reconciliation with slavery, instead of offering 
 them sympathy and aid in a manner which they 
 can accept. 
 
 The modern improvements of the age in the arts 
 of life have in themselves no power to make men 
 radically better. Their aim is entirely superficial. 
 They have no influence upon the heart, the seat of 
 moral affections. Their tendency is to inflate 
 little man with great pride. Luxury and effemi 
 nacy, vice and oppression, follow their footsteps 
 with fearful certainty. Nothing but that spirit of 
 benevolence which was manifested by Him, who, 
 when he was reviled, reviled not again ; whom the 
 direst persecution could not swerve from pursuing 
 the object of his mission into the world unsought 
 and unrequited goodwill to men : nothing but this 
 spirit can save our country, or carry it safely 
 through the agitation and distraction of this vexing, 
 this momentous controversy. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TO THE UNION. 
 
 I. What can be done 1 Subject of vast magnitude radical 
 difference of opinion. 
 
 II. Three modes of settling the question stated. 
 
 III. Faint hope that either side will abandon its position ultra 
 slaveholders violence of southern excitement a favourable omen 
 no prospect of the North becoming in favour of slavery rea 
 sons will not use force against it. 
 
 IV. Dissolution of the Union considered its probable conse 
 quences and result. 
 
 V. Third mode of settling the question by compromise and 
 concession why it may be hoped for desirable that southern 
 men should express their views prevented by abolition move 
 ments. 
 
 VI. Colonization recommended abolitionists opposed mista 
 ken philanthropy colonization emancipation must become a 
 national question. South will reject every other mode urged 
 from motives of regard for the welfare of the coloured race ne 
 groes cannot rise to equality with the whites proved in the free 
 states in Philadelphia slaves to remain in the country as hired 
 servants considered South will oppose it, and why no encour 
 agement from the example of the North. British emancipation 
 referred to final consequences not known. 
 
 VII. Why the coloured man should go to Africa climate con 
 sidered comparisons invited America owes it to Africa to send 
 back her children. God intends it by our prosperity government 
 must do it influences of colonization on Africa. Question of 
 expense alluded to money lost in Florida war. 
 
 VIII. Some slave states have begun the work reasons for 
 government interference partizan politics, the curse of our coun 
 try the only hope of benevolence in the future. 
 
 Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable. 
 
 I. " WHAT can be done to settle the agitation on 
 the great subject of slavery; and decide the con- 
 14* 
 
162 TO THE UNION-. 
 
 troversy in an amicable manner, satisfactory to all 
 parties; with reference to the claims of justice, 
 and the best interests of humanity ?" This question 
 is often asked by men of inquisitive and reflecting 
 minds ; but in view of its vast magnitude, and the 
 difficulties which seem to bar up every avenue of 
 approach, human wisdom bows before it. 
 
 There is indeed no lack of propositions on the 
 subject ; but none has been offered which is not 
 objectionable to large portions of the community. 
 And while the suggestions of common minds are 
 rejected as unequal to the exigency, men of wiser 
 and more comprehensive judgment will cautiously 
 deliberate before assenting to propositions, which, 
 however plausible in theory, involve an unknown 
 amount of experiment in the execution. It is not 
 the welfare of an individual which is at stake, but 
 a question respecting the rights and the well being 
 of six or seven millions of fellow-men. In another 
 view, the integrity of a nation, already one of the 
 first rank and destined, as far as human foresight 
 can judge, to exceed all that have preceded it in 
 intellectual and physical power, and promising 
 by its youthful enterprise and intelligence to exert 
 a powerful agency in the great drama of human 
 affairs. 
 
 But the greatest obstacle to the settlement of 
 this question, arises from the fact, that there is 
 at present, beyond all controversy, a radical dif 
 ference of opinion between the free and slave 
 states on the subject. There are great classes on 
 
TO THE UNlOtf. 163 
 
 each side, whose views differ respecting various 
 minor points; but as communities, they will unite 
 on the great principles ; the latter, that slavery in 
 their circumstances is justifiable and lawful ; and 
 the former, that it is unlawful in all circumstances 
 whatever. Admitting these views of the case to 
 be correct (and I would gladly be convinced of 
 error if wrong), there are but three modes of set 
 tling the question. 
 
 II. First. By one side giving up the principle. 
 
 Second. By a dissolution of the Union. 
 
 Thirdly. By mutual concession and compromise. 
 The attention of the reader is directed to some 
 remarks on each of these modes. 
 
 HI. On the first, I purpose to be very brief, as 
 the former chapters have anticipated the most 
 prominent facts and reflections on this head. 
 
 With their present views, and in the position 
 they now occupy with regard to each other, there 
 is scarcely a ray of hope that either side will 
 abandon the ground it has taken. From the unfa 
 vourable commencement of the controversy, the 
 parties are not in a mood to look at the subject 
 dispassionately. The consequence resulting from 
 the agitation thus far, is a determination of each 
 side to adhere to, and persist in, its sectional views 
 with increased prejudice. Pushed but a little 
 further, this result will eventuate in the direst 
 national calamity. 
 
164 TO THE UNION. 
 
 With regard to the South, it is impossible to 
 predict what influence may result from a more 
 sober and conciliating tone, or a proposition to 
 compromise, from the northern states ; nor from 
 the great experiments which are in progress in the 
 British colonies ; nor from the increasing light and 
 improvements of the age ; but with their present 
 views and feelings, the South is ready to join 
 issue with all the world on the main question the 
 right of slavery. Perhaps below the latitude of 
 Tennessee, a great majority hold it with Governor 
 McDuffie of South Carolina, who invoked Heaven 
 that " his posterity, to the latest generation, might 
 never live in any other state than one of domestic 
 slavery." I never saw a northern man read this 
 invocation without smiling. An honourable sena 
 tor also from the same state, recently stated in 
 Congress (in substance), that every abolitionist 
 caught in that state should be hung, in defiance of 
 all earthly power. 
 
 These statements from men who may be pre 
 sumed to represent the popular will in their section 
 and as they have been corroborated by acts of 
 violence farther south, give us pretty substantial 
 evidence of public sentiment in the slave states. 
 But, as an individual, I am ready to hazard a belief 
 that the past violence of the South, in word and 
 deed, is a favourable omen. The suddenness of 
 southern excitement is a proof that it was not the 
 result of deliberate reflection; and its violence 
 shows that it has pre-occupied the public mind, 
 
TO THE UNION. 165 
 
 and closed up every avenue to calm investigation. 
 The South is, indeed, from its state of society, 
 exposed to danger from the agency of incendiaries, 
 but not to an extent which its vigilance and cen 
 sorship of the periodical press would justify. These 
 must be attributed, mainly, to the sudden and mad 
 dening effects of the unwarned, and ill-judged 
 irruption of abolition philanthropy. But as the 
 violence of the storm is soon wasted in proportion 
 to its fury, so the ebullition of popular excitement 
 prostrates the energies of public phrenzy,and leaves 
 society better prepared for dispassionate and calm 
 reflection. That this will be the result ; that the 
 South will ere long condescend to discuss the sub 
 ject of slavery calmly, on the question of its merits, 
 and with respect to its moral and political bearing 
 upon society, there is great reason to hope ; that 
 this period w r ill be hastened or retarded, as well as 
 its ultimate effect influenced by the temper and 
 action of the free states, cannot be doubted. 
 
 That the North will abandon its principles on 
 this subject, there is no foundation for believing. 
 Having deliberately given her own slaves freedom, 
 it is to be presumed that she ardently wishes her 
 example in this respect to be universally followed. 
 It is in her view a question both of morals and of 
 interest; and although the former doubtless greatly 
 preponderates, yet, in both aspects, she views it as 
 a question deeply affecting the welfare of the South, 
 and affecting herself indirectly. Should the civil 
 ized world, as it advances in intelligence and in 
 
166 
 
 TO THE UNION. 
 
 the progress of free discussion, speak in terms of 
 reprehension of slavery, her voice would join that 
 of universal public opinion, for this is now decidedly 
 the sentiment of her people. She perhaps claims 
 that her own freedom gives her an elevated stand 
 ing, better suited to a deliberate view of the sub 
 ject ; but she may be assured that by obtaining 
 her information at second hand, as the mass of 
 society necessarily must, she is greatly liable to 
 mingle unreasonable prejudices with her calmest 
 deliberations. The action of the South on one 
 point, has placed a weapon in her hands, which 
 she will ever be prompt to wield. I allude to the 
 demand made by public meetings, by the press, 
 and if I mistake not by some legislative assemblies, 
 that the North should stop the discussion of slavery 
 among her own citizens. In this, the South, for 
 getful of her own prerogatives, made a demand, 
 which she would have indignantly spurned, as an 
 interference with the inalienable rights of freemen. 
 Free discussion is the very foundation on which 
 our liberties are based. If it is the misfortune of 
 the South to be placed in a situation where it will 
 endanger her safety, can she therefore justly re 
 quire it to be silenced ? The principle is one which 
 she would adhere to, as the sole arbiter of her own 
 interests and rights ; can she complain if other 
 states and other sections dictate the terms of its 
 being exercised among themselves. 
 
 The North will never, unless impelled by in 
 fluence beyond her present vision, attempt to put 
 
TO THE UNION. 167 
 
 down slavery by force. She is too well acquainted 
 with the requirements of reciprocal right, to do a 
 deed which would justify positive interference with 
 her own institutions and usages ; but that she will 
 continue to agitate the subject, to discuss it freely 
 among her own citizens, and to exert an influence 
 prejudicial to slavery, cannot be questioned. It is 
 the very genius of her people to do this. She will 
 exert an influence against all slavery, without 
 design of intermeddling with established customs 
 of any state or government. 
 
 In this sense, and to this extent, nearly the whole 
 North are abolitionists; and the difference between 
 the mass of society, and those denominated im 
 mediate abolitionists is, that the latter have outrun 
 the former in a sober, rational view of the subject, 
 about as far as a certain father of whom I have 
 heard, that in his overheated zeal for the spiritual 
 welfare of his family threatened to whip his chil 
 dren if they would nt pray. This I consider a fair 
 illustration of the state of public feeling at the 
 North. The great body of the people, although 
 ardently desiring the universal extinction of slavery, 
 and especially in their own country, will join the 
 abolitionists in their measures for its overthrow, 
 about as soon as the rational, intelligent portion of 
 the religious community, although anxiously desir 
 ing the salvation of their fellow-men, will adopt 
 the practice of the father above-mentioned. 
 
 Thus, I have endeavoured to show the position 
 of the two great sections of our country, as they 
 
 
168 TO THE UNION. 
 
 stand at present with regard to this question. 
 Let us 
 
 IV. Secondly, Take a brief view of another 
 mode of adjusting it, viz. by a dissolution of the 
 Union. The idea of such a result ought never to be 
 indulged for a moment. But as it has been plainly 
 brought before the public, and as it has been loudly 
 asserted, that its dissolution would be preferable 
 to a constant interchange of reproachful language, 
 and to living in a state of increasing excitability 
 and apprehension ; it may be proper to look at 
 some of the evident consequences of such an end to 
 our federal government. 
 
 Has any man in his folly ever estimated the value 
 of this Union. Surely those men who speak of its 
 dissolution as a desirable event, and who threaten 
 to use their exertions to accomplish it, have no 
 adequate perception of its consequences. The 
 very impudence and folly of their clamor, on a 
 question of such unspeakable magnitude, should 
 cause the community to frown them into silence. 
 For myself, I cannot seriously reflect upon such 
 an event without dismay. And it is not mere 
 pride of country glorious recollections of the 
 past, nor splendid prospects of national destiny in 
 future neither is it the exultation of monarchs at 
 the downfall of the only republic, that excites my 
 fears. It is the desolations of home ; the severing 
 of strongest ties; the disruption of society ; the utter 
 ruin of the fairest portion of the globe, just bloom- 
 

 TO THE UNION . 169 
 
 ing in its glory, over which I would throw a veil. 
 If this nation is destined to perish, let it share the 
 common lot of others, and die of old age, sunk in 
 luxury and corruption, rather than perish by 
 violence, like a youth in the pride of his strength. 
 In its very location ; in the circumstances of its 
 settlement ; its independence ; and in its unrivalled 
 blessings ; it stands on an elevation above all 
 which have preceded it : and if it now perish, like 
 the fabled monster, by tearing out its own bowels, 
 the record of its fate will be the darkest page in 
 the blood-written history of man. 
 
 The folly of this estimate is equalled only by 
 another that of calculating the relative strength of 
 the North and South. Even this has been done 
 probably, for lack of other employment. That the 
 free states are numerically and physically in 
 almost all the available resources of a country 
 superior to the South, will not be doubted ; and that 
 in a good cause, she might be considered, as far as 
 human judgment can extend, an equal match : but 
 before she engages in this strife, she should hear 
 sermons in all her thousand churches from the 
 words of inspiration "the race is not to the swift, 
 nor the battle to the strong." 
 
 No man can take a comprehensive survey of 
 this great country, without being struck with the 
 conviction, that Divine Providence designed it to be 
 one nation. No other country, possessed by a 
 civilized people, presents the same features. Geo 
 graphically it is one, and cannot be divided (as 
 15 
 
 
170 TO THE UNION. 
 
 slavery would divide it) without opening a door 
 for interminable strife. If slavery is destined to 
 dissolve the Union, the division would probably 
 follow the Potomac (or Mason and Dixon s line), 
 and the Ohio. We will suppose the separation to 
 be amicably effected the public buildings at 
 Washington sold the national property, the navy, 
 the debt, the public documents, and the national 
 domain to be divided, and all its present interests 
 fairly adjusted. There is indeed some common 
 property belonging to the entire Union, which it 
 would be difficult to divide ; but in an affair of 
 such moment, veneration for the past would not 
 offer a Gordian knot of restraint. I allude to the 
 battle-fields of the Revolution, and the memorials 
 of that eventful period. The battle-fields are per 
 haps nearly equally divided, and each might be 
 content with its share. There is Lexington, and 
 Bunker Hill, and Saratoga, in the North ; and 
 Eutaw, and King s Mountain, and Yorktown, in 
 the South. The portrait of the father of his coun 
 try, and also that of his illustrious French com 
 patriot, which now look down upon the legislative 
 hall of Congress, might be severed, and half given 
 to each section ; but as the country had so soon 
 attained to such a pitch of refinement, as to render 
 their wisdom useless, it would be more in charac 
 ter to sell them to the highest bidder, as second 
 hand rubbish. There are men in Europe who 
 would be proud of the trust of keeping these hal 
 lowed memorials from sacrilegious hands ; and 
 
TO THE UNION. 171 
 
 they might perhaps in some future ages be brought 
 forth to kindle a spirit of liberty, and be the patron 
 saints of freedom, in some colony of a tyrant realm. 
 
 The relics in the tomb of Mount Vernon, being 
 exposed to disturbance from their location on the 
 borders of the rival states, should also be expatri 
 ated. 
 
 The four great pictures which adorn the capitol 
 at present, belonging, as they do, two to each 
 side, might be given up to their respective sections. 
 The figure of Peace, that most exquisite specimen 
 of art, which salutes the rising day with her ever 
 placid countenance from the front portico, should 
 be crowned with the stars, and wrapped in the 
 stripes of the Union, and burnt by the executioner, 
 the olive branches torn from the talons of the 
 eagle in the senate hall being used for faggots. 
 The eagle himself, the proper emblem of a great 
 freebooter, should be perched upon the helmet of 
 Mars, and carried in the van, as the presiding 
 genius of each army. In the present national 
 motto " e pluribus unum" the last word should be 
 exchanged for " bellum," and the disunion would 
 be complete. 
 
 This vast country then, embracing within its 
 extremities nearly twenty-five degrees of latitude, 
 containing sixteen millions of people, speaking the 
 same language, practising the same customs, and 
 professing the same religion ; contains two nations. 
 Their interests, which before were reciprocal, are 
 
TO THE UNION. 
 
 now, by this act of separation, become dissimilar, 
 and at variance. 
 
 As the most favourable view of the case, we 
 will assume that temporary residents in either sec 
 tion are permitted to dispose of their property, and 
 retire ; or if they choose, to promise allegiance to 
 the state, and remain. One of the first steps of 
 every independent nation is to provide against 
 aggression, and to protect its own interests ; ac 
 cordingly, a chain of posts is established along the 
 boundary from the Atlantic to the Mississippi ; and 
 an armed force quartered in each to prevent smug 
 gling, repel invasion, and keep the peace. Where 
 any man may now travel without notice or obser 
 vation, no man could then pass without scrutiny 
 or a passport. 
 
 The mighty Atlantic, which, like its great Author, 
 is no respecter of persons, but bears on its bosom 
 the people and the productions of all nations, rolls 
 with equal majesty and beneficence the shores of 
 both ; and, as it now affords a common channel for 
 promoting prosperity, would then offer equal facili 
 ties for international strife. Each nation would 
 struggle to obtain a naval superiority, for the pro 
 tection of its commerce, and the defence of its 
 maritime border. The communication between the 
 North and South, which is now so extensive, and 
 the source of so much prosperity, would be re 
 stricted by the same rules that impede the corres 
 pondence of foreign and distant nations. Every 
 cask of rice or barrel of sugar would be taxed in 
 
TO THE UNION. 173 
 
 the North ; every bale of manufactured goods in 
 the South. Every letter and newspaper in passing 
 over the boundary would be subject to rigid inspec 
 tion. The great object of each would be to enrich 
 and strengthen itself at the expense of its rival. 
 The inhabitants on opposite sides of the Ohio might 
 kindle a war at any time, by shooting each other 
 across the river for pastime. And the seeds of dis 
 sension might be disseminated with the greatest 
 facility, from the fact, that unprincipled men of 
 address and intelligence might pass from one sec 
 tion through the other the language being the 
 same and spring a mine among a community 
 reposing in conscious security. 
 
 But the source of interminable war, would be the 
 navigation of the Mississippi. There is not per 
 haps a more powerful and universal trait of national 
 character than a disposition to avail itself of the 
 natural advantages of its situation. And this king 
 of rivers, which, with its thousand arms, drains the 
 fairest portion of the globe, was made to bear, as 
 it now does, the products of that portion on its 
 bosom. The voice of Nature on this subject is too 
 plain to be misunderstood. Natural obstacles, 
 though in part overcome by the art and industry 
 of man, forbid any other outlet with equal facility. 
 A great portion of this valley and that portion 
 to which the outlet is of most importance lies on 
 one side of the boundary, and the point of destina 
 tion, fixed by nature, is on the other. Would the 
 states of the Upper Mississippi submit to be debarred 
 15* 
 
174 TO THE UNION. 
 
 the free use of this natural channel 1 Would the 
 states of the South permit this great avenue to be 
 common property ? The event alone can justify 
 an answer. 
 
 In view of all these circumstances and causes of 
 international strife, it may well be inquired how 
 long peace could be maintained between the two 
 sections. History will give us some light on this 
 question, and we need not go back to the states of 
 antiquity for information, Christian history will 
 be sufficient for our purpose. Cite first the records 
 of the middle ages. Read attentively the history 
 of those states which overthrew the empire of the 
 West, and began the present monarchies of Europe; 
 the Goths, Franks, and Lombards, whose meagre 
 annals for several centuries are mostly filled with 
 accounts of royal fratricides and paricides and 
 they will inform you how long brothers of jealous 
 disposition and rival interests will remain in peace. 
 Ask England, our venerated mother, whose records 
 in the time of the roses, will give the most satis 
 factory evidence on this point ; for her throne is 
 as deeply red with fraternal blood as any in Christ 
 endom. It would be needless to multiply inquiries 
 or state suppositions on a subject respecting which 
 the history of all ages concurs with every day s 
 experience of human character. Nothing but 
 Divine interposition could avert the last resort in 
 the case under consideration, even to the period to 
 which we have arrived. It cannot be longer 
 stayed. The war of brothers commences. Mu- 
 
TO THE UNION. 175 
 
 tual jealousies, rivalries, and heartburnings, long 
 cherished in secret, burst forth like the tornado in 
 the summer s calm. 
 
 The cause of each party is as clear by right and 
 just, as though written in sunbeams. With mutual 
 horror at such unnatural conduct, each party ap 
 peals to Heaven for justice, and for avenging the 
 injured, that is, its own cause. Public supplica 
 tions are offered in sublime mockery for Divine aid 
 throughout the North and South, and the sword 
 is let loose. 
 
 Hundreds of emissaries from the North, filled 
 with the spirit of evil, elude detection, enter the 
 South, excite the slaves to insurrection, and promise 
 them the estates of their masters. In the mean 
 time the energies of the South are distracted, agi 
 tated as she is by a civil and a servile war, her 
 agriculture neglected, and her ports of commerce 
 blockaded. The North is divided by factions; 
 many of her best citizens having ever and utterly 
 opposed this resort to arms. But the clamour of 
 the multitude prevails, and in the excitement of the 
 revolution a brave army is raised to conquer the 
 South. But this army finds a theatre of operations 
 very different from what it expected. The re 
 sources of the South are distributed on a plan 
 differing entirely from the North. Instead of the 
 frequent villages and wealthy towns of the latter, 
 it finds abundance of pine woods to plunder, with 
 country mansions scattered all over the country, a 
 mile asunder. As it approaches a large town, a 
 
176 TO THE UNION. 
 
 cloud of flame, a miniature Moscow, points out its 
 locality, and covers the retreat of the inhabitants. 
 To the utter surprise of these invaders, they have 
 to contend every step with slaves. Individuals and 
 squadrons and regiments of negroes oppose their 
 progress continually, fighting heroically for their 
 native soil. They enfilade the woody passages 
 leading to their masters dwellings and their own, 
 and, like their brethren in Africa, strike their ene 
 mies from the bush. As it pushes onward into the 
 country, a new enemy attacks the army. Disease 
 seizes the unacclimated, and the remnant falls an 
 easy prey. Another is raised, equipped, and 
 marched. During all this time, the arts of peace 
 being exchanged for the excitements and the tumult 
 of war, the manufactories of the North are sus 
 pended ; her shipping unemployed or captured ; 
 her agriculture neglected ; her enterprize palzied ; 
 and vice and crime are the lessons of her former 
 industrious population. 
 
 The great courts of Europe, which have been 
 silent but interested spectators of this scene, now, 
 after the combatants appear to be exhausted, under 
 pretence of reconciling difficulties, become engaged 
 in the strife, assist the weaker sufficient to make 
 it an equal match for the stronger, until both 
 parties are completely prostrated, and the energies 
 of the country are destroyed. These allies, having 
 seized upon the most important stations, garrison 
 them with their own troops, under the double plea 
 of preserving peace, and of remuneration for 
 
TO THE UNION. 177 
 
 services rendered ; and as for the ruined country, 
 they 
 
 - 
 
 " Leave it alone in its glory." 
 
 Taking advantage of its prostrate condition, a 
 dozen young Napoleons aspire to the sovereignty. 
 Each gathers a rabble of lawless followers, and as 
 the country exhibits some symptoms of returning 
 life, after one-half the aspirants are defeated or 
 murdered, the remainder having established some 
 authority in different sections, and the impoverished 
 state willing for repose at any sacrifice, the whole 
 country is divided into half-a-dozen kingdoms, 
 ready, as soon as recovered from the desolating 
 scourge, to renew scenes of conquest and violence. 
 
 Such is merely the faint outline of a picture 
 which is impressed upon the mind in contemplating 
 a resort to arms as the final result of this contro 
 versy. To fill up the picture, would require a 
 volume devoted to the extreme degree of human 
 madness and suffering. If God, who has been our 
 great benefactor, should ordain us a scourge for 
 our ingratitude, and let loose the spirit of anarchy 
 in our country, the strides we have taken in na 
 tional power and prosperity would be exceeded 
 only by our rushing downward to ruin. 
 
 Thirdly. We have another mode of contempla 
 ting the settlement of this question, which promises 
 a happier result. This is by concession and com 
 promise. Against any proposition of this nature, 
 I am aware there are strong feelings and prejudices 
 
178 TO THE UNION. 
 
 arrayed from that stubborn independence of our 
 people which arrogates to itself a perfection of 
 wisdom, and professes a readiness to defend its 
 opinions and vindicate its conduct to the last ex 
 tremity. Some of these prejudices will be noticed 
 in pursuing this inquiry ; but it may be sufficient 
 to say here, that there is ground to hope that a 
 spirit of concession may prevail from the fact that 
 individual as well as national interests combine to 
 favour it. Men of the habitual reflection of the 
 American people, will ponder upon the certain 
 consequences of disunion and war, before they 
 consent to engage in the strife. And when each 
 man has looked at the stake he has in the question 
 his personal interest and safety, his family, his 
 friends, his merchandize, his property he will ask 
 at what price or sacrifice this threatening calamity 
 can be averted, before he decides to meet it. 
 
 And that it is a momentous question is proved 
 from the difficulties which surround it. It is grown 
 so enormous that men know not how to grasp it ; 
 but there is some light dawning from the right 
 quarter. There are many slaveholders giving 
 their attention deeply to the subject. I have heard 
 plans proposed for its extinction, which evinced a 
 degree of profound observation and reflection. 
 There are plans in contemplation among slave 
 holders which are worthy of candid attention, and 
 of encouragement from the free states. It is 
 greatly desirable that some of these men could so 
 far overcome the obstacles and the prejudices of 
 

 TO THE UNION. 179 
 
 their situation, as to give their thoughts to the 
 public. It would elicit inquiry, and they would 
 find many others seeking for information, to 
 whose minds their suggestions, and the fact that 
 the subject of emancipation was exciting public 
 attention at home, would afford relief and gratifica 
 tion. I know the reply which will be made to this 
 suggestion, viz., that the measures of the aboli 
 tionists have entirely precluded any such action 
 among slaveholders at present. That it would be 
 unworthy of the South to make any propositions 
 touching emancipation in any form, while the aboli 
 tionists were menacing them with ruin. But from 
 this view of the subject I beg to dissent. It is pay 
 ing the abolitionists a compliment which they do 
 not deserve. They are but a small fraction of 
 northern society, and shall they suspend and ob 
 struct the action of thecommunity,both North and 
 South, on subjects of national interest? But another 
 reason may he offered why this is the proper time 
 for southern men to offer their plans. The move 
 ments of abolitionists have awakened public atten 
 tion at the North to the subject of slavery, and 
 the majority of the people, although not approving 
 their measures, are inquiring for information, and 
 are just in a position to receive favourably any pro 
 position which, while it exposes the errors and 
 mischiefs of immediate abolition, shall offer some 
 feasible plan for doing away the evil. If no such 
 proposition is offered if every thing which comes 
 from the South, looks only to the perpetuation of 
 
180 TO THE UNION. 
 
 slavery multitudes of this northern majority will 
 probably either settle down into the unwilling belief, 
 that slavery is an unremediable evil, or will fix their 
 attention and their hopes upon some modification 
 of abolition. 
 
 With these views, the writer calls upon the 
 South for such declarations of their wishes and 
 intentions, without compromising their own inte 
 grity and honour, or yielding to the fanatical spirit 
 of immediate abolition, as may lead the awakened 
 feeling of the North to adopt measures for pre 
 serving the public tranquillity, and calm its agita 
 tion by manifesting a disposition to at least 
 investigate the merits of the subject. 
 
 And I would not startle the patriotism or self- 
 interest of the reader, in declaring, that by conces 
 sion or compromise, I avow a firm conviction, 
 that colonization offers the best, the only true plan 
 of bringing this controversy to a happy issue and 
 of making a freeman of the slave. I am aware 
 that my patriotism and philanthropy will both be 
 called in question for this avowal ; but to such per 
 sons I have only to say that a candid and thorough 
 investigation of the subject has forced this convic 
 tion upon me, in spite of powerful and opposing 
 prejudices. And the deliberate attention of the 
 reader is invited to the facts and the reasons 
 which will now be given for this conviction. 
 
 The idea of transporting all the slaves back to 
 Africa, seems at first view utterly chimerical ; and 
 so the writer once viewed it. But the work is not 
 

 TO THE UNION. 181 
 
 beyond the reach of possibility ; and the rule of a 
 good man respecting a good work is, if he cannot 
 do all he would, he will do all he can. If we can 
 not remove all the blacks, certainly we can relieve 
 those portions of the country where slavery is be 
 coming a burden. On this point I should regret 
 not having the aid and co-operation of abolitionists. 
 I know they are capable of exerting a powerful 
 influence in this cause, and am confident that it is 
 a mistaken philanthropy which leads them to op 
 pose it. They have entirely different views of 
 human nature from the mass of men, if they think 
 to elevate the negro to an equality with the whites 
 in this country. And unless they possess the 
 power of foreknowledge, and are acting under the 
 inspiration of what shall be at some future period, 
 it is almost self-evident, that their success in the 
 measures which they now so strenuously urge, 
 will result in the injury of the coloured race, both 
 present and prospective. At least such is the con 
 clusion of the writer, in contemplating this subject, 
 in the light of past experience. 
 
 I recollect once suggesting the proposition of 
 purchasing the slaves, for the purpose of emanci 
 pating them, to an abolitionist of some notoriety, 
 when he immediately replied " what ! buy stolen 
 property 1 no, never." To what extent the views of 
 this man are those of abolitionists generally, I 
 know not ; but would make a few remarks on this 
 point, for the reflection of all northern men. If 
 the negroes were stolen, the North is at least as 
 16 
 
182 TO THE UNION. 
 
 deeply implicated in the crime as the South. If 
 there is national dishonour in slavery, the North is 
 a partaker in it. If it is to be blotted out in blood, 
 she will inevitably furnish a share. If emancipa 
 tion can be amicably effected, she must and ought 
 to bear a part of the burden. 
 
 That the subject of colonization emancipation is 
 becoming one of increasing interest, is evident from 
 the fact that some of the slave states have state 
 societies formed for encouraging it, which receive 
 legislative aid. And the time is not distant, when 
 the question of African colonization will be agi 
 tated in the national capital. Emancipation 
 must become a subject of national interest, of na 
 tional deliberation and effort. And I should rejoice, 
 were there such a tone of feeling in the country, 
 expressed through the state legislatures and local 
 assemblies, as should demand of Congress to offer 
 to transport to Africa at the national expense, and 
 provide for their temporary maintenance, all the 
 slaves which should be offered by their masters, 
 and all the indigent free blacks who should offer 
 themselves, to return to their father-land. While 
 these were in progress of removal, another propo 
 sition might be made to purchase all that should be 
 offered within a limited price and time. By this 
 means public attention would be drawn to this 
 mode of emancipation, and by their gradual re 
 moval the utility and expediency of colonization 
 on a large scale would be tested. Should the cur 
 rent of popular feeling among the blacks be directed 
 
TO THE UNION. 183 
 
 strongly into this channel, it would soon break 
 down every barrier, and its force become irresisti 
 ble. Not only the slave and the indigent freeman, 
 who would be aided in their removal, but the man of 
 property, would be anxious to emigrate to join a 
 community where his respectability and influence 
 would be something more than nominal, and not 
 entirely overshadowed and obscured by his supe 
 riors. To this plan, I am aware there are strong 
 objections, but I cannot believe the objectors have 
 deliberately canvassed the subject. The question 
 of colonization has entered into the discussions 
 between the North and South on slavery, and each 
 section has imbibed prejudices against it the 
 North professing to believe that the South encou 
 raged it from interested motives of making slavery 
 more secure ; and the latter jealous of every thing 
 emanating from the North, looked upon it as the 
 incipient movement of a society, whose ultimate 
 object was the overthrow of slavery. 
 
 This result has been produced by the abolition 
 excitement, since which, for the reasons just men 
 tioned, the Colonization Society has received less 
 favour from the public, than in the first years of 
 its existence. But whatever may be the fate of this 
 society, the cause is a good one, and must prevail. 
 My belief in its goodness is based upon observation 
 of human nature and experience of the past in 
 its prevalence, is founded upon the wisdom, justice, 
 and humanity of my countrymen. 
 
 First. The South will not listen a moment to 
 
184 TO THE UNION. 
 
 emancipation in any other mode. Those who are 
 opposed to slavery from principle, and those who 
 would be relieved from it as a burden, look only to 
 colonization for relief. They are certainly the 
 best judges of their situation, both present and pros 
 pective, and the opposer of colonization may choose 
 between the practicability of changing the public 
 sentiment of an entire community of millions, and 
 the propriety of co-operating in measures of their 
 own adoption. But this fact of southern opposition 
 to emancipation, except the slaves are sent out of 
 the country, is altogether a secondary considera 
 tion in advocating colonization. Even if they 
 should consent to a full and free unconditional 
 abolition, I would still urge colonization upon the 
 negro. I would plead for it then, as I do now, first 
 and chiefly, for the very reason that the immediate 
 abolitionists profess to oppose it; that is, from 
 motives of regard for the welfare of the coloured 
 race. I must acknowledge a full conviction, that 
 it is out of the question to elevate the negro to an 
 equality with the whites in this country. And this 
 conviction is the result of a calm and deliberate 
 consideration of the condition not of the servile 
 and degraded southern slave but of the eman 
 cipated blacks and their descendants in the free 
 states. 
 
 I cannot reflect upon this condition, without 
 adopting the language of another " he can never 
 rise, he is a negro !" In proof of this, go to New 
 England, the land of the pilgrims, the boasted home 
 

 
 TO THE UNION. 185 
 
 of Christianity, of good morals, of political freedom, 
 of unfeigned philanthropy, and of charitable insti 
 tutions. There the slave has been free for near 
 half a century, and what is his condition? Where 
 is his place in the family, even of the parish minis 
 ter? Where in the church, and at the eucharist? 
 He is a man, a man of intelligence, of integrity, of 
 property. But can he vote ? Has he any politi 
 cal rights ? He has been knocking at your legis 
 lative doors repeatedly for redress of grievances, 
 for removal of his disabilities, for equal, Declara- 
 tion-of-Independence, rights and privileges and 
 the only response he has ever obtained is " you are 
 a negro." His property is taxed, but he has no 
 voice in the taxation a violation of the very prin 
 ciple for which your and his forefathers dared to 
 resist the power of the mother country. He is a 
 native of the state ; and if reputation, industry, and 
 knowledge can make a man respectacle, he is 
 entitled to the appellation: but you trample him 
 under foot, and impart the right of suffrage and 
 citizenship to a degraded, ignorant foreigner, who 
 is in every respect (except the colour of his skin) 
 his inferior. He is subject to the most degraded 
 caste. You do not hesitate to come in the closest 
 personal contact with the negro, as a barber, or a 
 body servant, but a Jew would sooner eat pork 
 than you would sit at the same table with him. In 
 this remark I speak of the great body of society. 
 Your daughters would be disgraced in associating 
 16* 
 
180 TO THE UNION. 
 
 with parties of black females. Even now they 
 shudder at the bare idea. 
 
 I have before stated that southern men ought 
 never to reproach the North on the subject of amal 
 gamation. May it not be said, with much greater 
 emphasis, that the North should be cautious in 
 reproaching the South for infracting the plain letter 
 of Jefferson s Declaration, by denying the blacks 
 their freedom. The latter openly avow a right to 
 keep them in servitude; the former have granted 
 them a freedom, which at the same time they 
 acknowledge to be counterfeit, by withholding from 
 them those privileges which they themselves con 
 sider the essential rights of freemen. 
 
 Again. Look at Philadelphia, the boasted city 
 of loving brothers, and of good order. You would 
 not believe, from a knowledge of its past history, 
 or a walk through its quiet streets, that materials 
 for a mob could be found in the whole city and 
 liberties ; but even Philadelphia is moved, when 
 the African dares a step above his level. A white 
 and a negro walk the streets of Philadelphia, arm 
 in arm! will posterity believe it! and Pennsyl 
 vania Hall is fired to see the spectacle. 
 
 Take the most respectable coloured person in 
 the community, and what is the current observa 
 tion respecting him ? Why exactly this ; that he 
 is very smart for a negro. The mere report of 
 an intermarriage between a white and black would 
 throw any city of the North into a ferment. 
 
 If this is the condition and the standing of the 
 
TO THE UNION. 187 
 
 negro in the free states fifty years after emancipa 
 tion, how long a period will be required to place 
 him on a level with the whites ? When this ques 
 tion is satisfactorily answered, some opinion may 
 be formed of the time requisite to elevate the 
 southern slave to the same equality. 
 
 But, it will be answered, public opinion is wrong 
 in consigning the negro to degradation. Admit 
 it, and what follows ? Will the true philanthropist 
 spend his life in fruitless struggles to overcome an 
 unconquerable prejudice against the coloured man ; 
 or take advantage of that prejudice to place him 
 in a situation, where he may exert all the faculties 
 of his nature for his own benefit? A sort of infamy 
 is every where attached to a state of slavery, and 
 this with his sable complexion fixes an indelible 
 mark upon the negro, which can never be effaced 
 until human nature is radically changed. This 
 country is not the home of the negro ; it never can 
 be.* He may continue to live here, but he can 
 never assert the privileges of a freeman ; can never 
 develope his powers. He will always be an outcast, 
 trodden under foot, a hewer of wood and drawer 
 
 * " You may set the negro free, but you cannot make him 
 otherwise than an alien to the European. The moderns 
 then, after they have abolished slavery, have three prejudices 
 to contend against, which are less easy to attack and far less 
 easy to conquer, than the mere fact of servitude ; the pre 
 judice of the master, the prejudice of the race, and the 
 prejudice of colour." 
 
 DE TOCQUKVILLE, Democracy in America. 
 
188 TO THE UNION. 
 
 of water. He has no better inheritance in pros 
 pect for his children, than to be servants of ser 
 vants. In view of this nearly universal prejudice, 
 many of the best men of the North are decidedly 
 in favour of colonization ; and I doubt not also 
 the greater portion of the community who have 
 soberly investigated the subject. 
 
 And here the opposer alike of colonization and 
 slavery will inquire, why not free the slave, and 
 let him remain as a hired servant? I answer, 
 chiefly for the reasons just stated. This plan offers 
 at first view a very plausible mode for extinguish 
 ing slavery, and elevating the negro, and as such 
 deserves attention. I have ever believed that if 
 the South would adopt it, it would relieve her from 
 very great present embarrassments. The negro 
 would have a motive to labour, to exercise frugal 
 ity and economy, which he cannot have in his 
 present state. If the planter should divide his cul 
 tivated fields among his labourers, and. offer a pre 
 mium for the greatest product, he would realize a 
 larger profit. The fear of insurrection, a suspicion 
 of which now makes every man s ear to tingle, 
 would be entirely removed. The resources of the 
 whole South would no doubt be greatly increased. 
 
 But I am aware that the South looks upon this 
 proposition as one bearing the impress of folly 
 upon its very face, and giving rise to no emotions 
 but those of contempt and ridicule. Perhaps the 
 best men would reject it instantly. The whole 
 South would reject it unanimously. Nevertheless 
 
, 
 
 TO THE UNION. 189 
 
 this fact does not alter my opinion. I cannot 
 believe it a futile project, until the experiment 
 shall have been tried. But still its ultimate results 
 taking the experience of the North, and a know 
 ledge of human nature for our guides are far from 
 being clear or satisfactory. Certainly, I should 
 not hesitate to declare a preference for coloniza 
 tion, in comparison with this plan. The one offers 
 certain advantages for the negro, the other must 
 be comparatively a doubtful experiment. It has 
 been shown, what is the present condition of the 
 blacks in the free states that their freedom is 
 merely nominal ; and from that we may form an 
 opinion of the slow progress which the blacks of 
 the South would make in improving themselves. 
 
 In considering this point, we must not lose sight of 
 the agents by which this change is to be effected. 
 If the slaves are emancipated, the act must be done 
 by southern legislators. Suppose for a moment 
 they consent to try the experiment of emancipa 
 ting the slaves without removing them. He has 
 studied human character to very little purpose, 
 who does not at once perceive that in the steps 
 preliminary to this event, effectual measures for 
 self-defence would be taken. Various enactments 
 would be made with reference to the probable con 
 sequences of such an event ; and one not the least 
 important would have a direct bearing upon the 
 political rights of the blacks. Would the right of 
 suffrage be extended to them, or would this prero 
 gative of freemen be fenced around with so many 
 
190 
 
 TO THE UNION. 
 
 barriers, that but few of them would be able to 
 surmount them for generations. The laws would 
 most certainly be so framed as to exclude them 
 forever, if possible, from any share in state or 
 national legislation. Were the right of suffrage 
 given them to the same extent that is now prac 
 tised in some of the free states, they would control 
 every department of government in more than one 
 of the slave states, at the very next following 
 election. And I need not ask, what southern, but 
 what northern legislator would consent to occupy 
 a seat in the representative hall with a negro ! 
 The consequence of such freedom as they would 
 obtain, would be, either a degraded state of inferi 
 ority or if the blacks should increase faster than 
 the whites (a very probable supposition), they 
 would soon be in a condition to demand equal 
 rights. 
 
 But again ; these slaves are set free, exceedingly 
 ignorant, totally destitute of property. Accustomed 
 to entire direction in all their employments, they 
 are now cast off, and told to provide for them 
 selves. They have nothing to commence with, no 
 houses, lands, toots, or trades; and though used to 
 labour, very few of them have sufficient intelli 
 gence to direct their labours to a useful purpose 
 or a profitable result. Would not a community of 
 whites in such circumstances be satisfied with the 
 gross indulgences of sensual propensities, and drag 
 out a miserable existence rather as brutes than as 
 men. What then can be hoped from the negro, 
 

 TO THE UNION. 191 
 
 who, in addition to his exertions for persona] advan 
 tage in the most unfavourable circumstances, has 
 to combat every step with an unconquerable pre 
 judice against his colour, deepened by a recollec 
 tion of his late servile condition. To the prejudice 
 which now consigns him to a secluded degrada 
 tion in the intelligent, enlightened free states, would 
 be added a strong, ever wakeful suspicion at the 
 South, arising from the physical inequality of the 
 blacks. 
 
 In view of these almost certain results, I cannot 
 perceive how the friend of the African race can 
 wish him to remain in this country as a freeman. 
 Great rejoicings have been made in some parts of 
 the country, at the emancipation of the slaves in 
 the British colonies in our neighbourhood. I shall 
 be glad, if these rejoicings do not prove to be pre 
 mature. Every good man and friend of his race, 
 must rejoice at the abandonment or extinction of 
 slavery, wherever it offers a prospect of improving 
 the condition of the slave ; and every such man 
 will believe that freedom is preferable to slavery 
 in every case, until observation and experience 
 disprove the fact. Very contradictory reports 
 have been published respecting the operation of 
 the apprenticeship system, and abolition in the 
 British islands ; but sufficient has been elicited to 
 convince the writer of the following facts : That 
 full emancipation is safe for the master that the 
 negro slave is the same passive machine in Ja 
 maica as in the southern states, and that he is 
 
192 TO THE UNION. 
 
 looked upon as the same degraded inferior that 
 continual altercation will arise between the em 
 ployer and the hireling in such cases respecting 
 wages and that the latter has little to hope from 
 his late master, in aiding his improvement in any 
 respect. The consequences of this measure cannot 
 be known with certainty any faster than time 
 develops them, although it will, no doubt, event 
 ually tend to the improvement of the negro. We 
 should, however, be cautious in all our specula 
 tions on this subject, and especially in comparisons 
 between the state of these colonies and our own 
 country. The former are not independent states, 
 but entirely under the control of the British crown 
 or Parliament; consequently the government of 
 England not only dictates the time and mode of 
 emancipation, but the condition of the freedmen 
 with regard to citizenship. The present popular 
 feeling of the British nation indicates that this will 
 be favourable to the negro. In view of these facts 
 there can be little doubt that one result of colonial 
 emancipation will be an ultimate abandonment of 
 the island to the blacks, unless the whites should 
 choose to live under their legislative control. 
 
 VII. But there is a better prospect for the slave 
 in the land of his fathers. Tropical Africa appears 
 to be the home destined by the Creator for the 
 negro, and has been the residence of his race, from 
 time immemorial. There is room enough even in 
 the vicinity of the coast of Upper Guinea for all 
 
TO THE UNION". 193 
 
 the black population of the Union ; as but a very 
 small part of its luxuriant soil has been brought 
 under cultivation. There the negro can stand 
 erect in his manhood, and, in the face of his 
 brother, behold only an equal. No master has 
 power to task him, or make him feel continually a 
 consciousness of bitter degradation. He may there 
 assert the rights and dignity of a freeman, and 
 cultivate the faculties which God has given him. 
 If he has enterprize, there is a sufficient field for its 
 exercise in the unknown regions of his father-land. 
 If he has learned any thing valuable, in his state 
 of vassalage, he can there turn it to his own ad 
 vantage. If he is capable of exciting an influence 
 upon Africa in favour of Colonization and Christi 
 anity, she needs it all. His religion, his character, 
 his intellect, are here thrown into the shade, by his 
 white superiors ; there they may be exerted for 
 his own benefit, and the improvement of his be 
 nighted countrymen. Here, in the most favoura 
 ble circumstances, he obtains but a partial reward 
 for his labour he is surrounded by an influence 
 which neutralizes his utmost exertions there, he 
 has to compete only with equals, and may obtain 
 a reward bounded only by the limits of his indus 
 try, his enterprize, and skill. His employments 
 here are the same which will be in request there. 
 Here he cultivates the earth, and another enjoys 
 the harvest. There he may survey his cotton or 
 cane-field with a conscious pride of feeling that 
 the fruits of his toil are all his own. The pro- 
 
 17 
 
194 TO THE UNION. 
 
 ducts of his country will find a ready market, and 
 he may even come in competition with his old 
 master in producing the staple articles of com 
 merce. Even now the coffee of Liberia is in 
 demand through the Union. Her cotton, sugar, 
 and rice are of the best quality, and there is no 
 question but she may cultivate all the productions of 
 the tropics, including the teas, the spices, the dyeing 
 vegetables, and the drugs of India. Of the finest 
 fruits she has a profusion almost without cultiva 
 tion, equal to any other section of the globe. 
 
 But, it will be answered, the climate of tropical 
 Africa is unhealthy for immigrants. This is un 
 doubtedly true. It is a well known fact that emi 
 grants from a northern to a southern climate., or 
 from an old settled to a new country, must go 
 through a process of acclimation, in which more 
 or less die. This is abundantly evident, from the 
 progress of population in our own country. But 
 from impressions on my own mind, without refer 
 ence to tabular statements, I am decidedly of 
 opinion that the coloured emigrants to Liberia 
 have enjoyed greater immunity from fatal diseases 
 than emigrants from one part of our own country 
 to another. The mortality among them has been 
 incomparably less than among the first settlers of 
 Plymouth or Jamestown : and I doubt not a less 
 proportion of American emigrants die in Liberia, 
 than of slaves who are carried from the northern 
 slave states to the southern, or of white emigrants 
 from the eastern states to the western country. 
 
TO THE UNION. 195 
 
 
 
 Those who doubt the correctness of this statement 
 are invited to furnish the facts, and give, in tabular 
 form, the data from which a comparison may be 
 made. It is, if I mistake not, generally admitted 
 that Liberia is a very healthy country for the 
 natives, and as much so at least, as tropical cli 
 mates generally to foreign residents of temperate 
 habits. A large majority of the whites who have 
 gone there, and resided more than a year in the 
 service of the Colonization Society, have survived, 
 although many of them were from the northern 
 states of this country. A number of these were 
 in this country during the last year, and their evi 
 dence on the subject is entirely worthy of credit. 
 But so important a point as healthfulness of the 
 climate should be duly weighed in connection with 
 the removal of a numerous population ; and who 
 ever, on either side, should make wanton mistate- 
 ments on this subject to favour the designs of a 
 party, can be looked upon in no other light than a 
 trifler with human existence. 
 
 Does not America owe it to Africa, to send back 
 her children, and their descendants. We have 
 used them as servants for nearly t\vo centuries, 
 and have made them no equivalent. If they have 
 become wiser, it has been accidental, not a posi 
 tive gift. They have engrafted some of our worst 
 vices on their own. Our forefathers were among 
 the first who engaged in the horrible traffic of 
 slaves, and were thus guilty, in a great measure, of 
 exciting those murderous wars, which have torn 
 
196 TO THE UNION. 
 
 
 
 and scourged that unhappy country for ages. We 
 may pay the debt in part by returning those over 
 which we have control; by placing them in hap 
 pier circumstances, and making the settlements a 
 barrier to the coast trade in slaves. And as the 
 whole nation is guilty in this matter, and as the 
 whole, also, has been profited by the toil of the 
 slave, his redemption and welfare becomes an 
 object of national importance. Not until the nation 
 becomes interested in the subject, will the work be 
 accomplished. It is too vast, too burdensome, to 
 be effected by an individual, a society, or a state. 
 And the resources of the country are equal to the 
 mighty enterprize. Has not God been our bene 
 factor to put into our hands the means of paying this 
 enormous debt. He has given us peace (with 
 very slight intermissions) from the commencement 
 of our national existence, and multiplied our riches 
 without measure. The whole period of fifty years, 
 has been one scarcely interrupted scene of onward, 
 onward increase and prosperity, heretofore un 
 known in the annals of the world. Our population 
 has quadrupled, our means increased a hundred 
 fold. I cannot review this scene of progressive 
 welfare without a conviction that God intends a 
 great offering shall be made, to remove from our 
 midst an entire people, by whose burdens this 
 great accumulation has in part, been produced. 
 We stand in relation to the Africans, as the Egypt 
 ians stood to Israel ; and as sure as the latter were 
 liberated, so surely must these be released. It is 
 
TO THE UNION. 197 
 
 needless to go into the evidences of this coming 
 event. They are distinctly perceptible to every 
 Christian, and philanthropist, and patriot. The 
 great question is, shall we come forward as a peo 
 ple, and make the time and mode of their discharge 
 a great thank offering, becoming the magnanimity 
 of a nation which is above the fear of an outward 
 foe ; or shall we grasp the possession, as the lion 
 grasps the lamb, until the decree for emancipation 
 shall be executed after suffering all the plagues of 
 Egypt. And the real philanthropist is equally 
 confident of the ultimate redemption of the slave, 
 and the necessity of sending him home to Africa- 
 He must needs go back, not only for his own wel 
 fare, but for enlightening his countrymen. The 
 day is dawning, in which Ethiopia is to be civil 
 ized and Christianized. 
 
 And although this undertaking appears so vast, 
 and apparently unattainable, its difficulties will 
 gradually disappear when the work is commenced 
 in earnest. When this shall be done, there will be 
 less want of mearfc than of willingness to apply 
 them. The resources of the nation are annually 
 accumulating far beyond what would be required 
 for this object, by the most ardent and active inter 
 est in its accomplishment. We have presented 
 the singular spectacle of a nation, receiving more 
 revenue than it knew what to do with; and with 
 prudence and integrity in the national councils, 
 such a period is before us again. The very opera 
 tion of our present national system and laws, will 
 
198 TO THE UNIOPf. 
 
 produce such a result continually, while we have 
 wisdom to keep in peace with the nations. Either 
 of two items of the national revenue, that from the 
 customs or the public lands, would be sufficient to 
 effect this great work in a progressive manner. 
 Will this application, so equal, so little burdensome, 
 so just, and for the accomplishment of so import 
 ant an object, be denied ? And will not the nation 
 demand that the navy be enlisted in and devoted 
 to this great work? The ships of war, which are 
 now decaying in the harbours, and the gallant 
 men who are rusticating on shore for want of em 
 ployment on the ocean, should be engaged in this 
 business, greatly to reduce the expense, and to 
 benefit the service. By the agency of this single 
 power, as many might be transported (at the least 
 expense) as could be advantageously settled in 
 Africa for some years to come. And it would be 
 a spectacle worthy of our infant but energetic 
 Union, to see the ocean covered with American 
 vessels, as transports and convoys, carrying back 
 to their father-land, that portion of our population 
 which is extensively regarded by some of the most 
 enlightened nations as a dark spot upon our na 
 tional character. The songs of a nation redeemed, 
 swelling over the ocean, would be re-echoed w r ith 
 great joy, by all human intelligence. Such a spec 
 tacle would show to the admiration of the world, 
 that the boasted motto of o,ur statesmen and am- 
 Jbassadors " equal and exact justice to all men" 
 is not an unmeaning or false declaration, and would 
 
TO THE UNION. 199 
 
 elevate us in the estimation of the wise and good, 
 more than the gaining of a hundred battles, or the 
 exhibition of Roman valour. 
 
 By engaging in this enterprize on a sd.le suited 
 to its magnitude, treaties would be entered into 
 with native tribes, and cessions of territory re 
 quired, by which we should check and assist to 
 extinguish the merciless slave trade ; a work in 
 which our government has but slightly co-opera 
 ted, from motives of national policy, on which I 
 need not animadvert. With the reputation and 
 the resources of the nation to sustain it, this under 
 taking should not be carried on in a parsimonious 
 manner. The negro should not be sent empty 
 away. The destitute should be provided with 
 homes, and every family a lot in proportion to its 
 numbers, that they might in reality sit under their 
 own vine and fig tree. 
 
 The accomplishment of this enterprize, or even 
 its vigorous commencement, would form an era 
 in the history of Africa, and its influence could 
 not be otherwise than salutary. These ransomed 
 servants would carry the Bible and the Christian 
 ministry along with them, and churches and schools 
 would be established in all their borders. It would 
 be a land of Goshen, not like that of old ; but the 
 light in their dwellings would shine afar, and il 
 luminate the gross darkness of that mighty con 
 tinent. The news of their coming would be spread 
 abroad, and barbarian kings from the vast interior 
 would send messengers to hold " palaver " with 
 
200 TO THE UNION. 
 
 the Christian foreigners. Their example might 
 teach these rude nations, that the arts of peace 
 were preferable to the horrors of war. With 
 wise governors and counsellors to mould the infant 
 state ; with a sufficient number of workmen in the 
 useful arts ; with the blessings of Christianity and 
 civilization ; it would possess advantages, which 
 few incipient colonies ever enjoyed. By its in 
 dustry, and enterprize, in developing its agricul 
 tural resources, this infant nation would repay in 
 a few generations all the burdens imposed by its 
 establishment in its contributions to American 
 commerce. 
 
 To those who shrink from the contemplation of 
 this project the purchase and transportation of 
 the slaves in view of the expense, let me suggest 
 a reflection for my countrymen on the objects for 
 which enormous sums of money are now expended 
 by the nation. I will instance only one, the Florida 
 war. It is painful to reflect upon the insatiability 
 of a false national honour. The sum which has 
 been expended, estimated at $20,000,000, in com 
 bating a handful of Indians without subduing them, 
 would purchase a territory in Africa large enough 
 for all the black population in the Union, and 
 build them houses to live in ; or a thousandth 
 part of it would have secured the friendship of 
 these savages, instead of making them inveterate 
 enemies. 
 
 But the national honour was said to be in 
 jeopardy ; and to sustain this, the people have as 
 
TO THE UNION. 201 
 
 yet quietly submitted to this enormous expense. 
 But if national renown has any connection with 
 the prodigal expenditure of money, we shall have 
 a niche in the temple of glory. Future history 
 will secure us the undying fame of putting forth 
 the energies of a mighty nation against fifteen 
 hundred rude barbarians, and killing them at an 
 expense of fifty thousand dollars per head. Fifty 
 odd millions more will extinguish the tribe, unless, 
 as in mercantile affairs, the capitation value should 
 be increased as the number is lessened. But even 
 if the recent project of building a wall of living 
 men across the peninsula, to repress their incursions, 
 should succeed, and no more millions be demanded 
 at present the glory of the past is at least secure, 
 and we may be assured that posterity will do us 
 justice. I regret to mar the joy of this prospective 
 fame, by suggesting that the price of killing one 
 Indian would have given a new and happier life 
 to a hundred negroes. But Indians and negroes 
 are very different men, and national honour and 
 national benevolence are at present far from being 
 convertible terms. 
 
 VIII. In closing this appeal, the writer begs 
 serious attention to the following remarks, as a suit 
 able appendix to the subject, ft has been hinted, 
 that emancipation must become a subject of na 
 tional interest and effort. On this point I am 
 satisfied that reflection and discussion will produce 
 a degree of unanimity as to the fact, however 
 
202 TO THE UNION. 
 
 the people may disagree respecting the extent and 
 application of the national resources. There is a 
 tone of independent feeling and action in the South, 
 which in two or three states has already begun 
 the work of Colonization, and when fully awakened, 
 will go far towards effecting the object ; but even 
 should state action be sufficient for the purpose, 
 the interposition of government would be required 
 in directing their plans to unity of design. Unless 
 the national standard should he raised in Africa, 
 and a governor or board of control have supreme 
 jurisdiction, petty jealousies would break out into 
 anarchy and collisions between the emigrants and 
 colonial governments of the different states, and 
 thus all the great objects of Colonization would be 
 defeated. There can be little doubt that when the 
 current of popular feeling on this subject shall 
 run in the proper channel, it will give the helm of 
 direction to the national legislature. The popular 
 will is the supreme dictator, the federal govern 
 ment is its agent. The great object at present 
 should be to diffuse information. There are power 
 ful influences already at work, and if the opposing 
 sentiments are left to combat in open field, the 
 truth will be elicited by their collision. Nothing 
 can be effected now, but an appeal to the good 
 sense and sober judgment of the people, for there 
 is no room for its admission into legislation. There 
 is a struggle too engrossing, between the ins and 
 outs of party, to listen to matters of purely be 
 nevolent import. It is the curse and disgrace of 
 
TO THE UNION. 203 
 
 our country, that the demon of party feeling and 
 party interest sits enthroned in the capital, and 
 not only in the capital, but the state governments. 
 Every where the predominant party stretches its 
 prerogative to the utmost. No influence is allowed 
 to the minority, no patriotism recognized, although 
 it constitutes perhaps nine-twentieths of the people; 
 no personal reputation, no amount of public service 
 can shield the man from proscription and obloquy, 
 who does not fall down and worship the great 
 idol of party. Legislation seems to be not for 
 the nation, but for the party. The very spirit 
 which actuates a victorious army, maddened by 
 an obstinate conflict, to rush onward over a beaten 
 and retiring foe, appears to govern our political and 
 legislative action. Perhaps the reader may sup 
 pose these remarks to be levelled at the present 
 administration. It is difficult to decide which 
 side is the most deserving. The spirit manifested 
 by the opposition gives but too much evidence, 
 that its first acts of power would be exercised in 
 effacing every vestige of the present party domina 
 tion. The writer is no party follower. If he loves 
 Caesar less, it is because he loves Rome more. 
 
 There are indeed some appeals to patriotic prin 
 ciples, some assertion of independent thought in 
 the debates of the capitol; but the loaves and fishes 
 of office are evidently the great object of patriotic 
 ardor. And it is loudly proclaimed by the clamor 
 ous patriots of the leading presses on both sides, 
 that the very hope of freedom depends upon the 
 
 
 
204 TO THE UNION. 
 
 success of their doctrines and measures. A wise 
 man of old had these very Solomons in mind, 
 when he said " truly ye are the men, and wisdom 
 shall die with you." The government is yet in 
 the hands of the people. If they have not sufficient 
 virtue and knowledge to retain it, they will be the 
 first to feel the weight of anarchy and despotism. 
 If they permit their eyes to be blindiblded, and 
 themselves led by those whom they sustain and 
 support, they cannot complain if they are brought 
 to the very brink of the precipice. In the present 
 state of the public mind, there is little room for 
 the exercise of patriotic benevolence. Amid the 
 storm and tumult of partizan rancor, the welfare of 
 the slave or the interest of his master, are subjects 
 of secondary importance. Even should the ques 
 tion be now agitated as one having a national 
 bearing, it would be swallowed up in the vortex 
 of party. The lover of his country and his fellow- 
 men, can only exert an individual influence in 
 endeavouring to diffuse facts, and awaken a spirit 
 of inquiry ; leaving to Infinite Wisdom to curb the 
 elements of discord and party selfishness; and 
 bring about a period, when men shall live and act 
 for the well-being of their fellow-men. 
 
205 
 
 . 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 IN revising this brief work for the press, after 
 several months delay since it was first written, 
 the writer begs the indulgence of the reader in 
 offering a few additional observations, and making 
 some explanatory remarks to prevent misappre 
 hension. 
 
 First, however, he would state that a more 
 careful observation, and a more extended survey 
 of the whole field of controversy, including a some 
 what enlarged acquaintance with abolition periodi 
 cals although residing himself among a slave 
 community have resulted in a stronger convic 
 tion that the positions laid down, and the facts 
 stated in this work, are in the main, correct. In 
 expressing his views in the foregoing pages, the 
 writer is not aware of being influenced by any 
 sinister motives, nor can he, on the other hand, lay 
 claim to any very excitable feelings of com 
 placency, in prospect of receiving the flattering 
 encomiums of any party, to which these pages are 
 18 
 
206 CONCLUSION. 
 
 particularly addressed. He never asked himself 
 respecting any thing he was about to write, " what 
 will slaveholders say to this?" or "how will aboli 
 tionists relish that 1" He has expressed his own 
 opinions, and aimed at stating facts without regard 
 to fear or favour of any man or body of men. 
 He never was a member of any society, having 
 any connection with the question of slavery, nor 
 did he take any person s counsel with regard to 
 the propriety of what he was about to write. 
 The impressions made on his mind, by a slight 
 acquaintance with practical slavery, induced a 
 wish to throw some light on the vexed and agi 
 tated subject; and when this wish began to assume 
 a tangible form in writing, the great and important 
 inquiry, " what do truth, and justice, and future 
 accountability require V 9 was kept continually in 
 view. That strong language has been frequently 
 used, and that the free states have received a large 
 share of pointed rebuke in the foregoing pages, 
 is freely admitted : that the sentiments addressed 
 to any section or class of the community, are more 
 severe than truth and facts will warrant, will be 
 cheerfully acknowledged, on conviction. The 
 writer claims no exemption from the frailties or 
 infirmities of humanity he only bespeaks the in 
 dulgence of wiser men, that the errors of the head 
 may not be imputed to the heart. 
 
 That his inquiries and observations should result 
 in recommending Colonization was entirely un- 
 
CONCLUSION. 207 
 
 foreseen at the commencement. He once laughed 
 at the impracticable scheme, and, with a good 
 portion of the abolition prejudice against it, set it 
 down as an enterprize, something worse than 
 visionary. But a candid view of both sides of the 
 question, and a deliberate survey of the whole 
 controversy, has resulted in an entire conviction 
 that this plan offers the only feasible, benevolent, 
 effectual remedy for American slavery. Were 
 his circumstances such as to warrant the under 
 taking, he would willingly devote his humble ef 
 forts, to persuading and assisting the injured and 
 degraded coloured population of the free states, to 
 go back to the home of their fathers. He knows 
 of no field, in which true benevolence could be 
 more usefully employed. 
 
 Again, the writer is aware that he will be 
 charged by the spirit of modern abolition, with 
 feeling a strong sympathy for slaveholders. In 
 one sense he pleads guilty to this charge ; and he 
 is confident a large number of abolitionists would 
 do the same, if they were acquainted with slavery. 
 He would vindicate slaveholders, when they are 
 traduced when arraigned before a tribunal to 
 which they owe no submission, and when the 
 misdeeds of a fraction are imputed to the whole 
 body. Beyond this, the charge cannot be sub 
 stantiated. If denounced as a defender of "hor 
 rible cruelty," or even wishing to perpetuate slavery, 
 I would only answer, " it is a small thing to be 
 
208 CONCLUSION. 
 
 judged of man s judgment." But I am frank to 
 declare, that the more slavery and abolition are 
 brought into contrast, the more I am convinced 
 there are two sides to the question. Are not the 
 abolitionists aware that slaves were bought and 
 sold and advertised in Boston as common occur 
 rences) before the Revolution and that when it 
 was abolished, or about to be abolished, many 
 slaves were carried from the North and sold to the 
 southern planters, to save a loss ? Do not they 
 very well know that slavery was forced upon the 
 colonies by the mother country, and one of the 
 colonial assemblies sharply rebuked, (and its peti 
 tions rejected), for remonstrating against it. Bat 
 they will say, " we have now abolished it entirely :" 
 true, and presuming upon the act, you are now 
 saying in effect " stand by, for I am holier than 
 thou." This spirit will never effect peaceable 
 emancipation. Neither will the good sense of the 
 community ever resolve to pull down slavery, 
 because there are bad men, monsters, engaged in it. 
 After publishing the horrible atrocities of the sys 
 tem in their periodicals for years, the abolitionists 
 have collected the whole series into one volume, 
 with large additions, to " astound" the people with 
 the horrid cruelties of slavery. This volume 
 contains the evidence of a " thousand witnesses. J i 
 Are the slaveholders of thirteen states to be de 
 nounced as out of the pale of humanity, by these 
 thousand witnesses? Suppose some one should 
 
CONCLUSION. 209 
 
 bring the testimony of a thousand witnesses to 
 prove that slaveholders were kind, humane, and in 
 dulgent ? would abolitionists allow the testimony 
 on one side, as an offset to the other ? But again, 
 say the abolitionists, " human nature is so bad, 
 that where men have the power of slaveholders, 
 the will abuse it." Let us apply this argument 
 to another subject. Human nature loves rum so 
 well, that wherever men can get it, they will drink 
 to excess. And would the people of New Eng 
 land quietly submit to the insinuation, that the 
 whole mass of society were drunkards, because 
 a thousand witnesses had testified that they had 
 seen beastly intoxication in various parts of New 
 England 1 Dr. Johnson said, the man who was 
 continually declaring that all men were rogues, 
 incontestibly proved that one at least was so. 
 And I will venture to suggest, even at the hazard 
 of being called an advocate of slavery, that there 
 is some negative good at least in the restraints of 
 slavery. Abolitionists know very well what num 
 bers of free blacks at the North are miserable 
 drunkards. There are very few such among 
 slaves, chiefly because they are slaves. But mul 
 titudes of free blacks in the slave states are like 
 those just mentioned at the North, a burden to 
 themselves and a nuisance to society. 
 
 In conclusion, I will venture to propose to aboli 
 tionists, how they may effect abolition. Slavery 
 is at best an untenable position if rightly ap- 
 18* 
 
210 CONCLUSION. 
 
 preached. But the abolitionists have hitherto at 
 tacked it in their own strength and have failed. 
 They are at present " a house divided against 
 itself." They have in several instances urged on 
 their followers to the polls, and have failed. 
 They have endeavoured to unite the people of the 
 free states in their plans and measures and have 
 failed. Let them undertake to conquer slavery, 
 as the apostles undertook to conquer the world, 
 and they will succeed. Had the disciples remained 
 in Judea, lecturing the Jews upon the abominations 
 and cruelties of heathen idolatry, how soon would 
 such measures have converted Greece, and Rome, 
 and Scythia 1 But they took their lives in their 
 hands, and went forth to preach to the idolater. 
 I can assure the abolitionists, there are large 
 " fields, white, and ready for the harvest," at the 
 South. In many of these fields, the masters ac 
 knowledge the evil of slavery, and are anxiously 
 looking for relief. They now consider abolitionists 
 and with too much reason as incendiaries and 
 fanatics. But under the influence of that spirit 
 and power which accompanied the apostles, the 
 chains would imperceptibly loosen and fall from 
 the slave. The master cannot withstand such a 
 spirit. Go entirely defenceless, trusting in the arm 
 of the Almighty. " He that takes the sword shall fall 
 by the sword." Put the slaveholder upon his con 
 science. Hitherto you have put him entirely upon 
 his legal rights, and there he is strong. Have you 
 
CONCLUSION. 211 
 
 not men for this service ? Men with the New 
 Testament in their hands, and its spirit in their 
 hearts ? No other spirit can subvert slavery, so 
 as to bring good out of the evil. Slavery cannot 
 be forced down, without deeply injuring both 
 master and slave. Even should the measures of 
 abolitionists succeed, and the servants remain on 
 the soil, they will be but servants 3till, and will 
 need the goodwill and friendship of their employers. 
 If they should be induced to go to Africa, the as 
 sistance and counsel of their masters will be a 
 source of gratification and prosperity. 
 
 It becomes the intelligence, the justice, and the 
 Christianity of the North to send men, in whom the 
 public can confide, to the South, to bring back an 
 accurate report of what slavery is practically, 
 before judgment is made up respecting it. Thus 
 far the statements on the subject have been of an 
 ex parte character. I do not believe the people of 
 the South would object to have slavery examined 
 by men of principle and intelligence. Openness of 
 conduct is a strong trait in their character. They 
 would submit to it with as good a grace at least 
 as the people of the North would to an examina 
 tion of their civil and domestic customs and usages. 
 
 Although the fact may be of no interest to the 
 public, the writer claims a pride of country as an 
 
212 CONCLUSION. 
 
 American, not exceeded by that of any of his 
 cotemporaries. And his pride is, not to be a north 
 ern or a southern man, but an American. His 
 vision is not confined to a state or section, but 
 embraces the country the whole country. When 
 the bond of union is loosened, and falls to pieces, 
 the charm of American citizenship will be broken. 
 As the first independent nation on this side the 
 Atlantic, we have preserved the continental title, 
 and if true to ourselves we shall sustain a reputa 
 tion worthy of the name. Unless we cherish a 
 national, an American feeling, we shall lose or 
 become unworthy the great name we have assumed, 
 and which is recognized throughout the world. 
 As soon as sectional or selfish interests shall have 
 triumphed, and rent the Union in pieces, petty ap 
 pellations will be attached to petty sovereignties. 
 There will be none worthy the names of Ameri 
 cans ; and a New Yorker, or a Carolinean, will 
 take rank with a Brazilian, or a Guatimalean. 
 Every American should cherish this national feel 
 ing with the spirit of a man who stands as a con 
 necting link in a line of illustrious men, whose 
 worth and reputation he is to transmit to posterity. 
 With these views, and apprehending a fatal 
 issue to the Union from this cause, were my voice 
 of sufficient influence to be heard, I would summon 
 an assembly of the free states, to discover, as accu 
 rately as possible, the state of public sentiment, and 
 to offer to the South some plan for the extinction 
 
CONCLUSION. 213 
 
 of slavery, in the spirit of sympathy and generosity, 
 and propose to co-operate in the work. Could 1, 
 on the other hand, gain the ear of the South, I 
 would call on her citizens for an explicit avowal 
 of their views of slavery, soliciting them to state 
 the terms on which they would accede to the 
 wishes of the North, and the sacrifices they would 
 make for national union. Should these efforts fail 
 to settle the controversy, I would exhort each to 
 resist to the utmost every attempt to stir up sec 
 tional strife, to bear and forbear with all long 
 suffering, rather than consent to a civil convulsion, 
 leaving to the judgment of a wiser generation, and 
 the guidance of Divine Providence, the future 
 settlement of the question. 
 
 With respect to the manner of this performance, 
 the writer would bespeak the indulgence of criti 
 cal readers. It w r as written during such brief and 
 irregular intervals, as could be spared from a very 
 laborious and harassing employment without 
 opportunity to study connection of parts, or make 
 it critically conformable to the rules of rhetoric 
 and grammar. Without entering into any laboured 
 argument, the writer has aimed chiefly to throw 
 together statements, and facts, and opinions on the 
 principal subjects of controversy, in a manner 
 intelligible to the great body of the community. 
 Perhaps he has offered nothing new. If so, he can 
 only plead the scarcely pardonable excuse of good 
 intentions, in adding to the great mass of useless 
 
 
 
214 CONCLUSION. 
 
 publications. If he has merely suggested some 
 ideas worthy of being transplanted from a barren 
 into a better soil, where they may flourish, and 
 bring forth good fruit, his labour will not be alto 
 gether in vain. 
 
 District of Columbia, June, 1839. 
 
 THE END. 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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