FOOTNOTES:
[10] Jefferson's Writings, vol. viii, p. 404.
[11] Jefferson's Writings, vol. viii. p. 403.
CHAPTER V.
ANTI-SLAVERY METHODS.
The Antiquity of Anti-slavery Sentiment.—Benjamin Lundy's Opposition to Slavery in the South and at the North.—He establishes the "Genius of Universal Emancipation."—His Great Sacrifices and Marvellous Work in the Cause of Emancipation.—William Lloyd Garrison edits a Paper at Bennington, Vermont.—He pens a Petition to Congress for the Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia.—Garrison the Peerless Leader of the Anti-slavery Agitation.—Extract from a Speech delivered by Daniel O'Connell at Cork, Ireland.—Increase of Anti-slavery Societies in the Country.—Charles Sumner delivers a Speech on the "Anti-slavery Duties of the Whig Party."—Marked Events of 1846.—Sumner the Leader of the Political Party.—Heterodox Anti-slavery Party.—Its Sentiments.—Horace Greeley the Leader of the Economic Anti-slavery Party.—The Aggressive Anti-slavery Party.—Its Leaders.—The Colonization Anti-slavery Society.—American Colonization Society.—Manumitted Negroes colonize on the West Coast of Africa.—A Bill establishing a Line of Mail Steamers to the Coast of Africa.—It provides for the Suppression of the Slave-trade, Promotion of Commerce, and the Colonization of Free Negroes.—Extracts from the Press warmly urging the Passage of the Bill.—The Underground Railroad Organization.—Its Efficiency in freeing Slaves.—Anti-slavery Literature.—It exposes the True Character of Slavery.—"Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe, pleaded the Cause of the Slave in Twenty Different Languages.—The Influence of "Impending Crisis."
ANTI-SLAVERY sentiment is as old as the human family. It antedates the Bible; it was eloquent in the days of our Saviour; it preached the Gospel of Humanity in the palaces of the Cæsars and Antonies; its arguments shook the thrones of Europe during the Mediæval ages. And when the doctrine of property in man was driven out of Europe as an exile, and found a home in this New World in the West, the ancient and time-honored anti-slavery sentiment combined all that was good in brain, heart, and civilization, and hurled itself, with righteous indignation, against the institution of slavery, the perfected curse of the ages! And how wonderful that God should have committed the task of blotting out this terrible curse to Americans! And what "vessels of honor" they were whom the dear Lord chose "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound!" Statesmen like Franklin, Rush, Hamilton, and Jay; divines like Hopkins, Edwards, and Stiles; philanthropists like Woolman, Lay, and Benezet! And the good Quakers—God bless them!—or Friends, which has so much tender meaning in it, did much to hasten the morning of freedom. In the poor Negro slave they saw Christ "an hungered," and they gave Him meat; "thirsty," and they gave Him drink; "a stranger," and they took Him in; "naked," and they clothed Him; "sick," and they visited Him; "in prison," and they came unto Him. Verily they knew their "neighbor."
They began their work of philanthropy as early as 1780. In Maryland,[12] Pennsylvania, and New Jersey the Friends emancipated all their slaves. At a single monthly meeting in Pennsylvania eleven hundred slaves were set at liberty. Nearly every Northern State had its anti-slavery society. They were charged with the humane task of ameliorating the condition of the Negro, and scattering modest literary documents that breathed the spirit of Christian love.
But the first apostle of Abolition Agitation was Benjamin Lundy. He was the John Baptist to the new era that was to witness the doing away of the law of bondage and the ushering in of the dispensation of universal brotherhood. He raised his voice against slave-keeping in Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, and Maryland. In 1821 he established an anti-slavery paper called "The Genius of Universal Emancipation," which he successively published in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington City,—and frequently en route during the tours he took through the country, wherever he could find a press. Once he made a tour of the free States, like another Apostle Paul, stirring up the love of the brethren for those who were in bonds, lecturing, obtaining subscribers, writing editorials, getting them printed where he could, stopping by the wayside to read his "proof," and directing and mailing his papers at the nearest post-office. Then, packing up his "column-rules," type, "heading," and "directing-book," he would journey on, a lone, solitary "Friend." He said in 1830:—
"I have, within the period above mentioned (ten years), sacrificed several thousands of dollars of my own hard earnings; I have travelled upwards of five thousand miles on foot and more than twenty thousand in other ways; have visited nineteen States of this Union, and held more than two hundred public meetings; have performed two voyages to the West Indies, by which means the emancipation of a considerable number of slaves has been effected, and I hope the way paved for the enfranchisement of many more."
He was a slight-built, wiry figure; but inflamed by a holy zeal for the cause of the oppressed, he was almost unconscious of the vast amount of work he was accomplishing. As a Quaker his methods were moderate. His journalistic voice was not a whirlwind nor the fire, but the still, small voice of persuasiveness. Though it was published in a slave mart, his paper, a monthly, was regarded as perfectly harmless. But away up in Vermont there was being edited, at Bennington, a paper called "The Journal of the Times." It was started chiefly to advocate the claims of John Quincy Adams to the Presidency, but much space was devoted to the subject of anti-slavery. The young editor of the above-named journal had had experience with several other papers previous to this—"The Free Press," of Newburyport, Mass., and "The National Philanthropist," of Boston. "The Genius of Universal Emancipation," was among the exchanges of "The Journal of the Times," and its sentiments greatly enthused the heart of the Vermont editor, who, under God, was destined to become the indefatigable leader of the Anti-slavery Movement in America, William Lloyd Garrison! To his advocacy of "temperance and peace" young Garrison added another excellent principle, intense hatred of slavery. He penned a petition for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, which he sent to all the postmasters in Vermont, beseeching them to secure signatures. As the postmasters of those days paid no postage for their letters, many names were secured. The petition created a genuine sensation in Congress. The "Journal of Commerce" about this time said:
"It appears from an article in 'The Journal of the Times,' a newspaper of some promise, just established in Bennington, Vt., that a petition to Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia is about to be put in circulation in that State.
"The idea is an excellent one, and we hope it will meet with success. That Congress has a right to abolish slavery in that District seems reasonable, though we fear it will meet with some opposition, so very sensitive are the slave-holding community to every movement relating to the abolition of slavery. At the same time, it would furnish to the world a beautiful pledge of their sincerity if they would unite with the non-slave-holding States, and by a unanimous vote proclaim freedom to every soul within sight of the capital of this free government. We could then say, and the world would then admit our pretence, that the voice of the nation is against slavery, and throw back upon Great Britain that disgrace which is of right and justice her exclusive property."
Charmed by the originality, boldness, and humanity of Garrison, the meek little Quaker went to Boston by stage; and then, with staff in hand, walked to Bennington, Vt., to see the young man whose great heart-throbs for the slave he had felt in "The Journal of the Times." There, in the Green Mountains of Vermont, swept by the free air, and mantled by the pure snow, the meek Quaker communed with the strict Baptist, and they both took sweet counsel together. The bright torch that Garrison had held up to the people in Vermont was to be transferred to the people of Baltimore, who were "sitting in darkness." So, as a result of this conference, Garrison agreed to join Lundy in conducting "The Genius of Universal Emancipation." Accordingly, in September, 1829, Garrison took the principal charge of the Journal, enlarged it, and issued it as a weekly. Lundy was to travel, lecture, and solicit subscribers in its interest, and contribute to its editorial columns as he could from time to time.
Both men were equally against slavery: Lundy for gradual emancipation and colonization; but Garrison for immediate and unconditional emancipation. Garrison said of this difference: "But I wasn't much help to him, for he had been all for gradual emancipation, and as soon as I began to look into the matter, I became convinced that immediate abolition was the doctrine to be preached, and I scattered his subscribers like pigeons."
But the good "Friend" contemplated the destructive zeal of his young helper with the complacency so characteristic of his class, standing by his doctrine that every one should follow "his own light." But it was not long before Garrison made a bold attack upon one of the vilest features of the slave-trade, which put an end to his paper, and resulted in his arrest, trial for libel, conviction, and imprisonment. The story runs as follows:
"A certain ship, the 'Francis Todd,' from Newburyport, came to Baltimore and took in a load of slaves for the New Orleans market. All the harrowing cruelties and separations which attend the rending asunder of families and the sale of slaves, were enacted under the eyes of the youthful philanthropist, and in a burning article he denounced the inter-State slave-trade as piracy, and piracy of an aggravated and cruel kind, inasmuch as those born and educated in civilized and Christianized society have more sensibility to feel the evils thus inflicted than imbruted savages. He denounced the owners of the ship and all the parties in no measured terms, and expressed his determination to 'cover with thick infamy all who were engaged in the transaction.'"
Then, to be sure, the sleeping tiger was roused, for there was a vigor and power in the young editor's eloquence that quite dissipated the good-natured contempt which had hitherto hung round the paper. He was indicted for libel, found guilty, of course, condemned, imprisoned in the cell of a man who had been hanged for murder. His mother at this time was not living, but her heroic, undaunted spirit still survived in her son, who took the baptism of persecution and obloquy not merely with patience, but with the joy which strong spirits feel in endurance. He wrote sonnets on the walls of his prison, and by his cheerful and engaging manners made friends of his jailer and family, who did everything to render his situation as comfortable as possible. Some considerable effort was made for his release, and much interest was excited in various quarters for him.[13]
Finally, the benevolent Arthur Tappan came forward and paid the exorbitant fine imposed upon Garrison, and he went forth a more inveterate foe of slavery. This incident gave the world one of the greatest reformers since Martin Luther. Without money, social influence, or friends, Garrison lifted again the standard of liberty. He began a lecture tour in which God taught him the magnitude of his work. Everywhere mouths were sealed and public halls closed against him. At length, on January 1, 1831, he issued the first number of "The Liberator," which he continued to edit for thirty-five years, and discontinued it only when every slave in America was free! His methods of assailing the modern Goliath of slavery were thus tersely put:
"I determined, at every hazard, to lift up the standard of emancipation in the eyes of the nation, within sight of Bunker Hill, and in the birthplace of liberty. That standard is now unfurled; and long may it float, unhurt by the spoliations of time or the missiles of a desperate foe; yea, till every chain be broken, and every bondman set free! Let Southern oppressors tremble; let their secret abettors tremble; let all the enemies of the persecuted Black tremble. Assenting to the self-evident truths maintained in the American Declaration of Independence,—'that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' I shall strenuously contend for the immediate enfranchisement of our slave population.
. . . . . . . . .
"I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or write with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present! I am in earnest. I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch. And I will be Heard. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead.
"It is pretended that I am retarding the cause of emancipation by the coarseness of my invective and the precipitancy of my measures. The charge is not true. On this question, my influence, humble as it is, is felt at this moment to a considerable extent; and it shall be felt in coming years—not perniciously, but beneficially,—not as a curse, but as a blessing; and POSTERITY WILL BEAR TESTIMONY THAT I WAS RIGHT. I desire to thank God that He enables me to disregard 'the fear of man which bringeth a snare,' and to speak truth in its simplicity and power; and I here close with this dedication:
. . . . . . . . .
"Oppression! I have seen thee, face to face,
And met thy cruel eye and cloudy brow;
By thy soul-withering glance I fear not now—
For dread to prouder feelings doth give place,
Of deep abhorrence! Scorning the disgrace
Of slavish knees that at thy footstool bow,
I also kneel—but with far other vow
Do hail thee and thy herd of hirelings base;
I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins,
Still to oppose and thwart, with heart and hand,
Thy brutalizing sway—till Afric's chains
Are burst, and Freedom rules the rescued land,
Trampling Oppression and his iron rod;
Such is the vow I take—so help me, God!"
There never was a grander declaration of war against slavery. There never was a more intrepid leader than William Lloyd Garrison. Words more prophetic were never uttered by human voice. His paper did indeed make "Southern oppression tremble," while its high resolves and sublime sentiments found a response in the hearts of many people. It is pleasant to record that this first impression of "The Liberator" brought a list of twenty-five subscribers from Philadelphia, backed by $50 in cash, sent by James Forten, a Colored man!
One year from the day he issued the first number of his paper, William Lloyd Garrison, at the head of eleven others, organized The American Anti-Slavery Society. It has been indicated already that he was in favor of immediate emancipation; but, in addition to that principle, he took the ground that slavery was supported by the Constitution; that it was "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell"; that as a Christian it was his duty to obey God rather than man; that his conscience was paramount to the Constitution, and, therefore, his duty was to work outside of the Constitution for the destruction of slavery. Thus did Garrison establish the first Anti-slavery Society in this country to adopt aggressive measures and demand immediate and unconditional emancipation. It is not claimed that his methods were original. Daniel O'Connell was perhaps the greatest agitator of the present century. In a speech delivered at Cork, he said:—
"I speak of liberty in commendation. Patriotism is a virtue, but it can be selfish. Give me the great and immortal Bolivar, the savior and regenerator of his country. He found her a province, and he has made her a nation. His first act was to give freedom to the slaves upon his own estate. (Hear, hear.) In Colombia, all castes and all colors are free and unshackled. But how I like to contrast him with the far-famed Northern heroes! George Washington! That great and enlightened character—the soldier and the statesman—had but one blot upon his character. He had slaves, and he gave them liberty when he wanted them no longer. (Loud cheers.) Let America, in the fulness of her pride wave on high her banner of freedom and its blazing stars. I point to her, and say: There is one foul blot upon it: you have negro slavery. They may compare their struggles for freedom to Marathon and Leuctra, and point to the rifleman with his gun, amidst her woods and forests, shouting for liberty and America. In the midst of their laughter and their pride, I point them to the negro children screaming for the mother from whose bosom they have been torn. America, it is a foul stain upon your character! (Cheers.) This conduct kept up by men who had themselves to struggle for freedom, is doubly unjust. Let them hoist the flag of liberty, with the whip and rack on one side, and the star of freedom upon the other. The Americans are a sensitive people; in fifty-four years they have increased their population from three millions to twenty millions; they have many glories that surround them, but their beams are partly shorn, for they have slaves. (Cheers.) Their hearts do not beat so strong for liberty as mine.... I will call for justice, in the name of the living God, and I shall find an echo in the breast of every human being. (Cheers.)"[14]
But while Garrison's method of agitation was not original, it was new to this country. He spoke as one having authority, and his fiery earnestness warmed the frozen feeling of the Northern people, and startled the entire South. One year from the formation of the society above alluded to (December 4, 5, and 6, 1833), a National Anti-Slavery Convention was held in Philadelphia, with sixty delegates from ten States! In 1836 there were 250 auxiliary anti-slavery societies in thirteen States; and eighteen months later they had increased to 1,006. Money came to these societies from every direction, and the good work had been fairly started.
William Lloyd Garrison created a party, and it will be known in history as the Garrisonian Party.
While Mr. Garrison had taken the position that slavery was constitutional, there were those who held the other view, that slavery was unconstitutional, and, therefore, upon constitutional grounds should be abolished.
The Whig party was the nearest to the anti-slavery society of any of the political organizations of the time. It had promised, in convention assembled, "to promote all constitutional measures for the overthrow of slavery, and to oppose at all times, with uncompromising zeal and firmness, any further addition of slave-holding States to this Union, out of whatever territory formed.[15] But the party never got beyond this. Charles Sumner was a member of the Whig party, but was greatly disturbed about its indifference on the question of slavery. In 1846 he delivered a speech before the Whig convention of Massachusetts on "The Anti-Slavery Duties of the Whig Party." He declared his positive opposition to slavery; said that he intended to attack the institution on constitutional grounds; that slavery was not a "covenant with death or an agreement with hell"; that he intended to do his work for the slave inside of the Constitution. He said:—
"There is in the Constitution no compromise on the subject of slavery of a character not to be reached legally and constitutionally, which is the only way in which I propose to reach it. Wherever power and jurisdiction are secured to Congress, they may unquestionably be exercised in conformity with the Constitution. And even in matters beyond existing powers and jurisdiction there is a constitutional mode of action. The Constitution contains an article pointing out how at any time amendments may be made thereto. This is an important article, giving to the Constitution a progressive character, and allowing it to be moulded to suit new exigencies and new conditions of feeling. The wise framers of this instrument did not treat the country as a Chinese foot, never to grow after its infancy, but anticipated the changes incident to its growth."
He proposed to the Whigs as their rallying watchword, the "Repeal of slavery under the Constitution and Laws of the Federal Government." Discussing the methods, he continued:—
"The time has passed when this can be opposed on constitutional grounds. It will not be questioned by any competent authority that Congress may by express legislation abolish slavery, first, in the District of Columbia; second, in the territories, if there should be any; third, that it may abolish the slave-trade on the high seas between the States; fourth, that it may refuse to admit any new State with a constitution sanctioning slavery. Nor can it be doubted that the people of the free States may, in the manner pointed out by the Constitution, proceed to its amendment."
Thus did Charles Sumner lay down a platform for a Political Abolition Party, and of such a party he became the laurelled champion and leader.
The year 1846 was marked by the most bitter political discussion; Garrison the Agitator, the Mexican war, and other issues had greatly exercised the people. At a meeting held in Tremont Temple, Boston, on the 5th of November, 1846, Mr. Sumner took occasion to give his reasons for bolting the nominee of the Whig party for Congress, Mr. Winthrop.[16] Mr. Sumner said that he had never heard Mr. Winthrop's voice raised for the slave; and that, judging from the past, he never expected to hear it. "Will he oppose," asked Mr. Sumner, "at all times, without compromise, any further addition of slave-holding States? Here, again, if we judge him by the past, he is wanting. None can forget that in 1845, on the 4th of July, a day ever sacred to memories of freedom, in a speech at Faneuil Hall, he volunteered, in advance of any other Northern Whig, to receive Texas with a welcome into the family of States, although on that very day she was preparing a constitution placing slavery beyond the reach of Legislative change."[17]
Here, then, was another party created—a Political Abolition Party—for the suppression of slavery.
In 1848, Mr. Sumner left the Whig party, and gave his magnificent energies and splendid talents to the organization of the Free-Soil Party, upon the principles he had failed to educate the Whigs to accept.
Charles Sumner was in the United States Senate, where "his words were clothed with the majesty of Massachusetts." The young lawyer who had upbraided Winthrop for his indifference respecting the slave, and opposed the Mexican war, was consistent in the Senate, and in harmony with his early love for humanity. He closed his great speech on freedom national, slavery sectional, in the following incisive language:—
"At the risk of repetition, but for the sake of clearness, review now this argument, and gather it together. Considering that slavery is of such an offensive character that it can find sanction only in positive law, and that it has no such 'positive' sanction in the Constitution; that the Constitution, according to its Preamble, was ordained to 'establish justice,' and 'secure the blessings of liberty'; that in the convention which framed it, and also elsewhere at the time, it was declared not to 'sanction'; that according to the Declaration of Independence, and the address of the Continental Congress, the nation was dedicated to 'Liberty' and the 'rights of human nature'; that according to the principles of common law, the Constitution must be interpreted openly, actively, and perpetually for Freedom; that according to the decision of the Supreme Court, it acts upon slaves, not as property, but as persons; that at the first organization of the national government under Washington, slavery had no national favor, existed nowhere on the national territory, beneath the national flag, but was openly condemned by the nation, the Church, the colleges, and literature of the times; and finally, that according to an amendment of the Constitution, the national government can only exercise powers delegated to it, among which there is none to support slavery;—considering these things, sir, it is impossible to avoid the single conclusion that slavery is in no respect a national institution, and that the Constitution nowhere upholds property in man."
This speech set men in the North to thinking. Sumner was now the acknowledged leader of the only political party in the country that had a wholesome anti-slavery plank in its platform.
Daniel Webster and the Whig party were in their grave. After the Democratic Convention had met and adjourned without mentioning Webster, a Northern farmer exclaimed when he had read the news, "The South never pay their slaves!"
During all these years of agitation and struggle, the pulpit of New England maintained an unbroken silence on the slavery question. Doctor Lyman Beecher was the acknowledged leader of the orthodox pulpit. Dr. William E. Channing was the champion of Unitarianism and the leader of the heterodox pulpit. Dr. Beecher was fond of controversy, enjoyed a battle of words upon every thing but the slavery question. He proclaimed the doctrine of "immediate repentance"; was earnest in his entreaties to men to quit their "cups" at once; but on the slavery question was a slow coach. He was for gradual emancipation. He frowned not a little upon the vigorous editorials in "The Liberator." He regarded Mr. Garrison as a hot-head; "having zeal, but not according to knowledge." Abolitionism received no encouragement from this venerable divine.
Dr. Channing was a gentle, pure-hearted, and humane sort of a man. He dreaded controversy, and shunned the agitation and agitators of anti-slavery.
The lesser lights followed the example of these bright stars in the churches.
But all could not keep silent,—for slavery needed apologists in the North. Stewart, of Andover; Alexander, of Princeton; Fisk, of Wilberham, and many other leading ministers endeavored to prove the Divine Origin and Biblical Authority of Slavery.
The silence of the pulpit drove out many anti-slavery men who, up to this time, had been hoping for aid from this quarter. Many went out of the Church temporarily, hoping that the scales would drop from the eyes of the preachers ere long; but others never returned-were driven to infidelity and bitter hatred of the Christian Church. Dr. Albert Barnes said: "That there was no power out of the Church that would sustain slavery an hour if it were not sustained in it."
Among the leaders of the HETERODOX ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY—those who attacked the reticency, silent acquiescence, or act of support the Church gave slavery,—were Parker Pillsbury, James G. Birney, Stephen S. Foster, and Samuel Brooke. The platform of this party was clearly defined by Mr. Pillsbury:—
"That slavery finds its surest and sternest defence in the prevailing religion of the country, is no longer questionable. Let it be driven from the Church, with the burning seal of its reprobation and execration stamped on its iron brow, and its fate is fixed forever. Only while its horrors are baptized and sanctified in the name of Christianity, can it maintain an existence.
"The Anti-Slavery movement has unmasked the character of the American Church. Our religion has been found at war with the interests of humanity and the laws of God. And it is more than time the world was awakened to its unhallowed influence on the hopes and happiness of man, while it makes itself the palladium of the foulest iniquity ever perpetrated in the sight of heaven."[18]
This was a bold movement, but it was doubtless a sword that was as dangerous to those who essayed to handle it, as to the Church whose destruction it was intended to effect. The doctrine that was to sustain and inspire this party can be briefly stated in a sentence: THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD, AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN.
Once outside the orthodox church, Theodore Parker gave himself wholly to this idea. He preached the "Gospel of Humanity"; and, standing upon a broad platform, preaching a broad doctrine, bound by no ecclesiastical law, his claims to a place in the history of his county, and in the gratitude of his countrymen can be fairly audited when his work for the emancipation of evangelical churches from the thraldom of slavery is considered. He did more in his day to rupture the organic and sympathetic relation existing between the Northern and Southern churches, and, thereby, hasten the struggle between the sections for the extension or extinction of domestic slavery, than any other man in America. The men who found themselves on the outside of the Church gathered about Parker, and applauded his invective and endorsed his arraignment of the churches that had placed their hands upon their mouths, and their mouths in the dust, before the slave power. He touched a chord in the human heart, and it yielded rich music. He educated the pew until an occasional voice broke the long silence respecting the bondman of the land. First, the ministers were not so urgent in their invitations to Southern ministers to occupy their pulpits. This coldness was followed by feeble prayer and moderate speech on behalf of those who were bound. And the churches themselves began to feel that they were "an offence" to the world. Every note of sympathy that fell from the pulpit was amplified into a grand chorus of pity for the slave. And thus the leaven of human sympathy hid in the orthodox church of New England, leavened the whole body until a thousand pulpits were ablaze with a righteous condemnation of the wrongs of the slaves. Even Dr. Channing came to the conclusion that something should be "So done as not to put in jeopardy the peace of the slave-holding States!"[19]
THE ECONOMIC ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY was headed by the industrious and indomitable Horace Greeley. His claim to the feelings of humanity should never be disputed; but as a practical man who sought to solve the riddle of every-day life he placed his practical views in the foreground. As a political economist he reasoned that slave labor was degrading to free labor; that free labor was better than slave labor, and, therefore, he most earnestly desired its abolition. Wherever you turn in his writings this idea gives the edge to all his arguments concerning slavery. "But slavery," wrote Mr. Greeley, "primarily considered, has still another aspect—that of a natural relation of simplicity to cunning, of ignorance to knowledge, of weakness to power. Thomas Carlyle, before his melancholy decline and fall into devil-worship, truly observed, that the capital mistake of Rob Roy was his failure to comprehend that it was cheaper to buy the beef he required in the Grassmarket at Glasgow than to obtain it without price, by harrying the lowland farms. So the first man whoever imbibed or conceived the fatal delusion that it was more advantageous to him, or to any human being, to procure whatever his necessities or his appetites required by address and scheming than by honest work—by the unrequited rather than the fairly and faithfully recompensed toil of his fellow-preachers—was, in essence and in heart, a slave-holder, and only awaited opportunity to become one in deed and practice.... It is none the less true, however, that ancient civilization, in its various national developments, was habitually corrupted, debauched, and ultimately ruined by slavery, which rendered labor dishonorable, and divided society horizontally into a small caste of the wealthy, educated, refined, and independent, and a vast hungry, sensual, thriftless, and worthless populace; rendered impossible the preservation of republican liberty and of legalized equality, even among the nominally free. Diogenes, with his lantern, might have vainly looked, through many a long day, among the followers of Marius, or Catiline, or Cæsar, for a specimen of the poor but virtuous and self-respecting Roman citizen of the days of Cincinnatus, or even of Regulus."[20]
But Mr. Greeley's philosophy was as destructive as his logic was defective. He wished the slave free, not because he loved him; but because of the deep concern he had for the welfare of the free, white working-men of America. He was willing the Negro should be free, but never suggested any plan of relief for his social condition, or prescribed for his spiritual and intellectual health. He handled the entire Negro problem with the icy fingers of the philosopher, and always applied the flinty logic of abstract political economy. He was an anti-slavery advocate, but not an abolitionist. He was opposed to slavery, as a system at war with the social and commercial prosperity of the nation; but so far as the humanity of the question, in reaching out after the slave as an injured member of society, was concerned, he was silent.
THE AGGRESSIVE ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY had its birth in the pugnacious brains of E. P. Lovejoy, James G. Birney, Cassius M. Clay, and John Brown. All of the anti-slavery parties had taught the doctrine of non-resistance; that if "thy enemy smite thee on thy cheek, turn the other also." But there were a few men who believed they were possessed of sacred rights, and that it was their duty to defend them, even with their lives. It was not a popular doctrine; and yet a conscientious few practised it with sublime courage whenever occasion required. In 1836 James G. Birney, editor of The Philanthropist, published at Cincinnati, Ohio, defended his press, as best he could, against a mob, who finally destroyed it. And on the 7th of November, 1837, the Rev. Mr. Lovejoy sealed the sacred doctrine of the liberty of the press with his precious blood in the defence of his printing-press at Alton, Illinois. Cassius M. Clay went armed, and insisted upon his right to freely and peaceably discuss the cause of anti-slavery.
But these men only laid down a great, fundamental truth; it was given to John Brown to write the lesson upon the hearts of the American people, so that they were enabled, a few years later, to practise the doctrine of resistance, and preserve the Nation against the bloody aggressions of the Southern Confederacy.
THE COLONIZATION ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY ante-dated any of the other organizations. Benjamin Lundy was one of the earliest advocates of colonization. The object of colonizationists was to transport to Liberia, on the West Coast of Africa, all manumitted slaves. Only free Negroes were to be colonized. It was claimed by the advocates of the scheme that this was the only hope of the free Negro; that the proscription everywhere directed against his social and intellectual endeavors cramped and lamed him in the race of life; that in Liberia he could build his own government, schools, and business; and there would be nothing to hinder him in his ambition for the highest places in Church or State. Moreover, they claimed that the free Negro owed something to his benighted brethren who were still in pagan darkness; that a free Negro government on the West Coast of Africa could exert a missionary influence upon the natives, and thus the evangelization of Africa could be effected by the free Negro himself.[21]
To this method Henry Clay, of Kentucky, Horace Mann, of Massachusetts; Rev. Howard Malcom, of Pennsylvania; Rev. R. R. Gurley, of New York; and many other persons of distinction, gave their endorsement and assistance. The American Colonization Society was organized in 1817. Its earliest supporters were from the Southern and Middle States. A fair idea can be had of the character of the men who sustained the cause of colonization by an examination of the following list of officers elected in March, 1834.
"President.—James Madison, of Virginia.
"Vice-Presidents.—Chief-Justice Marshall; General Lafayette, of France, Hon. Wm. H. Crawford, of Georgia; Hon. Henry Clay, of Lexington, Kentucky; Hon. John C. Herbert, of Maryland; Robert Ralston, Esq., of Philadelphia; Gen. John Mason, of Georgetown, D. C.; Samuel Bayard, Esq., of New Jersey; Isaac McKim, Esq., of Maryland; Gen. John Hartwell Cocke, of Virginia; Rt. Rev. Bishop White, of Pennsylvania; Hon. Daniel Webster, of Boston; Hon. Charles F. Mercer, of Virginia; Jeremiah Day, D.D., of Yale College; Hon. Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania; Bishop McKendree; Philip E. Thomas, Esq., of Maryland; Dr. Thomas C. James, of Philadelphia; Hon. John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut; Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; Hon. Louis McLane, of Washington City; Gerrit Smith, of New York; J. H. M'Clure, Esq., of New Jersey; Gen. Alexander Macomb, of Washington City; Moses Allen, Esq., of New York; Gen. Walter Jones, of Washington City; F. S. Key, Esq., of Georgetown, D. C.; Samuel H. Smith, Esq., of Washington City; Joseph Gales, Jr., Esq., of Washington City; Rt. Rev. Wm. Meade, D.D., Assistant Bishop of Virginia; Hon. Alexander Porter, of Louisiana; John McDonough, Esq., of Louisiana; Hon. Samuel L. Southard, of New Jersey.
"Managers.—Rev. James Laurie, D.D.; Gen. Walter Jones; Francis S. Key; Rev. Wm. Haley; John Underwood; William W. Seaton; Walter Lowrie; Dr. Phineas Bradley; Dr. Thomas Sewall.
"Secretaries.—Rev. Ralph R. Gurley, William H. Macfarland.
"Treasurer.—Joseph Gales, Senior.
"Recorder.—Phillip R. Fendall."
The Colonization Society was never able to secure the sympathy of the various anti-slavery societies of the country; and was unable to gain the confidence of the Colored people to any great extent. But it had the advantage of being in harmony with what little humane sentiment there was at the South. It did not attempt to agitate. It only sought to colonize on the West Coast of Africa all Negroes who could secure legal manumission. Nearly all the Southern States had laws upon their statute-books requiring all emancipated slaves to leave the State. The question as to where they should go was supposed to be answered by the Colonization Society. It had much influence with Congress, and did not hesitate to use it. A Mr. Joseph Bryan, of Alabama, petitioned Congress for the establishment "of a line of Mail Steam-ships to the Western Coast of Africa," in the summer of 1850. The Committee on Naval Affairs reported favorably the following bill:
"A Bill to Establish a Line of War Steamers to the Coast of Africa. [Report No. 438.]
"In the House of Representatives, August 1, 1850. Read twice, and committed to the Committee of the whole House on the State of the Union.
"Mr. F. P. Stanton, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, reported the following bill:—A bill to establish a line of war steamers to the coast of Africa, for the suppression of the slave-trade, and the promotion of commerce and colonization:
Sec. 1. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Navy, immediately after the passage of this act, to enter into contract with Joseph Bryan, of Alabama, and George Nicholas Saunders, of New York, and their associates, for the building, equipment, and maintenance of three steam-ships to run between the United States and the coast of Africa, upon the following terms and conditions, to wit:
"The said ships to be each of not less than four thousand tons burden, to be so constructed as to be convertible, at the least possible expense, into war steamers of the first class, and to be built and equipped in accordance with plans to be submitted to and approved by the Secretary of the Navy, and under the superintendence of an officer to be appointed by him, two of said ships to be finished and ready for sea in two and a half years, and the other within three years after the date of the contract, and the whole to be kept up by alterations, repairs, or additions, to be approved by the Secretary of the Navy, so as to be fully equal to the exigencies of the service and the faithful performance of the contract. The said Secretary, at all times, to exercise such control over said ships as may not be inconsistent with the provisions of this act, and especially to have the power to direct, at the expense of the Government, such changes in the machinery and internal arrangements of the ships as he may at any time deem advisable.
"Each of said ships to be commanded by an officer of the Navy, who with four Passed Midshipmen to act as watch officers, and any mail agents who may be sent by the Government, shall be accommodated and provided for in a manner suitable to their rank, at the expense of the contractors. Each of said ships, if required by the Secretary, shall receive two guns of heavy calibre, and the men from the United States Navy necessary to serve them, who shall be provided for as aforesaid. In the event of war the Government to have the right to take any or all of said ships for its own exclusive use on payment of the value thereof; such value not exceeding the cost, to be ascertained by appraisers chosen by the Secretary of the Navy and the contractors.
"Each of said ships to make four voyages per annum; one shall leave New Orleans every three months; one shall leave Baltimore every three months, touching at Norfolk and Charleston; and one shall leave New York every three months, touching at Savannah; all having liberty to touch at any of the West India Islands; and to proceed thence to Liberia, touching at any of the islands or ports on the coast of Africa; thence to Gibraltar, carrying the Mediterranean mails; thence to Cadiz, or some other Spanish port to be designated by the Secretary of the Navy; thence to Lisbon; thence to Brest, or some other French port to be designated as above; thence, to London, and back to the place of departure, bringing and carrying the mails to and from said ports.
"The said contractors shall further agree to carry to Liberia so many emigrants being free persons of color, and not exceeding twenty-five hundred for each voyage, as the American Colonization Society may require, upon the payment by said Society of ten dollars for each emigrant over twelve years of age, and five dollars for each one under that age, these sums, respectively, to include all charges for baggage of emigrants and the daily supply of sailors' rations. The contractors, also, to carry, bring back, and accommodate, free from charge, all necessary agents of the said Society.
"The Secretary of the Navy shall further stipulate to advance to said contractors, as the building of said ships shall progress, two thirds of the amount expended thereon; such advances to be made in the bonds of the United States, payable thirty years after date, and bearing five per cent. interest, and not to exceed six hundred thousand dollars for each ship. And the said contractors shall stipulate to repay the said advances in equal annual instalments, with interest from the date of the completion of said ships until the termination of the contract, which shall continue fifteen years from the commencement of the service. The Secretary of the Navy to require ample security for the faithful performance of the contract, and to reserve a lien upon the ships for the sum advanced. The Government to pay said contractors forty thousand dollars for each trip, or four hundred and eighty thousand dollars per annum.
"Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States shall cause to be issued the bonds of the United States, as the same may, from time to time, be required by the Secretary of the Navy to carry out the contract aforesaid."
Public sentiment, North and South, was greatly in favor of the measure. T. J. Durant, Esq., of New Orleans, in an elaborate letter addressed to the "Commercial Bulletin" of New Orleans, under date of September 12, 1850, answered objections, and warmly urged the passage of the bill. The Chaplain of the U. S. Senate, Rev. R. R. Gurley, wrote a letter on the 10th of October, 1850, to George N. Saunders, Esq., urging the measure as of paramount importance to both America and Africa. The press of the country generally endorsed the bill, and commented upon the general good to follow in numerous editorials. A scheme of such gigantic proportions poorly set forth the profound thought that harassed the public mind in regard to the crime of keeping men in slavery. A few extracts from the papers will suffice to show how the matter was regarded.
EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESS.
"The Report of the Naval Committee to the House of Representatives in favor of the establishment of a line of mail steam-ships to the Western Coast of Africa, and thence via the Mediterranean to London, has been received by the public press throughout the Union with the warmest expressions of approbation. The Whig, Democratic, and neutral papers of the North and South, in the slave-holding and non-slave-holding States, with a very few exceptions, appear to vie with each other in pressing its consideration upon the public attention. This earnest and almost unanimous support of the measure by the organs of public opinion, without respect to party or section, shows the deep hold which the objects it proposes to effect have upon the public favor. Those objects are to promote the emigration of free persons of color from this country to Liberia; also to increase the steam navy, and to extend the commerce of the United States,—all, it will be almost universally conceded, desirable objects. The desirableness of the objects being admitted, the question is, does the mode proposed for promoting them recommend itself to the sanction of Congress? We are forced to the conclusion that it does. We are aware that while all agree as to the expediency of increasing our steam navy—some are in favor of the Government's building its own steam-ships, and others advocate the encouragement of lines of steam-packets, to be established by private enterprise under the auspices of Government....
"The considerations, however, which in our opinion should commend this measure to the favorable attention of Congress are so obvious, and have been so clearly and strongly presented in the report of the committee, that we need not here repeat them. If the voice of the press, of all sections and of all parties, be any indication of popular opinion, we are free to say, that it would be difficult for Congress to pass a measure which would be received with more general satisfaction by the people of the United States."[22]
"African steam-lines.—The entertainment by the Government of Great Britain of a project for the establishment of a powerful line of steam-vessels between that country and the African coast, ostensibly for the conveyance of a monthly mail, and the more effectual checking of the slave-traffic, is strong proof, we think, of the value that the commerce between the two countries is capable of becoming. It may, in addition, be regarded as corroborative of the justness of the position taken by the advocates of a mail-steamer line between this country and Africa. We are by no means disposed to look invidiously on the enterprising spirit exhibited abroad for securing a closer connection with a country, the great mercantile wealth of which is yet, comparatively speaking, untouched. This spirit should have on us no other than a stimulating effect. Besides, for years, if not ages, to come, the trade with Africa can admit of no very close competition. The promised vastness of this trade, whilst excluding all idea of monopoly, must continue to excite the new enterprise by its unlimited rewards. It is unnecessary that we should exhibit statistics to show her how largely England has been benefited by persevering though frequently interrupted communication with the interior parts of that great continent; nor to make plain how, with better knowledge and more ready means of access, mercantile risks will be lessened and mercantile profits enlarged. It will be remembered that the Congressional committee to whom the question of establishing mail steamers between this country and Africa was referred, adverted in their report to the aid its adoption would afford in the consummation of the plans of the Colonization Society. On the intimate relation between the one and the other, it was supposed that a good part of the required success was dependent. It is something singular that the colored race—those in reality most interested in the future destinies of Africa—should be so lightly affected by the evidences continually being presented in favor of colonization. He will do a service to this country as well as Africa who shall do any thing to open the eyes of the colored race to the advantages of emigration to the fertile and, to them, congenial shores of Africa."[23]
"Africa and steam-ships.—If but a single line of steam-ships is to be authorized this Session—and the state and prospects of the finances must counsel frugality and caution,—we think a line to Africa fairly entitled to the preference. That continent on its western side is comparatively proximate and accessible; it is filled with inhabitants who need the articles we can abundantly fabricate, and it is the ancestral soil of more than three millions of our people—of a race on whose account we are deeply debtors to justice and to heaven. That race is more plastic and less conservative than the Chinese; their soil produces in spontaneous profusion many articles which are to us comforts and luxuries, while nearly every thing we produce is in eager demand among its inhabitants, if they can but find the wherewithal to pay for them. Instead of being a detriment and a depression to our own manufacturing and mechanical industry, as the trade induced by our costly steam-ship lines to Liverpool, Bremen, and Havre mainly is, all the commerce with Africa which a more intimate communication with her would secure, would be advantageous to every department of American labor. Her surplus products are so diverse from ours, that no collision of interests between her producers and ours could ever be realized, while millions' worth of her tropical products which will not endure the slow and capricious transportation which is now their only recourse, would come to us in good order by steam-ships, and richly reward the labor of the gatherers and the enterprise of the importers.
"But the social and moral aspects of this subject are still more important. We are now expending life and treasure, in concert with other nations, to suppress the African slave-trade, and it is now generally conceded that such suppression can never be effected by the means hitherto relied on. The colonization of the Slave Coast, with direct reference to its Christianization and civilization, is the only sure means of putting an end to this inhuman traffic. And this colonization, all who are interested in the work seem heartily to agree, would be immensely accelerated by the establishment of a line of African steam-ships. Liberia, now practically distant as Buenos Ayres, would, by such a line, be brought as near us as Bremen, and the ports regularly visited by our steamers could not fail rapidly to assume importance as centres of commerce and of increasing intelligence and industry."[24]
"The colony of liberia and its prospectus.—By every arrival from Liberia we learn that the colony of free negroes from the United States is progressing at a rate truly astonishing, and that before many years it promises to be a strong and powerful republic. The experiment of self-government has been completely successful; the educational interests of the inhabitants are duly cared for; civilization is making great headway among the aborigines; and, by means of Liberia, there is a very flattering prospect of the slave-trade on the coast of Africa being entirely destroyed. Governor Roberts, a very intelligent colored man, of mixed blood, goes even so far as to say that Liberia is destined to rival the United States, and that both republics, by a unity of action, can civilize and Christianize the world, and especially benighted Africa. We are pleased to hear such good accounts from Liberia, and we shall always be pleased to hear of its success, and of the progress and welfare of its inhabitants. Founded, as it has been, by American philanthropists, and peopled by our emancipated slaves, the United States will ever watch its progress with interest, and aid and assist it as far as it possibly can."[25]
But notwithstanding the apparent favor the cause of colonization received from the press, it was an impractical, impossible, wild, and visionary scheme that could not be carried to the extent its projectors designed. It lost strength yearly, until all were convinced that the Negro would be emancipated here and remain here; that it was as impossible to colonize a race of people as to colonize the sun, moon, and stars.
The underground railroad organization was perhaps one of the most useful auxiliaries the cause of agitation had. It could scarcely be called an organization. Unlike the other societies, it did not print its reports.[26] Like good Samaritans, its conductors did not ask passengers their creed; but wherever they found human beings wounded in body and mind by slavery, they gave them passage to the "Inn" of Freedom on Canadian soil.
In a sense, the Underground Railroad was a secret organization. This was necessary, as the fugitive-slave law gave the master the right to pursue his slave when "fleeing from labor and service in one State into another," and apprehend him by due process of Federal law. The men who managed this road felt that they should obey God rather than man; that the slave's right to his freedom was greater than any law the nation could make through its representatives. So the Underground Railroad was made up of a company of godly men who stretched themselves across the land, from the borders of the sunny slave States to the snow-white shores of Canada. When men came up out of the hell of slavery gasping for a breath of free air, these good friends sheltered and fed them; and then hastened them off in the stillness of the night, with the everlasting stars as their ministers, toward Canada. The fugitives would be turned over to another conductor, who would conceal them until nightfall, when he would load his living freight into a covered conveyance, and drive all night to reach the next "station"; and so on until the fugitives found themselves free and safe under the English flag in Canada.
This was the safety-valve to the institution of slavery. As soon as leaders arose among the slaves, refusing to endure the yoke, they came North. Had they remained, the direful scenes of St. Domingo would have been enacted, and the hot, vengeful breath of massacre would have swept the South as a tornado, and blanched the cheek of the civilized world.
Anti-slavery literature wrought mightily for God in its field.[27] Frederick Douglass's book, "My Bondage and My Freedom"; Bishop Loguen's, "As a Slave and As a Freeman"; "Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro," by the Rev. Samuel Ringgold Ward; "Twenty-two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman," by the Rev. Austin Stewart; "Narrative of Solomon Northup," "Walker's Appeal,"—all by eminent Negroes, exposed the true character of slavery, informed the public mind, stimulated healthy thought, and touched the heart of two continents with a sympathy almost divine.
But the uncounted millions of anti-slavery tracts, pamphlets, journals, and addresses of the entire period of agitation were little more than a paper wad compared with the solid shot "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was to slavery. Written in vigorous English, in scintillating, perspicuous style; adorned with gorgeous imagery, bristling with living "facts", going to the lowest depths, mounting to the greatest altitudes, moving with panoramic grandeur, picturing humanity forlorn and outraged; giving forth the shrillest, most despairing cries of the afflicted, and the sublimest strains of Christian faith; the struggle of innocent, defenceless womanhood, the subdued sorrow of chattel-babyhood, the yearnings of fettered manhood, and the piteous sobs of helpless old age,—made Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" the magnifying wonder of enlightened Christendom! It pleaded the cause of the slave in twenty different languages; it engrossed the thought of philosophers, and touched the heart of youth with a strange pity for the slave. It covered audiences with the sunlight of laughter, wrapt them in sorrow, and veiled them in tears. It illustrated the power of the Gospel of Love, the gentleness of Negro character, and the powers and possibilities of the race. It was God's message to a people who had refused to listen to his anti-slavery prophets and priests; and its sad, weird, and heart-touching descriptions and dialogues restored the milk of human kindness to a million hearts that had grown callous in an age of self-seeking and robbery of the poor.
In a political and sectional sense, the "Impending Crisis," by Helper, exerted a wide influence for good. It was read by merchants and politicians.
Diverse and manifold as were the methods of the friends of universal freedom, and sometimes apparently conflicting, under God no honest effort to rid the Negro and the country of the curse of slavery was lost. All these agencies, running along different lines, converged at a common centre, and aimed at a common end—the ultimate extinction of the foreign and domestic slave-trade.