[5] Since writing the above, I have been favoured with the perusal of a letter from the brother of the late Governor of the State of Delaware, to his friend in Philadelphia, dated Lewes, November 27, 1816, in which, after mentioning the arrest of a banditti of kidnappers, &c. he relates the following narrative:—
"A melancholy catastrophe has recently occurred here. A pilot, who owned a young black man, last Thursday morning, when in the bay off here, for some small offence, struck him three or four times with a rope's end; his man observed, 'Master, you have promised whenever I am unwilling to serve you, that I might choose another master; I now want to leave you.'
'Very well, (replied the master) but I will settle with you first, pull off your shirt,' and signified or said he would beat him until sun-set. His man replied, 'I will die first,' and immediately jumped overboard and drowned himself."
[6] The aboriginal Americans have offered their civilized brethren a most beautiful and instructive lesson on this subject. The author of "The Star in the West," Elias Boudinot, LL. D. relates the following fact. From page 232:—
"The writer of these sheets, many years ago, was one of the corresponding members of a society in Scotland for promoting the gospel among the Indians. To further the great work, they educated two young men, of very serious and religious dispositions, and who were desirous of undertaking the mission for this purpose. When they were ordained and ready to depart, we wrote a letter in the Indian style, to the Delaware nation, then residing on the northwest of the Ohio, informing them that we had, by the goodness of the Great Spirit, been favoured with a knowledge of his will, as to the worship he required of his creatures, and the means he would bless to promote the happiness of men, both in this life and that which is to come. That thus enjoying so much happiness ourselves, we could not but think of our red brethren in the wilderness, and wish to communicate the glad tidings to them, that they might be partakers with us. We had therefore sent them two ministers of the gospel, who would teach them these great things, and earnestly recommended them to their careful attention. With proper passports the missionaries set off, and arrived in safety at one of their principal towns.
"The chiefs of the nation were called together, who answered them, that they would take it into consideration, but in the mean time they might instruct their women, but they should not speak to the men. They spent fourteen days in council, and then dismissed them very courteously, with an answer to us. This answer made great acknowledgments for the favor we had done them: They rejoiced exceedingly at our happiness in thus being favored by the Great Spirit, and felt very grateful that we had condescended to remember our red brethren in the wilderness: But they could not help recollecting that we had a people among us, who, because they differed from us in colour, we had made slaves of, and made them suffer great hardships and lead miserable lives. Now, they could not see any reason, if a people being black, entitled us thus to deal with them, why a red colour should not equally justify the same treatment: They therefore had determined to wait, to see whether all the black people amongst us were made thus happy and joyful, before they could put confidence in our promises; for they thought a people who had suffered so much and so long by our means, should be entitled to our first attention; that therefore, they had sent back the two missionaries, with many thanks, promising that when they saw the black people among us restored to freedom and happiness, they would gladly receive our missionaries. This is what in any other case, would be called close reasoning, and is too mortifying a fact to make further observations upon."
[7] An inn-keeper, in the south part of Virginia, who hires his stand, complains that his landlord does him much harm, by inviting nearly all his respectable company to the festivities of his own dwelling house.
[8] The ingenious and benevolent Mr. J. M'Leod, teacher of a respectable seminary in the city of Washington, has assured the author, that he has extended the science of encouraging promptitude in duty to such a degree, that, (by his permission) his pupils have often flocked to his lodgings, in crowds, before the dawn of day, emulating each other, who should first rouse him from his bed, in order to proceed upon their studies. At the same time, he did not permit his rules to be violated with impunity. He pursued the same policy with soldiers, while an officer a short time formerly, in the United States' army, and with the same success. While a private teacher in a family in which slaves were kept, his sympathy was so deeply wounded by the severity of their punishments for misconduct, that he frequently gave them a quarter of a dollar out of his own pocket, as an inducement for doing their duty so as not to incur the displeasure of their masters. Might not such a system of genuine and generous republican government as this be adopted with mutual benefit to both the people and their rulers, on the slave plantations universally?
[9] "Give me an uninformed brute," said Mirabeau, "and I will soon make him a ferocious monster. It was a white, who first plunged a negro into a burning oven,—who dashed out the brains of a child in the presence of its father,—who fed a slave with his own proper flesh. These are the monsters that have to account for the barbarity of the revolted savages. Millions of Africans have perished on this soil of blood. In this dreadful struggle the crimes of the whites are yet the most horrible:—They are the offspring of despotism; whilst those of the blacks originate in the hatred of slavery—the thirst of vengeance."
[10] Several letters have been addressed to the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, by individuals residing in the southern and south-western states, expressing their desire to emancipate their slaves, and requesting the Society to receive them under its patronage.