47. A slave having escaped from his master, in the state of North Carolina, within two or three years past, was seized and brought back, by a being, who, when requested by the master to name the reward he should render him for returning the slave, replied, that all the compensation he desired, was the satisfaction of flogging him. This being granted, the slave was bound to a log, and the "resounding lash" applied, until the resentment of his executioner was satiated. The infatuated master then took the ensanguined lash himself, and was about to repeat the process of flagellation, when Death, not then a king of terrors, but a generous benefactor, a "friend in need" rescued him from the intended protraction of his excruciating torment. After all, let the balm of compassion, rather than imprecations of divine wrath, be administered to these erring mortals. Their egregious mistake may be traced to the mighty force of example, and the deficiency of early, religious, and moral education. This fact having been before published, must be, to many persons, already known.
48. In the state of Pennsylvania, a considerable number of years ago, the proprietor of a furnace took up a black boy, a few years old, and in the presence of his distracted father, wantonly thrust him into the flames and melted metal, where he was instantly consumed! The information of this horrible deed was originally communicated by a respectable citizen of the city of Washington, who formerly resided in the state of Pennsylvania, and it has been further corroborated by another, of the city of Philadelphia.
49. In the state of New Jersey, a female slave, several years ago, was bound to a log, and scored with a knife, in a shocking manner across her back, and the gashes stuffed with salt! after which she was tied to a post in a cellar, where, after suffering three days, death kindly terminated her misery. This fact was communicated at Washington, by the same gentleman above mentioned.[14]
Paragraph 50.
50. As two persons were returning from the horse races, a few miles north of the city of Washington, eight or ten years ago, they met on the road a free man of colour, who resided in the vicinity. They seized him, and bound him with ropes. His protestations that he was free, and his entreaties that they would accompany him to the house, (but about half a mile distant,) where his wife resided, and where he could satisfy them of his freedom, were in vain. Having fastened him by a rope, to the tail of one of their horses, they were seen, by a citizen, who met them on the road dragging him in this manner, and beating him to make him keep pace with the horses. He cautioned them, and begged of them not to kill the black man;—but one of the ruffians plucking a stake from the fence, and threatening with horrid oaths to knock him down, he found it necessary to retire for his own safety:—a few miles farther along, on the following morning, this poor African was found by the side of the road, dreadfully bruised, and his eyes bloodshotten,—dead![15] This distressing catastrophe strongly exemplifies the defect of the laws of the state in which it occurred, concerning free Africans, which authorise their seizure, without any specific judicial authority, if found without certificates of freedom, by the most vicious and abandoned members of the community. These two ill-starred wretches, just sallying forth from a notorious school of intemperance, were undoubtedly intoxicated, and of course, in a state of insanity at the time they committed this outrage;—and had probably been reared in the wilderness of ignorance and vice. I was assured, that one of them had long been accustomed, in company with his own father, to the business of apprehending runaway slaves, and such free Africans as they could catch without certificates.
51. In the vicinity of the place where the above transaction occurred, a young black boy, living at a house in which there are just grounds for believing that the lives of several slaves had been destroyed, by whipping, and other severities, yet entertained such horror at the thoughts of transportation to Georgia, (with which he had often been threatened, by way of reprimand,[16]) that on seeing a stranger coming towards the house, (on a cold day,) whom he suspected to be a Georgia-man, he fled into the fields with the greatest precipitation, and secreted himself so effectually, that he was not discovered until the expiration of a fortnight,—when he was dead!—frozen!—and the pupils of his eyes picked out!
52. With these mournful spectra, flitting in succession before me, and the black procession still in view, the pleasant anticipations which I had been indulging but fifteen minutes previous, became totally reversed. Returning pensive towards my lodgings, and passing by the Capitol, I thought—Alas! poor Africa,—thy cup is the essence of bitterness!—This solitary, magnificent temple, dedicated to liberty,—opens its portals to all other nations but thee, and bids their sons drink freely of the cup of freedom and happiness:——but when thy unoffending, enslaved sons, clank their blood-smeared chains under its towers, it sneers at their calamity, and mocks their lamentations with the echo of contempt!—
53. Blessed, infatuated Columbia! the eyes and the hopes of weeping admiring nations are upon thee! Suffer not the lamp of public liberty to be smothered and extinguished by the gloomy shroud of private slavery! Dost not thou assume a pre-eminent distinction among the nations for magnanimity and honour? Does any high-minded christian nation chain her prisoners of war, and subject them and their posterity to perpetual ignorance, and the oppressive toil of involuntary servitude without reward? In thy late contest with a powerful sister state, many of her political slaves, who sought the lives of thy sons, and the conflagration of their dwellings, fell into thy custody by the chances of war—I have seen fourteen hundred of these at a single depôt—Fourteen hundred large loaves of good bread, and fourteen hundred pounds of excellent beef, were daily spread before them. As many as could meet with opportunities, were permitted to labor for the neighbouring farmers and manufacturers, for which they received a pecuniary equivalent in monthly stipends.—Fourteen hundred thousands of the sons and daughters of thy neighbour Africa, breathe and mourn on thy expanded bosom. The privileges of a vast proportion of these forlorn victims of sorrow and woe, are reduced below the privileges of the ox, the horse, the hound, and various other domestic animals;—in respect to sustenance, toil, and severity of chastisement, if not quarters and raiment!—As an aggregate people, they, nor their ancestors, never disturbed thy repose, with fire or sword, or the cannon's deathly roar. They are, nevertheless, virtually prisoners of war:—not by a war in defence of human life, but generally, by a hideous sacrilegious war, waged (among the African kings) for the plunder of human souls, human flesh, blood and bones, to be exchanged as articles of merchandize, for contemptible gewgaws, implements of war, distilled spirits, tobacco, &c. The booty thus gained by the savage despots and man-hunters of Africa, had its assumed sale and exportation been impracticable, might possibly have been consigned to the same purposes there as it is now here (slavery) or annihilated by massacre; but most probably would have been sought with much less avidity. If these commodities were obtained at the sacrifice of justice, and the natural rights of man, upon no other terms can our laws permit them to be indefinitely retained, by their present possessors, who are the substantial successors and assigns of the original captors.[17]