My host further informed me that he himself had three hundred acres of land in Illinois, and that he had intended to send his son to that State to be educated, but he supposed he would be unable to do so now. He said he had no doubt that this Illinois property would be confiscated. “But,” added he, warmly, “I do not care if it is, provided the Union is restored!”
The sentiments expressed by this man astonished me, and I could not forbear asking him the reason why he opposed slavery so earnestly, and yet held in bondage twenty-seven human beings.
“I never bought nor sold a slave in my life!” said he. “You saw that old negress, Kate, this morning; well, she belonged to my wife, as did also her two sisters. These other slaves are all their children. I would have freed them long ago, but they refused to leave me; and I, on the other hand, could not leave them to go North, for I would have been obliged to give security that they would not become a pest and burden to the community, and that I was unable to do. So, you see how the case stands. But I am not alone in my sentiments, sir. There are thirty-five of us within an area of ten miles, who have organized themselves into a society, and hold regular meeting every two weeks, to oppose the conscription. This is confidential, for I know I can trust you.” He spoke of the notice which had been taken by Northern journals of the existence of such societies in the South, and referred to the disunion associations in the North. I informed him that the latter, thank God, were few and far between, and could do no harm to the cause.
This gentleman’s statement concerning the depreciation of Southern land, brought to my mind the authority of the fathers of our Republic on the subject. John Sinclair had written to Washington concerning the difference of the land in Pennsylvania from that of Virginia and Maryland. Washington’s answer was this:
“Because there are in Pennsylvania laws for the gradual abolition of slavery, which neither Maryland nor Virginia has at present; but there is nothing more certain than that they must have, and at a period not remote.”
The sheriff’s statement regarding the liberation of his slaves, was the same as that of John Randolph, Governor of Virginia. The latter said:
“The deplorable error of our ancestors in copying a civil institution from savage Africa, has affixed to their posterity a depressing burden, which nothing but the extraordinary benefits conferred by our happy climate could have enabled us to support. We have been far outstripped by States to whom nature has been far less bountiful. It is painful to consider what might have been, under other circumstances, the amount of general wealth in Virginia, or the whole sum of comfortable subsistence and happiness possessed by all her inhabitants.”—Addressed to the Legislature of Virginia, 1820.
In the course of a conversation I had with the old slave woman, Kate, I said:
“Aunt Katy, if the slaves were to be freed, it would not do you much good, for you are old, and will soon pass into eternity.”
“Thank de Lord, sah,” she replied, “I am ready to go! But, oh! I wish I could only see my children and grandchildren in hope of freedom! And dar’s my husband. You see his massa might sell him, and den I don’t think I could live. Dar’s no danger of my massa selling me, for he’s a good man, and he’s let me and my children learn to read, and I learned my husband.”