The American slave trade is carried on in the most open manner in this city. We paid a visit to the establishment of an extensive slave dealer, a large new building in one of the principal streets. The proprietor received us with great courtesy, and permitted us to inspect the premises. Cleanliness and order were every where visible, and, might we judge from the specimens of food shewn us, the animal wants of the slaves are not neglected. There were only five or six negroes in stock, but the proprietor told us he had sometimes three or four hundred there, and had shipped off a cargo to New Orleans a few days before. That city is the market where the highest price is generally obtained for them. The premises are strongly secured with bolts and bars, and the rooms in which the negroes are confined, surround an open court yard, where they are permitted to take the air. We were accompanied and kindly introduced by an individual who has often been engaged in preventing negroes from being illegally enslaved; and the proprietor of the establishment expressed his approval of his efforts, and that when such cases come before himself in the way of trade, he was accustomed to send them to our friend for investigation; he added that slaves would often come to him, and ask him to purchase them, and that he was the means of transferring them from worse masters to better; that he never parted families, though of course he could not control their fate, either before they came into his hands, or after they left him. He said he frequently left his concerns for weeks together, under the care of his head slave, whose wife he had made free, and promised the same boon to him, if he conducted himself well a few years longer. I thought it right to intimate my view of the nature of slavery and the slave trade, and that I deemed it wholly inconsistent with the plain precept "do unto others as ye would they should do unto you." This he did not attempt to controvert, yet he stated in extenuation, that the law permitted the trade in slaves, though he should be as willing as any one to have the system abolished, if the State would grant them compensation for their property. He farther said, that he was born in a slave State, that his mother had been for fifty years a member of the Wesleyan body, and that though he had not joined a Christian church himself, he had never sworn an oath, nor committed an immoral act in his life. He also shewed, I think, convincingly, that dealing in slaves was not worse than slave holding. On leaving the premises, we found the door of his office had been locked upon us during this conference. I subsequently learned that this person, though living in considerable style, was not generally received in respectable society, and that a lady whom he had lately married, was shunned by her former acquaintance. Such is the testimony of the slave-holders of Baltimore against slave dealing, by which they condemn themselves in the sight of God and man, and add the guilt of hypocrisy to their own sin. Some time afterwards I addressed the following letter to this individual, which was published in many of the American papers:
"To HOPE H. SLAUGHTER, Slave Trader, Baltimore:
"Since thou courteously allowed me, in company with my friend, J.G. Whittier, to visit thy slave establishment in the city of Baltimore, some weeks since, I have often felt a desire to address a few lines to thee. I need not, perhaps, say that my feelings were painfully exercised in looking over thy buildings, fitted up with bolts and bars, for the reception of human beings for sale. A sense of the misery and suffering of the unfortunate slaves, who have been from time to time confined there—of their separation from home and kindred—and of the dreary prospect before them of a life of unrequited toil in the South and South West—rested heavily upon me. I could there realize the true nature of the system of slavery. I was in a market-house for human flesh, where humanity is degraded to a level with the brute; and where children of our common Father in Heaven, and for whom our blessed Redeemer offered up the atoning sacrifice of his blood, were bargained for and sold like beasts that perish. And when I regarded thee as the merchant in this dreadful traffic, and heard thee offer remarks, which might in some degree be considered as an apology for thy business, calling our attention to the cleanly state of the apartments, the wholesome provisions, et cet.; and especially when I heard thee declare that thou hadst been educated by a pious mother—that thou wast never addicted to swearing or other immoralities—and that thy business was a legalized one—that thou didst nothing contrary to law—and that, while in thy possession, the poor creatures were treated kindly—that families were not separated,[A] et cet.,—I was glad to perceive some evidence that the nature of thy employment had not extinguished the voice of conscience within thee. In thy sentiments, and in the manner of their utterance, I thought I could see that truth had not left itself without a witness in thy breast, and that a sense of the wrongfulness of thy occupation still disturbed thee.
[A]: "The latter remark, of course, applies only to the time they remained with thee. For, on the day we visited thy establishment, a friend with whom I was dining informed me, that a few days before a woman and child had been sold to thee, whose husband and father was a free man, who, in his distress, had been offering to bind himself for a term of years, in order to raise the sum (I think $800) demanded for them; but, as he had been unable to do so, my friend had no doubt they had been sent off with the very lot of slaves, which, we were told by thyself had just been forwarded to New Orleans from thy prison. Who is most guilty in this atrocious transaction—the slave owner, who sold thee the woman and child at Baltimore—thou, the transporter of them for ever from their husband and parent—the purchasers of the mother and child at New Orleans, where they may be for ever separated from each other—or the citizen who, by his vote and influence, creates and upholds enactments which legalize this monstrous system, is known only to Him before whom the secrets of all hearts are unfolded."
"To thy remark that thy business was necessary to the system of slavery, and an essential part of it—and if slave-holding were to be justified at all, the slave-trade must be also—I certainly can offer no valid objection; for I have never been able to discover any moral difference between the planter of Virginia and the slave dealer of Baltimore, Richmond, and Washington. Each has his part to act in the system, and each is necessary to the other. And if the matter were not, in all its bearings, painfully serious, it would be amusing to witness the absurd contempt with which the slave owner of Maryland or Virginia professes to look upon the trader, whose purchase of his surplus slaves alone enables him to retain the residue in his possession; for it seems very evident that the only profitable part of the system in those States, at the present time, is the sale of the annual increase of the slaves.
"In passing from thy premises, we looked in upon the Triennial Convention of the Baptists of the United States, then in session in the city of Baltimore, where I found slave-holding ministers of high rank in the church, urging successfully the exclusion from the Missionary Board of that Society, of all those who, in principle and practice, were known to be decided abolitionists; and the results of their efforts satisfied me that the darkest picture of slavery is not to be found in the jail of the slave-trader, but rather in a convocation of professed ministers of the Gospel of Christ, expelling from the Board of a Society formed to enlighten the heathen of other nations, all who consistently labor for the overthrow of a system which denies a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures to near three millions of heathen at home!
"But allow me, in a spirit, as I trust, of Christian kindness, to entreat thee not to seek excuses for thy own course in the evil conduct of others. Thou hast already reached the middle period of life—the future is uncertain. By thy hopes of peace here and hereafter, let me urge thee to abandon this occupation. It is not necessary to argue its intrinsic wickedness, for thou knowest it already. I would therefore beseech thee to listen to that voice which, I am persuaded, sometimes urges thee to 'put away the evil of thy doings,' to 'do justice and love mercy,' and thus cease to draw upon thyself the curse which fell upon those merchants of Tyre, who 'traded in the persons of men.' That these warnings of conscience may not longer be neglected on thy part, is the sincere wish of one who, while he abhors thy occupation, feels nothing but kindness and good will towards thyself.
"Thy friend,
"JOSEPH STURGE.
"New York, 6th Month 30th, 1841."
The Baptist Convention alluded to in the foregoing letter was one whose proceedings I regarded with considerable interest, for it had been generally understood that the ministers delegated from the South, as well as some of those from the Northern States, intended to exclude abolitionists from every office on the missionary board, and especially to remove my friend, Elon Galusha, a distinguished Baptist minister, from the station of vice-president, for the offence of attending the London Anti-Slavery Convention, and more particularly for supporting the following resolutions of that assembly:
"1. That it is the deliberate and deeply-rooted conviction of this Convention, which it thus publicly and solemnly expresses to the world, that slavery, in whatever form, or in whatever country it exists, is contrary to the eternal and immutable principles of justice, and the spirit and precepts of Christianity; and is, therefore a sin against God, which acquires additional enormity when committed by nations professedly Christian, and in an age when the subject has been so generally discussed, and its criminality so thoroughly exposed.
"2. That this Convention cannot but deeply deplore the fact, that the continuance and prevalence of slavery are to be attributed in a great degree to the countenance afforded by many Christian churches, especially in the Western world, which have not only withheld that public and emphatic testimony against the crime which it deserves, but have retained in their communion, without censure, those by whom it is notoriously perpetrated.
"3. That this Convention, while it disclaims the intention or desire of dictating to Christian communities the terms of their fellowship, respectfully submits that it is their incumbent duty to separate from their communion all those persons who, after they have been faithfully warned in the spirit of the gospel, continue in the sin of enslaving their fellow-creatures, or holding them in slavery—a sin, by the commission of which, with whatever mitigating circumstances it may be attended in their own particular instance, they give the support of their example to the whole system of compulsory servitude, and the unutterable horrors of the slave trade.
"4. That it be recommended to the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, in the name of this Convention, to furnish copies of the above resolutions to the ecclesiastical authorities of the various Christian churches throughout the world."
On entering the meeting, we found the question was already before them, previous to balloting for the officers for the ensuing three years. The pro-slavery party were anxious to prevent all discussion, but some on the other side proposed questions which compelled their notice. Among the rest it was plainly asked, if the southern delegates did not come pledged against the re-election of Elon Galusha. This was denied, but certain resolutions which had appeared in the public papers were appealed to in proof of the fact. The inquiry becoming more searching, an expedient was resorted to, which, though quite novel to me, was, I am told, not unfrequently adopted when discussions assume a shape not quite satisfactory to the controlling powers of a synod. It was proposed that they should pray, and then proceed at once to the ballot. The ministers called upon were R. Fuller and Elon Galusha, who were considered to represent the opposite sides of the discussion. The former individual is a large slave-holder, an influential leader in his denomination, and had canvassed and condemned Elon Galusha's views and conduct in the public newspapers. I must avow, this whole proceeding was little calculated to remove my objection to the practice of calling upon any individual to offer supplication in a public assembly. After prayer had been offered, they proceeded to the ballot, and we left the meeting, deeply impressed with the profanation of employing the most solemn act of devotion to serve the exigencies of controversy.
In the evening I met a number of the anti-slavery members of the Convention, from whom I learned that the vote had excluded Elon Galusha and all other known abolitionists from official connection with the board, by an hundred and twenty-four to an hundred and seventeen, which being a much smaller majority than was expected, they considered the result a triumph rather than a defeat.
On the 1st of the 5th Month, (May) we returned to Wilmington, in Delaware, where we remained at the hospitable residence of our friend Samuel Hilles, till the 3d instant, and met a number of "Friends," and others, who treated us with great kindness and hospitality, inspected one of the flour mills on the Brandywine river, and the process of drying Indian corn before it is ground; these are some of the oldest flour mills in the State. A. large peach orchard of one of my friends in the neighborhood, was beautifully in bloom. Great quantities of this delicious fruit are raised in Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland. Here, as in other parts of the States, much money, has been lost by a silk, or rather mulberry tree, mania. Young mulberry trees rose to a dollar and a quarter each, though they can be multiplied almost without limit in a single year. As might have been expected, a re-action took place, many parties were ruined, and berry trees may now be had for the trouble of digging them up.
The number of slaves in this small State is now reduced to four or five thousand, and from all the information I could collect, I feel convinced that if those who are friendly to emancipation were to exert themselves, they would succeed, without much difficulty, in procuring the abolition of slavery within its limits.
My friend, John G. Whittier, being, from increase of indisposition, unable to go forward, I left Wilmington alone, and arrived in New York in time to be present at a Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention, which I had been invited to attend, and at which I was called upon to make a few observations on the present state of the question. Several important resolutions were unanimously adopted, containing a cordial approval of the principles of proceeding of the London Convention, a recommendation that another Convention should be held at the same place in 1842, and an assurance that exertions should be used to promote a good delegation from the Baptist anti-slavery body.
On that respecting Christian fellowship with slave-holding churches, Dr. Brisbane spoke in a touching manner, and said he must support it, though his friends and relations were in the South, and some of those dearest to him still countenanced slavery, or were themselves slave-holders.