[P] The slaves of any one owner may meet together for religious purposes, if authorized by their master, and private chaplains may be hired to preach to them. The domestic slaves, who are entirely employed in the family, no doubt fare much better in this respect, than the plantation slaves; but this, and all other negro privileges, depend entirely upon the slave's luck in the character of his master.
In Rome, the introduction of "Christianity abolished slavery; the idea of exclusive property in our fellow-men was too obviously at variance with its holy precepts; and its professors, in the sincerity of their hearts, made a formal surrender of such claims. In various ancient instruments of emancipation, the masters begin by declaring, that, 'for the love of God and Jesus Christ, for the easing of their consciences, and the safety of their souls,' they set their bondmen free."
"It is remarkable that the ancient inhabitants of Great Britain used to sell their countrymen, and even their own children, to the Irish. The port of Bristol, afterwards so famous for the African slave-trade, was then equally distinguished as a market for the same commodity, though of a different color. But when Ireland, in the year 1172, was afflicted with public calamities, the clergy and people of that generous nation began to reproach themselves with the unchristian practice of holding their fellow-men in slavery. Their English bondmen, though fully paid for, were, by an unanimous resolution of the Armagh Assembly, set at liberty. Their repentance dictated present restitution to the injured. More than six hundred years afterwards, when Mr. Wilberforce made his first motion for the abolition of the slave-trade, he was supported by every Irish member of the House of Commons." May God bless thee, warm-hearted, generous old Ireland!
In the English and Dutch colonies, baptism was generally supposed to confer freedom on the slave; and for this reason, masters were reluctant to have them baptized. They got over this difficulty, however, and married self-interest to conscience, by making a law that "no slave should become free by being a Christian." This is a striking proof how closely Christianity and liberty are associated together.
A French planter of St. Domingo, in a book which he published concerning that colony, admits that it is desirable to have negroes know enough of religion to make them friends to humanity, and grateful to their creator; but he considers it very wrong to load their weak minds with a belief in supernatural dogmas, such as a belief in a future state. He says, "such knowledge is apt to render them intractable, averse to labor, and induces them to commit suicide on themselves and their children, of which the colony, the State, and commerce have equal need."
Our slaveholders, in general, seem desirous to have the slave just religious enough to know that insurrections and murder are contrary to the maxims of Christianity; but it is very difficult to have them learn just so much as this, without learning more. In Georgia, I have been told, that a very general prejudice prevails against white missionaries. To avoid this danger, old domestic slaves, who are better informed than the plantation slaves, are employed to hear sermons and repeat them to their brethren; and their repetitions are said to be strange samples of pulpit eloquence. One of these old negroes, as the story goes, told his hearers that the Bible said slaves ought to get their freedom; and if they could not do it in any other way, they must murder their masters. The slaves had never been allowed to learn to read, and of course they could not dispute that such a doctrine was actually in the Scriptures. Thus do unjust and absurd laws "return to plague the inventor."
Prop. 12.—Whole power of the laws exerted to keep negroes in ignorance.
South Carolina made the first law upon this subject. While yet a province, she laid a penalty of one hundred pounds upon any person who taught a slave to write, or allowed him to be taught to write.[Q] In Virginia, any school for teaching reading and writing, either to slaves, or to free people of color, is considered an unlawful assembly, and may accordingly be dispersed, and punishment administered upon each pupil, not exceeding twenty lashes.
[Q] Yet it has been said that these laws are entirely owing to the rash efforts of the abolitionists.
In South Carolina, the law is the same.