{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_34915/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_34915","id":"gutenberg_34915","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34915","summary":null,"tags":["African American Writers","Antislavery movements -- United States","Category: Biographies","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - American","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Politics","Enslaved persons -- United States -- Social conditions","Fugitive slaves -- United States","Slavery -- United States"],"text":"Produced by Norbert H. Langkau, David Garcia and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive and the Library of Congress)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n_PRICE SIX CENTS._\n\nABOLITION FANATICISM IN NEW YORK.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSPEECH OF A RUNAWAY SLAVE FROM BALTIMORE,\nAT AN ABOLITION MEETING IN NEW YORK,\nHELD MAY 11, 1847.\n\n1847.\n\nFOR SALE AT ALL THE PERIODICAL AGENCIES.\n\n\n\n\n  FLAMING\n  ABOLITION SPEECH\n  DELIVERED BY THE RUNAWAY SLAVE,\n  FREDERICK DOUGLASS,\n\n  At the Anniversary of the American Anti-Slavery Society,\n\n  IN THE TABERNACLE, NEW YORK, MAY 11, 1847.\n\n\nThe following Report will show to Marylanders, how a runaway slave\ntalks, when he reaches the Abolition regions of the country. This\npresumptive negro was even present at the London World's Temperance\nConvention, last year; and in spite of all the efforts of the American\nDelegates to prevent it, he palmed off his Abolition bombast upon an\naudience of 7000 persons! Of this high-handed measure he now makes his\nboast in New-York, one of the hot-beds of Abolitionism. The Report is\ngiven exactly as published in the New-York Tribune. The reader will\nmake his own comments.\n\nMr. DOUGLASS was introduced to the audience by WM. LLOYD GARRISON,\nEsq., President of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and, upon taking\nthe platform, was greeted with enthusiastic and long-continued\napplause by the vast concourse which filled the spacious Tabernacle\nto overflowing. As soon as the audience became silent, Mr. D. with, at\nfirst, a slight degree of embarrassment, addressed them as follows:\n\n\"I am very glad to be here. I am very glad to be present at this\nAnniversary--glad again to mingle my voice with those with whom I have\nstood identified, with those with whom I have labored, for the last\nseven years, for the purpose of undoing the burdens of my brethren,\nand hastening the day of their emancipation.\n\nI do not doubt but that a large portion of this audience will be\ndisappointed, both by the _manner_ and the _matter_ of what I shall\nthis day set forth. The extraordinary and unmerited eulogies which have\nbeen showered upon me, here and elsewhere, have done much to create\nexpectations which, I am well aware, I can never hope to gratify. I am\nhere, a simple man, knowing what I have experienced in Slavery, knowing\nit to be a bad system, and desiring, by all Christian means, to seek its\noverthrow. I am not here to please you with an eloquent speech, with a\nrefined and logical address, but to speak to you the sober truths of a\nheart overborne with gratitude to God that we have in this land, cursed\nas it is with Slavery, so noble a band to second my efforts and the\nefforts of others in the noble work of undoing the Yoke of Bondage, with\nwhich the majority of the States of this Union are now unfortunately\ncursed.\n\nSince the last time I had the pleasure of mingling my voice with the\nvoices of my friends on this platform, many interesting and even trying\nevents have occurred to me. I have experienced, within the last eighteen\nor twenty months, many incidents, all of which it would be interesting\nto communicate to you; but many of these I shall be compelled to pass\nover at this time, and confine my remarks to giving a general outline of\nthe manner and spirit with which I have been hailed abroad, and welcomed\nat the different places which I have visited during my absence of\ntwenty months.\n\nYou are aware, doubtless, that my object in going from this country, was\nto get beyond the reach of the clutch of the man who claimed to own me\nas his property. I had written a book giving a history of that portion\nof my life spent in the gall and bitterness and degradation of Slavery,\nand in which I also identified my oppressors as the perpetrators of some\nof the most atrocious crimes. This had deeply incensed them against me,\nand stirred up within them the purpose of revenge, and my whereabouts\nbeing known, I believed it necessary for me, if I would preserve my\nliberty, to leave the shores of America, and take up my abode in some\nother land, at least until the excitement occasioned by the publication\nof my Narrative had subsided. I went to England, Monarchical England, to\nget rid of Democratic Slavery, and I must confess that, at the very\nthreshold, I was satisfied that I had gone to the right place. Say what\nyou will of England--of the degradation--of the poverty--and there is\nmuch of it there--say what you will of the oppression and suffering\ngoing on in England at this time, there is Liberty there--there is\nFreedom there, not only for the white man, but for the black man also.\nThe instant I stepped upon the shore, and looked into the faces of the\ncrowd around me, I saw in every man a recognition of my manhood, and an\nabsence, a perfect absence, of everything like that disgusting hate with\nwhich we are pursued in this country. [Cheers.] I looked around in vain\nto see in any man's face a token of the slightest aversion to me on\naccount of my complexion. Even the cabmen demeaned themselves to me\nas they did to other men, and the very dogs and pigs of old England\ntreated me as a man! I cannot, however, my friends, dwell upon this\nanti-Prejudice, or rather the many illustrations of the absence of\nPrejudice against Color in England--but will proceed, at once, to defend\nthe Right and Duty of invoking English aid and English sympathy for the\noverthrow of American Slavery, for the education of Colored Americans,\nand to forward in every way, the interests of humanity; inasmuch as the\nright of appealing to England for aid in overthrowing Slavery in this\ncountry, has been called in question, in public meetings and by the\npress, in this city.\n\nI cannot agree with my friend Mr. Garrison in relation to my love and\nattachment to this land. I have no love for America, as such; I have no\npatriotism. I have no country. What country have I? The Institutions\nof this country do not know me--do not recognize me as a man. I am\nnot thought of, spoken of, in any direction, out of the Anti-Slavery\nranks, as a man. I am not thought of or spoken of, except as a piece\nof property belonging to some _Christian_ Slaveholder, and all the\nReligious and Political Institutions of this Country alike pronounce\nme a Slave and a chattel. Now, in such a country as this I cannot have\npatriotism. The only thing that links me to this land is my family, and\nthe painful consciousness that here there are 3,000,000 of my fellow\ncreatures groaning beneath the iron rod of the worst despotism that\ncould be devised even in Pandemonium,--that here are men and brethren\nwho are identified with me by their complexion, identified with me\nby their hatred of Slavery, identified with me by their love and\naspirations for Liberty, identified with me by the stripes upon their\nbacks, their inhuman wrongs and cruel sufferings. This, and this only,\nattaches me to this land, and brings me here to plead with you, and\nwith this country at large, for the disenthrallment of my oppressed\ncountrymen, and to overthrow this system of Slavery which is crushing\nthem to the earth. How can I love a country that dooms 3,000,000 of my\nbrethren, some of them my own kindred, my own brothers, my own sisters,\nwho are now clanking the chains of Slavery upon the plains of the South,\nwhose warm blood is now making fat the soil of Maryland and of Alabama,\nand over whose crushed spirits rolls the dark shadow of Oppression,\nshutting out and extinguishing forever the cheering rays of that bright\nSun of Liberty, lighted in the souls of all God's children by the\nomnipotent hand of Deity itself? How can I, I say, love a country thus\ncursed, thus bedewed with the blood of my brethren? A Country, the\nChurch of which, and the Government of which, and the Constitution of\nwhich are in favor of supporting and perpetuating this monstrous system\nof injustice and blood? I have not, I cannot have, any love for this\ncountry, as such, or for its Constitution. I desire to see it overthrown\nas speedily as possible and its Constitution shivered in a thousand\nfragments, rather than this foul curse should continue to remain as now.\n[Hisses and cheers.]\n\nIn all this, my friends, let me make myself understood. I do not hate\nAmerica as against England, or against any other country or land. I love\nHumanity all over the globe. I am anxious to see Righteousness prevail\nin all directions. I am anxious to see Slavery overthrown here; but, I\nnever appealed to Englishmen in a manner calculated to awaken feelings\nof hatred or disgust, or to inflame their prejudices toward America as a\nnation, or in a manner provocative of national jealousy or ill-will; but\nI always appealed to their conscience--to the higher and nobler feelings\nof the people of that country, to enlist them in this cause. I always\nappealed to their manhood, that which preceded their being Englishmen,\n(to quote an expression of my friend Phillips,) I appealed to them as\nmen, and I had a right to do so. They are men, and the Slave is a man,\nand we have a right to call upon all men to assist in breaking his\nbonds, let them be born when and live where they may.\n\nBut it is asked, 'What good will this do?' or 'What good has it done?'\n'Have you not irritated, have you not annoyed your American friends and\nthe American people rather than done them good?' I admit that we have\nirritated them. They deserve to be irritated. I am anxious to irritate\nthe American people on this question. As it is in physics, so in morals,\nthere are cases which demand irritation and counter-irritation. The\nconscience of the American public needs this irritation, and I would\n_blister it all over from centre to circumference_, until it gives signs\nof a purer and a better life than it is now manifesting to the world.\n\nBut why expose the sins of one nation in the eyes of another? Why\nattempt to bring one people under the odium of another people? There\nis much force in this question. I admit that there are sins in almost\nevery country which can be best removed by means confined exclusively\nto their immediate locality. But such evils and such sins pre-suppose\nthe existence of a moral power in their immediate locality sufficient\nto accomplish the work of renovation. But, where, pray, can we go to\nfind moral power in this nation sufficient to overthrow Slavery? To what\ninstitution, to what party shall we apply for aid? I say we admit that\nthere are evils which can be best removed by influences confined to\ntheir immediate locality. But in regard to American Slavery it is not\nso. It is such a giant crime, so darkening to the soul, so blinding\nin its moral influence, so well calculated to blast and corrupt all\nthe humane principles of our nature, so well adapted to infuse its\nown accursed spirit into all around it, that the people among whom\nit exists have not the moral power to abolish it. Shall we go to the\nChurch for this influence? We have heard its character described. Shall\nwe go to Politicians or Political Parties? Have they the moral power\nnecessary to accomplish this mighty task? They have not. What are they\ndoing at this moment? Voting supplies for Slavery--voting supplies for\nthe extension, the stability, the perpetuation of Slavery in this land.\nWhat is the press doing? The same. The pulpit? Almost the same. I do\nnot flatter myself that there is moral power in the land sufficient to\noverthrow Slavery, and I welcome the aid of England. And that aid will\ncome. The growing intercourse between England and this country, by\nmeans of steam navigation, the relaxation of the protective system in\nvarious countries in Europe, gives us an opportunity to bring in the\naid, the moral and Christian aid of those living on the other side of the\nAtlantic. We welcome it in the language of the resolution. We entreat\nour British friends to continue to send their remonstrances across the\ndeep against Slavery in this land. And these remonstrances will have\na powerful effect here. Sir, the Americans may tell of their ability,\nand I have no doubt they have it, to keep back the invader's hosts,\nto repulse the strongest force that its enemies may send against this\ncountry. It may boast, and _rightly_ boast of its capacity to build its\nramparts so high that no foe can hope to scale them--to render them so\nimpregnable as to defy the assaults of the world. But, sir, there is one\nthing it cannot resist, come from what quarter it may. It cannot resist\nTRUTH. You cannot build your forts so strong, nor your ramparts so\nhigh, nor arm yourselves so powerfully, as to be able to withstand the\noverwhelming MORAL SENTIMENT against Slavery now flowing into this land.\nFor example: Prejudice against Color is continually becoming weaker\nin this land; and why? Because the whole European Continent denounces\nthis sentiment as unworthy a lodgment in the breast of an enlightened\ncommunity. And the American abroad dares not now, even in a public\nconveyance, to lift his voice in defence of this disgusting prejudice.\n\nI do not mean to say that there are no practices abroad which deserve\nto receive an influence, favorable to their extermination, from America.\nI am most glad to know that Democratic Freedom--not the bastard Democracy\nwhich, while loud in its protestations of regard for Liberty and\nEquality, builds up Slavery, and, in the name of Freedom fights the\nbattles of Despotism--is making great strides in Europe. We see, abroad,\nin England especially, happy indications of the progress of American\nprinciples. A little while ago England was cursed by a Corn monopoly--by\nthat giant monopoly which snatched from the mouths of the famishing Poor\nthe bread which you sent from this land. The community--the _people_ of\nEngland demanded its destruction, and they have triumphed! We have aided\nthem, and they aid us, and the mission of the two nations, henceforth,\nis _to serve each other_.\n\nSir, it is said that, when abroad, I misrepresented my country on this\nquestion. I am not aware of any misrepresentation. I stated facts and\nfacts only. A gentleman of your own City, Rev. Dr. Cox, has taken\nparticular pains to stigmatize me as having introduced the subject of\nSlavery illegitimately into the World's Temperance Convention. But what\nwas the fact? I went to that Convention, not as a Delegate--I went into\nit by the invitation of a Committee of the Convention. I suppose most\nof you know the circumstances, but I wish to say one word in relation to\nthe spirit and the principle which animated me at that meeting. I went\ninto it at the invitation of the Committee, and spoke not only at their\nurgent request, but by public announcement. I stood on the platform on\nthe evening referred to, and heard some eight or ten Americans address\nthe 7,000 people assembled in that vast Hall. I heard them speak of the\nTemperance movement in the land. I heard them eulogize the Temperance\nSocieties in the highest terms, calling on England to follow their\nexample (and England may follow them with advantage to herself;) but\nI heard no reference made to the 3,000,000 of people in this country\nwho are denied the privilege, not only of Temperance, but of all other\nSocieties. I heard not a word of the American Slaves, who, if seven\nof them were found together at a Temperance meeting or any other\nplace, would be scourged and beaten by their cruel tyrants. Yes,\nnine-and-thirty lashes is the penalty required to be inflicted by the\nlaw if any of the Slaves get together in a number exceeding seven, for\nany purpose, however peaceable or laudable. And while these American\ngentlemen were extending their hands to me, and saying, 'How do you do,\nMr. Douglass? I am most happy to meet you here,' &c. &c. I knew that, in\nAmerica, they would not have touched me with a pair of tongues. I felt,\ntherefore, that that was the place and the time to call to remembrance\nthe 3,000,000 of Slaves, whom I aspired to represent on that occasion.\nI did so, not maliciously, but with a desire, only, to subserve the best\ninterests of my race. I besought the American Delegates who had at first\nresponded to my speech with shouts of applause, when they should arrive\nat home, to extend the borders of their Temperance Societies, so as to\ninclude the 500,000 Colored People in the Northern States of the Union.\nI also called to mind the facts in relation to the mob that occurred in\nthe City of Philadelphia in the year 1842. I stated these facts to show\nto the British public how difficult it is for a colored man in this\ncountry to do anything to elevate himself or his race from the state\nof degradation in which they are plunged; how difficult it is for him\nto be virtuous or temperate, or anything but a menial, an outcast.\nYou all remember the circumstances of the mob to which I have alluded.\nA number of intelligent, philanthropic, manly colored men, desirous\nof snatching their colored brethren from the fangs of intemperance,\nformed themselves into a procession and walked through the streets of\nPhiladelphia with appropriate banners, and badges, and mottoes. I stated\nthe fact that that procession was not allowed to proceed far, in the\nCity of Philadelphia--the American City of Brotherly Love, the city of\nall others loudest in its boasts of freedom and liberty--before these\nnoble-minded men were assaulted by the citizens, their banners torn in\nshreds and themselves trampled in the dust, and inhumanly beaten, and\nall their bright and fond hopes and anticipations in behalf of their\nfriends and their race blasted by the wanton cruelty of their white\nfellow citizens. And all this was done for no other reason than that\nthey had presumed to walk through the streets with Temperance banners\nand badges, like human beings.\n\nThe statement of this fact caused the whole Convention to break forth\nin one general expression of intense disgust at such atrocious and\ninhuman conduct. This disturbed the composure of some of our American\nrepresentatives, who, in serious alarm, caught hold of the skirts of\nmy coat, and attempted to make me desist from my exposition of the\nsituation of the colored race in this country. There was one Doctor of\nDivinity there--the ugliest man that I ever saw in my life--who almost\ntore the skirts of my coat off, so vehement was he in his _friendly_\nattempts to induce me to yield the floor. But fortunately the audience\ncame to my rescue, and demanded that I should go on, and I did go on,\nand, I trust, discharged my duty to my brethren in bonds and the cause\nof Human Liberty, in a manner not altogether unworthy the occasion.\n\nI have been accused of _dragging_ the question of Slavery into the\nConvention. I had a right to do so. It was the _World's_ Convention--not\nthe Convention of any sect or number of sects--not the convention of any\nparticular Nation--not a man's nor a woman's Convention, not a black\nman's nor a white man's Convention, but the _World's_ Convention, the\nconvention of ALL, _black_ as well as _white_, _bond_ as well as _free_.\nAnd I stood there, as I thought, a representative of 3,000,000 of men\nwhom I had left in rags and wretchedness to be devoured by the accursed\nInstitution which stands by them, as with a drawn sword, ever ready to\nfall upon their devoted and defenceless heads. I felt, as I said to Dr.\nCox, that it was demanded of me by Conscience, to speak out boldly in\nbehalf of those whom I had left behind. [Cheers.] And, sir, (I think I\nmay say this, without subjecting myself to the charge of egotism) I deem\nit very fortunate for the friends of the Slave, that Mr. Garrison and\nmyself were there just at that time. Sir, the Churches in this country\nhave long repined at the position of the Churches in England on the\nsubject of Slavery. They have sought many opportunities to do away the\nprejudices of the English Churches against American Slavery. Why, sir,\nat this time there were not far from Seventy Ministers of the Gospel\nfrom Christian America, in England, pouring their leprous pro-slavery\ndistilment into the ears of the people of that country, and by their\nprayers, their conversation and their public speeches, seeking to darken\nthe British mind on the subject of Slavery, and to create in the English\npublic the same cruel and heartless apathy that prevails in this country\nin relation to the Slave, his wrongs and his rights. I knew them by\ntheir continuous slandering of my race, and at this time, and under\nthese circumstances, I deemed it a happy interposition of God, in behalf\nof my oppressed, and misrepresented, and slandered people, that one of\ntheir number should be able to break his chains and burst up through the\ndark incrustations of malice and hate and degradation which had been\nthrown over them, and stand before the British public to open to them\nthe secrets of the prison-house of bondage in America. [Cheers.] Sir,\nthe Slave sends no Delegates to the Evangelical Alliance. [Cheers.]\nThe Slave sends no Delegates to the World's Temperance Convention.\nWhy? Because chains are upon his arms, and fetters fast bind his\nlimbs. He must be driven out to be sold at auction by some _Christian_\nSlaveholder, and the money for which his soul is bartered must be\nappropriated to spread the Gospel among the Heathen.\n\nSir, I feel it is good to be here. There is always work to be done.\nSlavery is everywhere. Slavery goes out in the Cambria and comes back in\nthe Cambria. Slavery was in the Evangelical Alliance, looking saintly\nin the person of Rev. Doctor Smythe; it was in the World's Temperance\nConvention, in the person of Rev. Mr. Kirk. Dr. Marsh went about saying,\nin so many words, that the unfortunate Slaveholders in America were so\npeculiarly situated, so environed by uncontrollable circumstances that\nthey could not liberate their slaves; that if they were to emancipate\nthem they would be, in many instances, cast into prison. Sir, it did\nme good to go around on the heels of this gentleman. I was glad to\nfollow him around for the sake of my country, for the country is not,\nafter all, so bad as Rev. Dr. Marsh represented it to be. My fellow\ncountrymen, what think ye he said of you, on the other side of the\nAtlantic? He said you were not only pro-Slavery, but that you actually\naided the Slaveholder in holding his Slaves securely in his grasp; that,\nin fact, you compelled him to be a Slaveholder. This I deny. You are not\nso bad as that. You do not compel the Slaveholder to be a Slaveholder.\n\nAnd Rev. Doctor Cox, too, talked a great deal over there, and among\nother things, he said that 'many Slave-holders--dear Christian\nmen!--were sincerely anxious to get rid of their slaves;' and to show\nhow difficult it is for them to get rid of their human chattels, he put\nthe following case: A man living in a State, the laws of which compel\nall persons emancipating their slaves to remove them beyond its limits,\nwishes to liberate his slaves; but he is too poor to transport them\nbeyond the confines of the State in which he resides; therefore he\ncannot emancipate them--he is necessarily a slaveholder. But, sir, there\nwas one fact, which I happened, fortunately, to have on hand just at\nthat time, which completely neutralized this very affecting statement of\nthe Doctor's. It so happens that Messrs. Gerrit Smith and Arthur Tappan\nhave advertised for the especial benefit of this afflicted class of\nSlaveholders, that they have set apart the sum of $10,000, to be\nappropriated in aiding them to remove their emancipated Slaves beyond\nthe jurisdiction of the State, and that the money would be forthcoming\non application being made for it; but _no such application was ever\nmade_. This shows that however truthful the statements of these\ngentlemen may be concerning the things of the world to come, they are\nlamentably reckless in their statements concerning things appertaining\nto this world. I do not mean to say that they would designedly tell that\nwhich is false; but they did make the statements which I have ascribed\nto them.\n\nAnd Doct. Cox and others charge me with having stirred up warlike\nfeeling while abroad. This charge, also, I deny. The whole of my\narguments and the whole of my appeals, while I was abroad, were in favor\nof any thing else than war. I embraced every opportunity to propagate\nthe principles of Peace while I was in Great Britain. I confess,\nhonestly, that were I not a Peace man, were I a believer in fighting\nat all, I should have gone through England, saying to Englishmen, _as_\nEnglishmen, 'There are 3,000,000 of men across the Atlantic who are\nwhipped, scourged, robbed of themselves, denied every privilege, denied\nthe right to read the Word of the God who made them, trampled under\nfoot, denied all the rights of human beings; go to their rescue;\nshoulder your muskets, buckle on your knapsacks, and in the invincible\ncause of Human Rights and Universal Liberty, go forth, and the laurels\nwhich you shall win will be as fadeless and as imperishable as the\neternal aspirations of the human soul after that Freedom which every\nbeing made after God's image instinctively feels is his birthright.'\nThis would have been my course had I been a war man. That such was not\nmy course, I appeal to my whole career while abroad to determine.\n\n  Weapons of war we have cast from the battle:\n    TRUTH is our armor--our watchword is LOVE;\n  Hushed be the sword, and the musketry's rattle,\n    All our equipments are drawn from above.\n          Praise then the God of Truth,\n          Hoary age and ruddy youth.\n          Long may our rally be\n          Love, Light and Liberty;\n    Ever our banner the banner of Peace.\"\n\nMr. Douglass took his seat in the midst of the most enthusiastic and\noverwhelming applause in which the whole of the vast assembly appeared\nheartily to join.\n\n\n[Transcriber's Note: This text has been transcribed from Library of\nCongress scans of a pamphlet printed in Baltimore MD which has minor\ndamage at the outer lower corners. Because no other copies of this exact\npamphlet are available, the obscured text has been supplied from the\nsame edition of the New York (Daily) Tribune which is referred to as\nthe source in the pamphlet's introductory paragraph: \"Country, Conscience,\nand the Anti-Slavery Cause: An Address Delivered in New York, New York,\nMay 11, 1847.\" New York Daily Tribune, 13 May 1847.]","title":"Abolition Fanaticism in New York: Speech of a Runaway Slave from Baltimore, at an Abolition; Meeting in New York, Held May 11, 1847","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":4597}