{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38716/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38716","id":"gutenberg_38716","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38716","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - American","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Law & Criminology","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Politics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Enslaved persons -- United States -- Social conditions","Slavery -- United States"],"text":"Produced by David E. Brown, Bryan Ness and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  SLAVERY\n  AND\n  THE CONSTITUTION.\n\n  BY WILLIAM I. BOWDITCH.\n\n  BOSTON:\n  ROBERT F. WALLCUT, 21, CORNHILL.\n  1849.\n\n\n  BOSTON:\n  PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON,\n  No. 21, School-street.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n_Chapter_                                                         _Page_\n\nI. \"SLAVERY AGREEABLE TO GOD'S PROVIDENCE\"                             1\n\nII. DIRECT MENTAL INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES                                5\n\nIII. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE SLAVES                      14\n\nIV. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS OF THE SLAVES                        19\n\nV. DIRECT RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES                             27\n\nVI. INDIRECT INSTRUCTION.--NO LEGAL MARRIAGE OF SLAVES                56\n\nVII. \"SOUL-DRIVING\"                                                   68\n\nVIII. \"DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE\"                                          77\n\nIX. RUNAWAY SLAVES                                                    94\n\nX. SLAVEHOLDING ALWAYS WRONG                                         107\n\nXI. THE CONSTITUTION AND ITS INTERPRETATION                          117\n\nXII. THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE COMMON MEANING OF ITS TERMS   120\n\nXIII. THE CONSTITUTION AS ITS FRAMERS INTENDED TO MAKE IT            127\n\nXIV. THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE PRACTICE OF THE GOVERNMENT    136\n\nXV. THE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE EXPOSITION OF ITS FINAL\n      INTERPRETER                                                    143\n\nXVI. NO UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS                                      150\n\n\n\n\nNOTE.\n\n\nPage 45 was struck off before I became aware that \"Master Auld\" _now_\nshelters Douglass's grandmother under his own roof. We are glad of the\nfact, and respect Master Auld for his change. But the case of Douglass's\ngrandmother is by no means a solitary instance of cruel treatment. I\nmight easily adduce others equally cruel, though not told with nearly so\nmuch feeling.                                                   W. I. B.\n\n\n\n\nSLAVERY AND THE CONSTITUTION.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\"SLAVERY AGREEABLE TO GOD'S PROVIDENCE\"!\n\n  \"Thus did Jehovah stereotype his _approbation_ of domestic\n  slavery\"!--_Rev. President Shannon, of Bacon College, Ky._\n\n  \"Here we see _God dealing in slaves_; giving them to his own\n  favorite child [Abraham], a man of superlative worth, and as a\n  reward for his eminent goodness.\"--_Rev. Theodore Clapp, of New\n  Orleans._\n\n\nNearly three millions of men, women, and children are held in slavery in\nthe Southern States, not by the ignorant and brutal alone, but by\nenlightened Christian bishops, ministers, and church members of all\ndenominations; whilst men and women of cultivated minds, refined\nmanners, and delicate tastes, indignantly deny that slaveholding is\nwrong.\n\nThe Right Rev. George W. Freeman, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal\nChurch in Arkansas and Texas, whilst a minister at Raleigh, N.C. Nov.\n27, 1836, preached two discourses on the character of slavery and the\nduties of masters. In these (\"A Reproof of the American Church, by the\nBishop of Oxford; with an Introduction, by an American Churchman;\" New\nYork, 1846, p. 6) he declared \"that no man, nor set of men in our day,\nunless they can produce a new revelation from Heaven, are entitled to\npronounce slavery wrong;\" and that \"_slavery, as it exists at the\npresent day, is agreeable to the order of Divine Providence_.\" The\nRight Rev. Levi S. Ives, Bishop of the diocese, was present; and, though\na northern man, has in writing published that he listened to them \"with\nmost unfeigned pleasure\"! (Ib. p. 7.) They were afterwards published\nwith the bishop's note of approbation, under the title, \"The Rights and\nDuties of Slaveholders.\" They were also printed in South Carolina, and\ndistributed gratuitously as a tract by the Society for the Advancement\nof Christianity,--a society composed of clergymen and laymen, with\nBishop Bowen at their head. (Ib. pp. 7, 8.) Rev. Theodore Clapp,[A] the\nUnitarian minister of New Orleans, says (\"Slavery, a Sermon delivered in\nthe First Congregational Church in New Orleans, April 15, 1838,\" p. 11),\n\"The same _God_ who gave Abraham sunshine, air, rain, earth, flocks,\nherds, silver, and gold, _blessed him with a donative of slaves_.\" Ib.\np. 33: \"To succeed, then, in putting down every thing like servitude,\nyou must annihilate the word of God.\" Bishop Hedding, of the Methodist\nEpiscopal Church, says (\"The Church as it is,\" p. 50), \"The right to\nhold a slave is founded on this rule, 'Therefore, all things whatsoever\nye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto them.'\" The funds\nof churches and theological institutions are not unfrequently invested\nin slaves. Sometimes these slaves are hired out at auction, and from\ntheir earnings the salaries of the clergymen and professors are paid! At\nother times, they are sold in order to change the investment! Thus, in\nthe \"Charleston Courier,\" Feb. 12, 1835, there is advertised for sale,\nby Thomas N. Gadsden, \"a prime gang of ten negroes, accustomed to the\nculture of cotton and provisions belonging to the Independent Church in\nChrist Church parish\"! (\"The Church as it is,\" p. 72.) No _incredible_\nstory, therefore, was told by the fugitive slave, who gave as his reason\nfor not receiving the Lord's Supper, \"I could not bear to go forward,\nand receive the communion from vessels which were the purchase of my\nbrother's blood.\" In the memorial of the Presbytery of Georgia to the\nPresbyteries of the Southern States in 1844, on the religious\ninstruction of the negroes, it is stated that slaves are \"connected with\nour churches; nay, more, they are owned by our church members and by our\nministers.\"--\"What is it,\" asks the Rev. Dr. Albert Barnes (Sermon in\nPhiladelphia in 1846, \"The Church as it is,\" p. 81), \"that lends the\nmost efficient sanction to slavery in the United States? What is it that\ndoes most to keep the public conscience at ease on the subject? What is\nit that renders abortive all measures to remove the evil?... It is the\nfact that the system is countenanced by good men; that bishops and\npriests and deacons, that ministers and elders, that Sunday-school\nteachers and exhorters, that pious matrons and heiresses, are the\nholders of slaves; and that the ecclesiastical bodies of the land\naddress no language of rebuke or entreaty to their consciences.\" More\nevidence to the same point might be adduced, if thought necessary.\n\nThis open vindication of the rightfulness of slaveholding is by no means\nconfined to persons residing at the South. In the year 1847, the Rev.\nGeo. W. Blagden, of Boston, who delivered the last Dudleian Lecture in\nHarvard University, defended slavery from the Bible, in the pulpit of\nOld South Church, that second cradle of Liberty! Only last winter\n(1848), a gentleman of this State, of high legal attainments, at present\nconnected with the Law School in Harvard University, in conversation\nhesitated not to declare to us his opinion, \"that it was not _desirable_\nthat slavery should cease\"! And Dr. Taylor, of Yale College, at the head\nof the theological department, instructs his pupils, candidates for the\nministry, that, \"if Jesus Christ were now on earth, he would, under\ncertain circumstances, become a slaveholder\"! (\"The Church as it is,\" p.\n95.)\n\nOpen defenders of slavery are therefore found among the foremost of the\nleaders in Church and State. And how few of the opponents of the system\nhave a deep, ineradicable conviction, that slaveholding is wrong under\n_all_ circumstances! Our object is to create and deepen this conviction.\n\nTo prove our position, we shall not rely upon the physical condition of\nthe slaves. Notwithstanding the fact is otherwise, we are willing to\nsuppose that every slave is comfortably housed, and has sufficient food\nand clothing. These may give\n\n  \"Ease to the body some, none to the mind\n  From restless thoughts.\"\n\nEven if in a comfortable house, the slave is homeless! No joys cluster\naround _his_ hearthstone! _He_ has no wife to share his sorrows, or to\npartake his joys; for neither law nor public opinion sanctions the\nmarriage of slaves! The very children whom the slave presses to his\nheart are not regarded, either by law or public sentiment, as his dear\nchildren, but only as part of the stock of the plantation! Mother and\nchildren may be, and are, sold at auction, and separated from him and\nfrom each other for ever! And yet the heart of the slave-mother yearns\nfor her children as much as the heart of the white mother.\n\nBy giving me a spiritual nature capable of improvement, God has made it\nmy duty to strive to improve myself,--has declared that I have a natural\nright to improve myself, and that any wanton or unnecessary infringement\nof this right is a wrong. No man has the right to prevent me, or the\nmeanest slave, from earnestly seeking after wisdom; to prevent me, or\nthe meanest slave, from becoming pure in heart; or to deaden my\naffections, or those of the humblest slave that walks. In keeping a\nslave ignorant or impure, or in blunting his affections, even though he\nis well fed, clothed, and housed, violence is offered to his nature; his\nGod-given _rights_ are infringed; a _wrong_ is done!\n\nSlaveholding is wrong under _all_ circumstances, because it either\ndarkens the minds, brutalizes the souls, and deadens the affections of\nthe slaves, or, without any necessity, renders such spiritual death not\nmerely possible, but almost inevitable. If it is wrong to murder the\nbody, how much more wrong is it to murder the soul! Slaveholding is\nmurder of the soul!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nDIRECT MENTAL INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES.\n\n  \"It is universally the fact throughout the Slaveholding States, that\n  either custom or law prohibits them [_i.e._ the slaves] the\n  acquisition of letters.\"--_Report made to Synod of South Carolina\n  and Georgia in 1833._\n\n\nAt a recent annual meeting of the American Colonization Society, the\nRev. Joel Parker, D.D. of Philadelphia, a member of the Presbyterian\nChurch, speaking of the instruction of the colored race, is reported to\nhave used the following language:--\"There seems to me, in connection\nwith this subject, a beautiful illustration of what Hall calls 'a fetch\nin Divine Providence.' God had a design in bringing these people to this\ncountry in the way he did. We cannot probably comprehend the whole of\nit; but this we can see, he has secured the education of those who, to\nall human appearance, would not and could not have been educated in any\nother way. There are now in this country more than three hundred\nthousand Africans who can read and write, who could not have done it if\nit had not been for the slave-trade. There are many in this country and\nin Liberia who are capable of preaching the gospel, editing papers, and\nperforming all the duties of civil life, who must have remained in total\ndarkness but for this trade. How came this people by all this knowledge?\nDid anybody go to Africa and teach them? No! It has been done by\nslavery.... And now we send them back to Africa, with a preparation for\ndoing a great work there, which we never could have imparted to them in\nany other way.... In this view of the subject, we may perceive at least\none good which slavery has done to Africa; and the question may with\npropriety be asked, whether it has not done for Africa more good than\nharm.\"\n\nIf we may believe this spiritual teacher, the Being who made of one\nblood all the nations of men, the common Father of us all, himself\ndesigned the scheme by which millions of men, women, and children were\ntorn from their homes and friends, and all they held dear, and brought\nto this country, through all the horrors of the middle passage, where a\nterrible death relieved on an average at least one fifth of the victims\nfrom a scarcely less terrible life,--for this end in part, that, after\ntwo centuries of wrongs, not even a tithe of their descendants might be\nreturned to the land of their fathers, to teach the Africans the\nreligion of their oppressors! A truly touching example of God's\nloving-kindness and tender mercy to all his children!\n\nThat many slaves have been instructed to the extent stated by Dr. Parker\nis true; but they have been educated, not in consequence, but in spite,\nof slavery. So hostile to mental culture is slavery, that but a slight\nexamination is needed to satisfy us that it is neither profitable nor\nsafe to educate a slave beyond a certain point. Without _some_\neducation, a slave would be worse than valueless. Far the larger number\nof them, as field slaves, are simply taught to use the hoe, and other\ninstruments of agriculture. Others are brought up as carpenters, masons,\nblacksmiths, house-servants, &c. Frederick Douglass earned a dollar and\na half a day at caulking; whilst William Craft, as a cabinet-maker and\noccasional waiter at an hotel, supported himself, and paid his owner\ntwenty dollars a month for the right to use his own muscles. We\noccasionally meet with such advertisements as the following, cut from\nthe \"New Orleans Picayune,\" of Oct. 18, 1846:--\n\n  \"CREDIT SALE OF VALUABLE NEGRO MECHANICS, &c.--By Beard, Calhoun,\n  and Co. auctioneers, will be sold at auction, on Tuesday the 20th\n  October, at twelve o'clock, at Banks's Arcade, the following\n  valuable slaves:--Ezekiel, 25 years, _a superior carpenter_,\n  fully guarantied; Jacob, 25 years, _a superior carpenter and\n  wheelwright_, fully guarantied; Dick, 35 years, _a superior\n  carpenter and wheelwright_, fully guarantied; Charles, 28 years,\n  _engineer and rough carpenter_; Charles, 22 years, _field hand_,\n  fully guarantied, excepting slightly ruptured; Sancho, 26 years,\n  _good house carpenter_, fully guarantied; Maria, mulattress, 28\n  years, _first-rate washer and ironer_, fully guarantied; Maria,\n  negress, 13, child's nurse, fully guarantied.\n\n  \"Terms: Twelve months' credit for notes drawn and endorsed to the\n  satisfaction of the vendor, with mortgage on the property, bearing\n  interest eight per cent per annum, from date of sale until paid.\n  Slaves not to be delivered until the notes are approved of. The\n  servants can be seen on the morning of sale. Act of sale before D.\n  I. Ricardo, notary public, at the expense of the purchaser.\"\n\nIn the same paper, Alexander Daggett advertises \"for sale a negro man,\n_a first-rate blacksmith_.\" In the \"Richmond Whig\" of Jan. 25, 1848,\nBenjamin Davis advertises for sale a negro man \"who is a first-rate\ncarpenter by trade; also a rough blacksmith.\" In the \"Charleston (S.C.)\nMercury,\" Thomas W. Mordecai, broker and auctioneer, under date Sept. 1,\n1847, advertises at private sale--\n\n  \"An uncommonly prime and likely black man, about 22.\n  A _prime woman_, a superior washer, and good cook and farm hand.\n  A very prime axeman and field hand.\n  A superior man-cook.\"\n\nIt is not, however, necessary to teach a slave-mechanic or field hand,\nor even \"a prime woman,\" to read or write, in order to make him or her a\nprofitable investment. If we suppose William Craft's value as a slave to\nhave been two thousand dollars, his master received from his investment\n_only_ twelve per cent _clear profit_! Yet William could neither read\nnor write. He was a valuable working machine. To have him educated\nfarther, to have taught him to read or write, would have lessened his\nmarket value. To teach a slave these things is to teach him his rights,\nand to make him keenly feel his wrongs. Mrs. Hugh Auld taught Frederick\nDouglass his letters before slavery had hardened her naturally kind\nheart. She gave him the inch, as he says, and no precaution could\nprevent his taking the ell. He taught himself to read and write, and\nthus describes the effect produced by reading a book called \"The\nColumbian Orator.\" This book contains one or more of Sheridan's\nspeeches, and a dialogue between a master and his slave, wherein the\nslave is made to refute all the arguments usually brought forward in\nsupport of slavery.\n\n  \"The more I read,\" he says (\"Narrative,\" p. 40), \"the more I was led\n  to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other\n  light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes,\n  and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange\n  land reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as\n  well as the most wicked of men. As I read and contemplated the\n  subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had\n  predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to\n  torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish. As I writhed under\n  it, I could at times feel that learning to read had been a curse,\n  rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched\n  condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible\n  pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony, I\n  envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished\n  myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to\n  my own,--any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was\n  this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me. There\n  was no getting rid of it.\"\n\nAs a necessary result of his learning to read, Douglass loathed slavery,\nand detested his enslavers. If he had never read, his eyes would never\nhave been fully opened to the extent of his wrongs; and what is true of\nhim is true of all other slaves. _Any_ slave who can read Sheridan's\ndenunciations of slavery must, like Douglass, loathe his condition, and\ndetest his oppressors.\n\nBut a slave who loathes his condition, and detests his oppressors, will\nbe refractory and disobedient. A late writer in the \"Charleston Mercury\"\nadmits this when he remarks (\"William Jay's Letter to Bishop Ives,\"\n1848, p. 12):--\n\n  \"It has been the policy of this State not to admit the teaching to\n  the slaves, either of reading or writing. We all know why this is\n  so. It needed no great scope of argument to satisfy those who framed\n  our laws, that the expansion of intellect, the hundred influences\n  which education generates, would be very inconsistent with habits of\n  obedience, which was the corner-stone of the institution.\"\n\nSuch a slave will also try to escape at every fair opportunity; and,\nbeing able to write passes or forge free papers, the chances for\nsuccessful escape are very much increased. The owner's hold upon him\nbecomes daily more and more precarious, and consequently the slave's\nvalue as property daily diminishes. So true is this, that in Louisiana a\nbuyer may legally refuse to take a slave, if he has only \"absented\nhimself from his master's house twice for several days, or once for more\nthan a month.\" The \"Civil Code\" (Art. 2496, 2505) declares that the\n\"vice of character,\" as it is called, which is proved by either of these\nActs, renders the slave absolutely useless, or renders his use so\ninconvenient or imperfect that it must be supposed no one would buy a\nslave who was known to have this vice.\n\nEvery particle of instruction given to a slave beyond what is consistent\nwith his remaining a passive and obedient, working machine, is so much\nmoney taken from the master's pocket. Nobody wants to invest his money\nin a slave who is refractory or disobedient, or who runs away at every\nopportunity,--unless, indeed, he buys the stock, in consequence, at very\nmuch under par! The value of Douglass as a slave decreased just as fast\nas his manhood increased; and Capt. Price now candidly avows, that he\nhesitated some time before he invested seven hundred dollars in William\nW. Brown; for William was a noted runaway! The love of money impels the\nslaveholders to keep their slaves in ignorance.\n\nNot only this, but an educated slave, who loathes his condition and\nhates his oppressors, is an unsafe member of a household or a community.\nHis means for taking a fearful vengeance are ample, and what\nconsideration shall stay his hands? None but an educated slave can plan\nor head an insurrection. Such are the ones who always do take active\npart in rebellions. The house-servants constitute everywhere the most\neducated class. None are more dreaded than they, for this reason in\npart, and partly because of their living under the same roof with their\nmasters. In a pamphlet published in Charleston, S. C. in 1822, p. 14, by\nGen. Thomas Pinckney, speaking of house-servants, he remarks:--\n\n  \"They are the most dangerous. Their intimate acquaintance with all\n  the circumstances relating to the interior of the dwellings, the\n  confidence reposed in them, _and the information they unavoidably\n  obtain from hearing the conversation and observing the habitual\n  transactions of their owners, afford them the most ample means for\n  treacherous bloodshed and devastation_. The success, therefore, of\n  servile conspiracies mainly depends on this class for taking off, by\n  midnight murder, their unsuspecting owners; and the late trials, by\n  exhibiting so large a portion of this description among the\n  ringleaders of the conspiracy, afford a melancholy proof of their\n  promptitude to become actors in such scenes.\"--_William Jay's\n  Letter, &c._ p. 9.\n\nThe love of life itself, the desire for the safety of their wives and\nchildren, impels the slaveholders to keep their slaves in ignorance.\n\nTwo of the strongest motives which can be brought to bear upon man, the\nlove of money and the love of life, are therefore constantly urging the\nslaveholder to darken the minds of his slaves. If the former of these\nmotives leads to the commission of so much wrong everywhere, what will\nnot both motives together accomplish to the injury of the slave? But the\nslaveholders have not been willing to trust wholly to these motives,\nstrong though they are. In many of the States, it is a penal offence to\nteach a slave to read or write; and, where laws of this kind do not\nexist, custom, as universal, powerful, and remorseless as the law,\naccomplishes the same wrong. The following are some of these laws:--\n\nThe \"Revised Statutes\" of NORTH CAROLINA, chap. 34, sec. 74 (\"Revision\nof Stat.\" 1830, chap. 6, Sec.1), provide that\n\n  \"Any free person who shall hereafter teach, or attempt to teach, any\n  slave within this State to read or write, the use of figures\n  excepted, or shall give or sell to such slave or slaves any books or\n  pamphlets, shall be liable to indictment in any court of record in\n  this State having jurisdiction thereof; and, upon conviction, shall,\n  at the discretion of the court, if a white man or woman, be fined\n  not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than two hundred\n  dollars, or imprisoned; and, if a free person of color, shall be\n  fined, imprisoned, or whipped, at the discretion of the court, not\n  exceeding thirty-nine lashes, nor less than twenty lashes.\"\n\nChap. 111, sec. 27 (Statute, 1830, chap. 6, Sec. 2), provides that,--\n\n  \"If any slave shall teach, or attempt to teach, any other slave to\n  read or write, the use of figures excepted, he or she may be carried\n  before any justice of the peace, and, on conviction thereof, shall\n  be sentenced to receive thirty-nine lashes on his or her bare back.\"\n\nIn SOUTH CAROLINA, the \"Negro Act\" (1740, Sec. 45; \"2 Brev. Dig.\" 243),\nprovides that--\n\n  \"All and every person and persons whatsoever who shall hereafter\n  teach, or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or shall\n  use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing\n  whatsoever, hereafter taught to write; every such person and persons\n  shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds\n  current money.\"\n\nIn ALABAMA (Statute, 1832, chap. 8, Sec. 10; \"Clay's Digest,\" p. 543, Sec.\n24),--\n\n  \"Any person or persons who shall attempt to teach any free person of\n  color, or slave, to spell, read, or write, shall, upon conviction\n  thereof by indictment, be fined in a sum not less than two hundred\n  and fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars.\"\n\nIn GEORGIA (\"Penal Code approved Dec. 23, 1833,\" 13th div., sec. 18;\n\"Prince's Digest,\" p. 658; \"William A. Hotchkiss's Codification,\" 1845,\np. 772),--\n\n  \"If any person shall teach any slave, negro, or free person of\n  color, to read or write either written or printed characters, or\n  shall procure, suffer, or permit a slave, negro, or person of color,\n  to transact business for him in writing, such person so offending\n  shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be\n  punished by fine, or imprisonment in the common jail of the county,\n  or both, at the discretion of the court.\"\n\nIn MISSISSIPPI (\"Howard & Hutchinson's Laws,\" p. 673),\n\n  \"No slave or free person of color can be employed in the setting of\n  types in any printing office.\"\n\nIn MISSOURI, the \"Revised Statutes\" (chap. 8, sec. 10, p. 117) provide\nthat,--\n\n  \"When an apprentice is a negro or mulatto, it shall _not_ be the\n  duty of the master to cause such colored apprentice to be taught to\n  read or write, or a knowledge of arithmetic; but he shall be\n  allowed, at the expiration of his term of service, a sum of money in\n  lieu of education, to be assessed by the county court.\"\n\nThe Act of 1847 (approved Feb. 16, Sec. 1) reads,--\n\n  \"No person shall keep or teach any school for the instruction of\n  negroes or mulattoes in reading or writing in this State.\"\n\nOther similar laws might be produced; but these suffice to exhibit, in a\nclear light, the opportunities presented for the mental instruction of\nslaves! In some States, it is unlawful to teach even a FREE colored\nperson to read or write!\n\nThat these laws have been almost universally respected and obeyed, there\nis no room to doubt. No one has given more attention to this subject\nthan the Rev. Chas. C. Jones, of Savannah, Ga. In 1842 he published, at\nSavannah, a work, containing the result of his researches, entitled \"The\nReligious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States.\" In this\nwork, p. 115, he says, \"The statutes of our respective Slave States\nforbid all knowledge of letters to the negroes; and, where the statutes\ndo not, custom does. It is impossible to form an estimate of the number\nof negroes that _read_. My belief is, that the proportion would be\nexpressed by AN ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE FRACTION. The greatest number of\nreaders is found in and about towns and cities, and among the FREE negro\npopulation some two or three generations removed from servitude.\"--As a\nconfirmation of this testimony of Mr. Jones, we know no greater proof\nthat the degraded class in any community is almost wholly uneducated,\nthan that a large portion of the privileged class is so. The law of\ncompensation is divine. We cannot degrade or brutalize our fellow-men,\nwithout degrading or brutalizing ourselves. Now, we find that, in the\nSlave States, almost one tenth of the free _white_ population over\ntwenty years of age are unable to read and write! To some persons this\nmay seem a small proportion; but, in the Free States, with all our\nignorance, there are less than one in one hundred and fifty! and Horace\nMann, the best authority on this subject, says that \"at least four\nfifths of these are foreigners, who ought not to be included in the\ncomputation.\" In Connecticut, out of 163,843 free persons over twenty\nyears of age, there are only 526 who are unable to read and write;\nwhile, in the model Slave State of South Carolina, out of only 111,663\nfree white persons over twenty years of age, there are 20,615 who cannot\nread and write! \"In South Carolina,\" says Theodore Parker, \"out of each\n626 free whites more than twenty years of age, there are more than 58\nwholly unable to read or write; out of that number of such persons in\nConnecticut, not quite two\"! More than the sixth part of the adult\nfreemen of South Carolina are unable to read the vote they deposit in\nthe ballot-box! And Gov. Clarke, of Kentucky, declared in his message to\nthe legislature in 1837, that one third of the adult population of that\nState were unable to write their names! While such is the state of the\nfreemen, it is impossible that any considerable number of the slaves\nshould become educated. With these facts before us, it is impossible not\nto admit the correctness of Mr. Jones's conclusion. Only an \"almost\ninconceivable fraction\" of three millions of slaves can read or write!\nThese are taught by their owners, or with their connivance; and of them\nwe shall speak hereafter. But, taken as a mass, the slaves are truly\ndescribed by a writer in the \"Marysville (Tennessee) Intelligencer\" as\nbeing \"degraded, stupid savages.\" We may add, not naturally degraded and\nstupid, but made and kept so in open violation of their rights as human\nbeings, for the sake of gain!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nMORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE SLAVES.\n\n  \"Their depravity, their spiritual ignorance and destitution, are\n  amazingly and awfully great.\"--_Rev. C. C. Jones's Catechism_;\n  _preface_, p. 4.\n\n\n\"When the charge of the intellectual and moral degradation of the slaves\nis preferred against us,\" says Mr. Jones[B] (\"Religious Instruction,\" p.\n107), \"we are inclined to put the best face on affairs, knowing that\nthis is the darkest feature and the most vulnerable point.\"\n\n\"Their notions of the Supreme Being (ib. p. 125); of the character and\noffices of Christ and of the Holy Ghost; of a future state; and of what\nconstitutes holiness of life, are indefinite and confused. Some brought\nup in a Christian land, and in the vicinity of the house of God, have\nheard of Jesus Christ; but who he is, and what he has done for a ruined\nworld, they cannot tell. The Mohammedan Africans remaining of the old\nstock of importations, although accustomed to hear the gospel preached,\nhave been known to accommodate Christianity to Mohammedanism. 'God,'\nsay they, 'is Allah, and Jesus Christ is Mohammed: the religion is the\nsame; but different countries have different names.'\"\n\n\"True religion they are inclined to place in profession, in forms and\nordinances, and in excited states of feeling; and true conversion, in\ndreams, visions, trances, voices,--all bearing a perfect or striking\nresemblance to some form or type which has been handed down for\ngenerations, or which has been originated in the wild fancy of some\nreligious teacher among them.\" Page 126: \"Sometimes principles of\nconduct are adopted by _church members_ at so much variance with the\ngospel that the 'grace of God is turned into lasciviousness.' For\nexample, that which would be an abominable sin, committed by a church\nmember with a worldly person, becomes no sin at all if committed with\nanother church member. The brethren must 'bear one another's burdens,\nand so fulfil the law of Christ.'... To know the extent of their\nignorance, even where they have been accustomed to the sound of the\ngospel in white churches, a man should make investigation for himself:\nthe result will frequently surprise and fill him with grief. They\nscarcely feel shame for their ignorance on the subject of religion,\nalthough they may have had abundant opportunity of becoming wiser.\nIgnorance they seem to feel is their lot; and that feeling is intimately\nassociated with another, every way congenial to the natural man, namely,\na feeling of irresponsibility: ignorance is a cloak and excuse for\ncrime.\" Page 127: \"He who carries the gospel to them encounters\ndepravity, intrenched in ignorance, both real and pretended. He beholds\nthe Scripture fulfilled, 'Having the understanding darkened, being\nalienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them,\nbecause of the hardness of their hearts,' Eph. iv. 17-19. He discovers\ndeism (!), scepticism (!!), universalism (!!!)... 'They are wise to do\nevil; but to do good they have no knowledge.'\"\n\n\"Intimately connected with their ignorance is their superstition. They\nbelieve in second sight, in apparitions, charms, witchcraft, and in a\nkind of irresistible Satanic influence. The superstitions brought from\nAfrica have not been wholly laid aside (p. 128). Ignorance and\nsuperstition render them easy dupes to their teachers, doctors,\nprophets, conjurers; to artful, designing men. When fairly committed to\nsuch leaders, they may be brought to the commission of almost any crime.\nFacts in their history prove this. On certain occasions, they have been\nmade to believe, that, while they carried about their persons some charm\nwith which they had been furnished, they were _invulnerable_.[C] They\nhave, on certain other occasions, been made to believe that they were\nunder a protection that rendered them invincible.... They have been\nknown to be so perfectly and fearfully under the influence of some\nleader or conjurer or minister, that they have not dared to disobey him\nin the least particular; nor to disclose their own intended or\nperpetrated crimes, in view of inevitable death itself; notwithstanding\nall other influences brought to bear upon them.\"\n\n\"The discipline of colored members is involved, tedious, vexatious, and\n_disgusting_\" (p. 131). \"_Excommunications and suspensions are of\nperpetual occurrence, for crimes shocking in character_, and of\nthemselves sufficient to show the general state of morals; _such, for\nexample, as adultery, fornication, theft, lying, drunkenness,\nquarrelling, and fighting_. The first three are their most common\nvices.\" Page 135: \"They are, proverbially, _thieves_. They bear this\ncharacter in Africa; they have borne it in all countries whither they\nhave been carried; it has been the character of slaves in all ages,\nwhatever their nation or color. They steal from each other, from their\nmasters, from anybody.... Their veracity is nominal.\" Page 136: \"The\nnumber, the variety, and ingenuity of falsehoods that can be told by\nthem in a few brief moments, is most astonishing.... Servants, however,\nwho will neither steal nor lie, may be found, and in no inconsiderable\nnumbers.\"\n\nOther similar extracts, and touching other vices, might be given; but\nthese seem amply sufficient to justify the general conclusion to which\nMr. Jones arrives, p. 153, that \"they are, intellectually and morally, a\ndegraded people, the most so of any in the United States; and while,\nfrom their universal (?) profession of the Christian system, and their\nattendance upon its ordinances of worship, and the absence of all fixed\nforms of idolatry, they cannot _strictly_ be termed _heathen_, yet may\nthey with propriety be termed _the heathen of our land_.\" In a sermon\npreached by him in Georgia, and published at Savannah in 1831, he calls\nthem \"_a nation of heathen in our very midst_\" (\"Jay's Letter,\" p. 11).\nAbundant confirmation of this conclusion exists. The Hon. Chas. C.\nPinckney, in his \"Address before the Agricultural Society of South\nCarolina\" (Charleston, 1829, second edit. pp. 10-12; Jones's \"Relig.\nInst.\" p. 141), says, \"There needs no stronger illustration of the\ndoctrine of human depravity than the state of morals on plantations in\ngeneral.\" \"Who would credit it,\" asks the Committee of the Synod of\nSouth Carolina and Georgia in 1833, \"that, in these years of revival and\nbenevolent effort, in this Christian republic, there are _over two\nmillions of human beings in the condition of heathen, and in some\nrespects in a worse condition_? From long-continued and close\nobservation, we believe that their moral and religious condition is such\nthat they may justly be considered the _heathen_ of this Christian\ncountry.\" The Executive Committee of the Kentucky Union for the Moral\nand Religious Improvement of the Colored Race, in their \"Circular to the\nMinisters of the Gospel in Kentucky,\" 1834 (Jones's \"Relig. Inst.\" p.\n143), say, \"We desire not to represent that condition worse than it is.\nDoubtless, the light that shines around them, more or less illuminates\ntheir minds, and moralizes their characters. We hope and believe, that\nsome of them, though poor in this world's goods, will be found rich in\nspiritual possessions in the day when the King of Zion shall make up his\njewels. We know that many of them are included in the visible church,\nand frequently exhibit great zeal; but it is to be feared, that it is\noften a zeal without knowledge; and of the majority it must be\nconfessed, that the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness\ncomprehendeth it not. After making all reasonable allowances, _our\ncolored population can be considered, at the most, but semi-heathen_.\"\n\nIn view of these statements, we cannot but be forced to the conclusion,\nthat the slaves, as a body, are in an extremely degraded moral and\nreligious condition. That they are _naturally_ thus, even Mr. Jones\ndenies (\"Relig. Instruction,\" p. 124). He says, \"As to moral and\nreligious character, the negroes are _naturally_ what other men are.\"\nThat they are so much more degraded than others must, then, be owing to\ntheir education or their social condition. The inference, therefore, is\nunavoidable that they have been thus degraded by others. The wrong rests\nupon those who have denied them the means of education, and who have\nkept them in slavery,--upon those who have thus degraded their minds and\nsouls, in order that their bodies might remain in slavery! In violation\nof the slave's dearest rights, all the highest, noblest, and purest\ninstincts of his nature have been destroyed, in order to advance the\npecuniary interests of the man \"who gains his fortune from the blood of\nsouls\"! Are those slaves who enjoy moral and religious instruction any\nbetter off?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nMORAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHERS OF THE SLAVES.\n\n  \"Q. When you hear the minister preach, are you not to listen to him\n  as the minister of God; God's messenger to your soul? A.\n  Yes.\"--_Jones's Catechism_, p. 140.\n\n\n\"By the providence and word of God,\" says Mr. Jones (\"Religious\nInstruction,\" pp. 165, 166), \"are we under obligations to impart the\ngospel to our servants.... We cannot disregard this obligation ...\nwithout forfeiting our humanity, our gratitude, our consistency, and our\nclaim to the spirit of Christianity itself. _Our humanity...._ The Lord\nJesus has furnished us with the most beautiful and striking\nillustrations of this virtue:--'What man shall there be among you, that\nshall have one sheep; and, if it fall into a pit, will he not lay hold\non it, and lift it out?' 'Doth not each one of you loose his ox or his\nass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this\nwoman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these\neighteen years, be loosed from this bond?'... Apply the reasoning: 'How\nmuch, then, is a man better than a sheep or an ox?' When our servants\nare sick and diseased, we do not suffer them to want: we physic and\nnurse them (?). But are not their _souls_ more precious than their\n_bodies_? Much more, then, should we lift our servants from the pit of\nignorance, moral pollution and death, into which they have fallen. Much\nmore should we strive to loose them (bound for so many years!) from the\nbonds of sin and Satan, and lead away their famishing souls to the water\nof life.\"\n\n\"_Our gratitude._ They nurse us in infancy, contribute to our pleasures\nand pastimes in youth, and furnish us with the means of education. They\nconstitute our wealth, and yield us all the comforts and conveniences of\nlife. They may, in a degree, adopt towards us the language of Jacob to\nLaban, 'Thus I was: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by\nnight, and my sleep departed from mine eyes.' They watch around our\nlanguishing beds in sickness, share in our misfortunes, weep over us\nwhen we die, prepare us for the burial, and carry us to the house\nappointed for all the living. The obligations, the sacrifice, and\nservice are not to be all on one side, in the relation of master and\nservant. If we have been made partakers of their _carnal_ things, our\nduty is also to minister unto them in _spiritual_ things,[D] Rom. xv.\n27. 1 Cor. ix. 11. And shall we consider it a great thing to fulfil this\nduty? The kindest and the most grateful return which we can make them is\nto put them in possession of the richest gift of God to men, the gospel\nof our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.\"\n\nHow far has the existence or utterance of such sentiments as these\nresulted in securing to the slaves a sound moral and religious\ninstruction? What kind of teachers and what kind of instruction are\nthought to be consistent with proper feelings of gratitude and humanity\non the part of masters? We have just seen the deep moral degradation of\nthe very great majority of the slaves. Still \"there are at the present\ntime,\" says Mr. Jones (p. 100), \"tens of thousands connected by a\ncredible profession to the church of Christ, and the gospel is reaching\nthem to a greater extent and in greater purity and power than ever\nbefore.\"\n\nBy whom is the gospel thus preached to them in purity and power? Who is\nit that \"ministers unto them in spiritual things,\" and \"leads away their\nfamishing souls to the water of life\"?\n\n\"Those who would keep the Bible from their fellow-creatures are the\nenemies of God and man. The Bible belongs of right to every man. It is\nthe property of the world.\" Thus speaks the _Protestant_ defender of\nslavery, Charles C. Jones (\"Catechism,\" p. 80). But to prevent a slave\nfrom reading the Bible is not by any means to keep the Bible from him!\nIn what a _Catholic_ spirit he thus exhorts the slaves! (\"Catechism,\" p.\n79) \"What benefit will this precious book be to us, unless we diligently\nstudy it, and embrace opportunities of receiving instruction from it,\nsuch as are afforded us in the house of God, in the sabbath-school, and\nin the Bible-class? 'Search the Scriptures' is the Redeemer's\ncommand.\"[E] \"We cannot,\" he says (\"Religions Instruction,\" p. 167),\n\"cry out against the Papists for withholding the Scriptures from the\ncommon people, and keeping them in ignorance of the way of life; for our\ninconsistency is as great as theirs, if we withhold the Bible from our\nservants, and keep them in ignorance of its saving truths, which we\ncertainly do while we will not provide ways and means of having it read\nand explained to them\"! So readily, at the bidding of slavery, will\nProtestants surrender the most distinctive feature of Protestantism!\n\nIt is obvious, that, if any religious instruction is to be imparted to\nslaves, it must be given them by others. But it is in the power of the\nowner to forbid all such instruction. \"The whole arrangement of the\nreligious instruction of the negroes, as to teachers, times, places,\nmatter and manner, is in our own power,\" says Mr. Jones (ib. p. 98).\n\nThe Presbytery of Georgia, in the memorial before alluded to, says--\n\n  \"The law of the land makes and can make no provision for their\n  religious instruction. That instruction is committed to owners, as\n  the instruction of children is to parents; and _they can give or\n  withhold it at pleasure_. We owners and ministers are 'the almoners\n  of divine mercy to them,' and, if we do not open the door of\n  salvation, they may grope their way into a miserable eternity; for\n  they have no power of any kind to originate and establish and carry\n  forward church organizations and associations for their own benefit.\n  They are entirely dependent upon us for the gospel of salvation.\"\n\n\"We may,\" says Mr. Jones (\"Religious Instruction,\" p. 158), \"according\nto the power lodged in our hands, forbid religious meetings and\nreligious instruction on our own plantations; we may forbid our servants\ngoing to church at all, or only to such churches as we may select for\nthem; we may literally shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, and\nsuffer not them that are entering to go in!\"\n\nWherever an owner is willing to permit such instruction, it must still\nbe carried on wholly by _oral_ communications. \"This immense mass of\nimmortal beings,\" says Mr. Jones, \"is thrown for religious instruction\nupon oral communications _entirely_\" (ib. p. 157). That any oral\ninstruction of the adult or aged slaves is worth but little he evidently\nadmits, because he says (ib. p. 229), \"If a people are to be instructed\norally, let the instruction be communicated to them in early life;\" and\n\"the great hope of permanently benefiting the negroes is laid in\nsabbath-schools, in which children and youth may be trained up in the\nknowledge of the Lord.\" Our minds are so constituted, that, unless our\npowers of memory have been strengthened by constant or frequent use in\nyouth, we cannot in after-life either receive or retain much benefit\nfrom oral instruction. And if this is true of the freeman, how much more\nis it true of the slave! Consequently, the only method of instructing\nthe slaves, which law or custom or both do not forbid, is the very\nlast,--the poorest method for their real good which can be devised!\n\nThere are _colored_ preachers at the South, \"and _some_ of them,\" says\nMr. Jones, \"are able to read\" (ib. p. 175). The following anecdote,\nillustrative of their capacity to impart knowledge, is told by Charles\nLyell. When in Louisville, Ky. he attended a Methodist Church. \"The\npreacher was a full black, spoke good English, and quoted Scripture\nwell.\" \"It appeared,\" says Prof. Lyell, \"from his explanation of 'Whose\nsuperscription is this?' that he supposed the piece of money to be a\ndollar note, to which Caesar had put his signature.\"\n\nSome, probably most of them, are slaves. We have now before us the\nadvertisement of a runaway slave who claimed to be a Methodist preacher!\nThe Alabama Baptist Association bought one of its missionaries, named\nCaesar, in 1828, and owned him till the time of his death! He lived to be\n76 years old. A writer in the \"Georgia Christian Index\" begins an\nobituary notice of him thus, \"A good colored man has fallen in Israel;\"\nand ends by saying, \"The writer can truly say that his labors have been\nmuch blest.\" Mr. Jones gives the names of several other slave preachers.\nStill, however, they are discountenanced.\n\nThe \"Revised Statutes\" of NORTH CAROLINA (chap. 111, sec. 34; \"Revision\nof Statute,\" 1831, chap. 4, sec. 1) provide that--\n\n  \"It shall not be lawful, under any pretence, for any slave or free\n  person of color to preach or exhort in public, or in any manner to\n  officiate as a preacher or teacher in any prayer-meeting or other\n  association for worship where slaves of different families are\n  collected together; and if any free person of color shall be thereof\n  duly convicted, on indictment, before any court having jurisdiction\n  thereof, he shall for each offence receive not exceeding thirty-nine\n  lashes on his bare back; and when any slave shall be guilty of a\n  violation of this section, he shall, on conviction before a single\n  magistrate, receive not exceeding thirty-nine lashes on his bare\n  back.\"\n\nIn ALABAMA (Stat. 1832, chap. 8, sec. 24; \"Clay's Digest,\" 545, sec.\n35),--\n\n  \"If any slave or free person of color shall preach to, exhort, or\n  harangue any slave or slaves or free persons of color, unless in the\n  presence of five respectable (!) slaveholders, any such slave or\n  free person of color so offending shall, on conviction before any\n  justice of the peace, receive, by order of said justice of the\n  peace, thirty-nine lashes for the first offence, and fifty lashes\n  for every offence thereafter; and any person may arrest any such\n  slave or free person of color, and take him before a justice of the\n  peace for trial,--Provided that the negroes so haranguing or\n  preaching shall be licensed thereto by some regular body of\n  professing Christians immediately in the neighborhood, and to whose\n  society or church such negro shall properly belong.\"\n\nIn GEORGIA, the Act approved Dec. 23, 1833, sec. 5 (\"Prince's Digest,\"\n808; \"Hotchkiss's Codification,\" 840, 841), provides that--\n\n  \"No person of color, whether free or slave, shall be allowed to\n  preach to, exhort, or join in any religious exercise with, any\n  persons of color, either free or slave, there being more than seven\n  persons of color present,\" &c.\n\nIn MISSISSIPPI, the law declares (How. and Hutch. 178) that--\n\n  \"It shall not be lawful for any slave, free negro or mulatto to\n  exercise the functions of a minister of the gospel under the penalty\n  of thirty-nine lashes,--Provided that it shall be lawful for any\n  master or owner to permit his slave to preach upon his own premises,\n  but not to permit any other slaves but his own to assemble there on\n  such occasion.\"\n\nIn MISSOURI, the Act approved Feb. 16, 1847, sec. 2, provides that--\n\n  \"No meeting or assemblage of negroes or mulattoes for the purpose of\n  religious worship or preaching shall be held or permitted, where the\n  services are performed or conducted by negroes or mulattoes, unless\n  some sheriff, constable, marshal, police officer, or justice of the\n  peace shall be present during all the time of such meeting or\n  assemblage, in order to prevent all seditious speeches and\n  disorderly and unlawful conduct of every kind.\"\n\n\"Negro preachers are discouraged,\" says Mr. Jones (\"Religious\nInstruction,\" p. 157), \"if not suppressed, on the ground of\nincompetency, and liability to abuse their office and influence to the\ninjury of the morals of the people, and the infringement of the laws and\npeace of the country. I would not go all the lengths of many on this\npoint; for, from my own observation, negro preachers may be employed and\nconfided in, and _so regulated_ as to do their own color great good, and\ncommunity no harm.\" Ib. p. 274: \"The appointment of colored preachers\nand watchmen by the _white churches, and under their particular\nsupervision_, in many districts of country, has been attended with happy\neffects; and _such_ auxiliaries, _properly managed_, may be of great\nadvantage.\" Doubtless, when thus \"properly managed,\" they are of great\nadvantage! \"I shall never forget,\" says Mr. Jones (ib. p. 215), \"the\nremark of a venerable colored preacher, made with reference to the\nSouthampton tragedy\" (_i.e._ Nat. Turner's insurrection in Southampton,\nVa. in 1832). \"With his eyes filled with tears, and his whole manner\nindicating the deepest emotion, said he, 'Sir, it is the gospel that we,\nignorant and wicked people, need.(!) If you will give us the gospel, it\nwill do more for the obedience of servants and the peace of community\nthan all your guards and guns and bayonets.' This same Christian\nminister, on receiving a packet of inflammatory pamphlets through the\npost-office, and discovering their character and intention, immediately\ncalled upon the mayor of the city, and delivered them into his hands.\nWho can estimate the value in community of one such man acting under the\ninfluence of the gospel of peace?\"\n\nNot only are negro preachers thus discountenanced, unless they are the\nabject tools of the slaveholders, but only a certain class of _white_\nteachers are allowed. The following extract is taken from the \"Georgia\nChristian Index:\"--\n\n  \"PREACHERS FOR THE SLAVES.--We think the instruction of the blacks\n  in the South should be committed wholly to white men; and they\n  should be Southern men, in whom the masters have confidence. If the\n  preacher is himself a slaveholder, as are Mr. Jones and Mr. Law,\n  they will command the greater confidence, and have access to the\n  larger number of plantations.\"\n\n\"The field of labor among the negroes in the South,\" says Mr. Jones\n(\"Religious Instruction,\" p. 196), \"is one, in many respects, of no\nordinary difficulty; and it is the dictate as well of benevolence as of\nprudence to inquire into the character and qualifications of those who\nenter it. _They should be Southern men_; men entitled to that\nappellation; either those who have been born and reared in the South, or\nthose who have identified themselves with the South, and are familiarly\nacquainted with the structure of society; _in a word, men having their\ninterests in the South_. Such men would possess the _confidence of the\ncommunity_; for they would not act, in their official connection with\nthe negroes, in such a manner as to breed disturbances, which would\ninevitably jeopard their own lives, and tend to the utter prostration of\ntheir families and interests.\" Ib. p. 235: \"The missionaries should be\n_Southern men_, or men ... _identified in views, feelings, and interests\nwith the South, and who possess the confidence of society_.\" We should\n(ib. p. 197) \"know _who_ their teachers are, and _what_ and _when_ and\n_where_ they are taught.\"\n\nThe object of these laws and precautions evidently is wholly to exclude,\nas religious teachers of the slaves, all persons except slaveholders, or\nthose who are fully identified with or subject to them. Only\nslaveholders and their tools _can_ be \"God's messengers\" to the souls of\nthe slaves! The moral and religious teaching of the slaves is\n_exclusively_ vested in that class of men whose _interest_ it is to\n_uphold_ and _strengthen_ slavery! A slaveholder _must_ have the\nstrongest inducement to make his teaching of such a quality as directly\nto increase the market value of his hearers; and yet the slaves are\nreceiving from the hallowed lips of their owners the gospel of love and\nhuman brotherhood in greater purity and power than ever before!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nDIRECT RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF SLAVES.\n\n  \"Hath _He_ not brought you out of a land of darkness and ignorance,\n  where your forefathers knew nothing of him, to a country where you\n  may come to the knowledge of the only true God, and learn a sure way\n  to heaven?\"--_Right Rev. Bishop Meade's Instruction to Slaves._\n\n  \"The religious instruction of your people will promote your own\n  _interests_ for time and eternity.\"--_Rev. C. C. Jones's Teaching to\n  Slaveholders_ (\"_Rel. Inst._\" p. 275).\n\n\nWe might safely presume, that religions owners would instruct their\nslaves in such doctrines as they deemed essential to the salvation of\ntheir own souls, and that such instruction would not materially vary\nfrom that given elsewhere on the same points. But abundant proof exists.\nThe Right Rev. Levi S. Ives has published \"A Catechism to be taught\norally to those who cannot read;\" New York, 1848. In the preface, he\nsays it was the result of a winter's visit to a large Southern\nplantation, and was adapted by him, \"in a course of actual experiment,\nto the capacity of _colored_ children, from four to twelve years of\nage.\" There are twenty lessons in this little book. He teaches, among\nother things, about the fall, original sin, the atonement, the trinity,\nand the sacraments. Elsewhere (\"Spirit of Missions,\" Nov. 1842) he has\nexpressed the conviction, that, if the planters of North Carolina would\nadopt it, and see to its faithful inculcation, the next generation of\nblacks in that State, \"at a very small expense, would sufficiently\nunderstand the truth as it is in Jesus, without knowing a letter of the\nalphabet.\"\n\nDr. Jones's Catechism is really, what it professes to be, a \"Catechism\nof Scripture doctrine, as well as practice,\" and contains a very much\nmore elaborate exposition than Bishop Ives's book. Altogether, it must\nbe a much more serviceable book to \"owners and ministers.\"\n\nWe shall therefore chiefly content ourselves with showing what the\nslaves are taught it is their duty to do, and to refrain from doing, and\nwhat motives to duty are urged upon them.\n\n\"As ministers or missionaries to the negroes,\" says Mr. Jones (\"Rel.\nInst.\" p. 270), \"in the discharge of our official duty, and in our\nintercourse with the negroes, we should have nothing to do with their\ncivil condition. We are appointed of God to preach 'the unsearchable\nriches of Christ' to our perishing fellow-men. We are to meditate upon\nthe duties and responsibilities of our office, and to give ourselves\n_wholly to it_.\" Ib. pp. 193, 194: \"We _separate entirely_ their\n_religious_ and their _civil_ condition, and contend that the one may be\nattended to without interfering with the other. Our principle is that\nlaid down by the holy and just one, 'Render unto Caesar the things which\nare Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.' And Christ and his\napostles are our example. Did they deem it proper and consistent with\nthe good order of society to preach the gospel to servants? They did. In\ndischarge of this duty, did they interfere with their civil condition?\nThey did not. They expressed no opinion whatever on the subject, if we\nexcept that which appears in one of the Epistles to the Corinthian\nChurch (1st Epist. chap. vii. ver. 19-23). There the Apostle Paul\nconsiders a state of freedom preferable to one of servitude, and advises\nslaves, if they can lawfully obtain their freedom, to do it; but not\notherwise. He does not treat the question as one of very great moment,\nin comparison to the benefits of the gospel. 'Art thou called being a\nservant, care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free, use it\nrather; for he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the\nLord's freeman,' &c. May we not follow in the footsteps of our Saviour\nand his apostles, and that with perfect safety too? Yea, and without\nproceeding as far as did the Apostle Paul?(!) We maintain that in\njudicious religious instruction there will be no necessary interference\nwith their civil condition. The religious teacher must step out of his\nway for the purpose.\" The Presbytery of Georgia declares in its\nmemorial, that, if the church will undertake the religious instruction\nof the slaves,--\n\n  \"The minds of ministers and members will be drawn off from abstract\n  questions of a civil and a political nature, with which, as\n  Christians engaged in evangelizing the world, we have little to do;\n  and they will be presented with a way whereby they may practically\n  gratify all their benevolent sympathies for the negroes, in the best\n  manner possible. Our attention, as a church, will be turned to the\n  great question before us, and indeed before all other denominations,\n  _and which should take precedence of all other questions touching\n  the negroes_, _Shall this people be saved or lost?_\"\n\n\"The New Testament,\" says the Rev. Theodore Clapp (Sermon, pp. 25, 26,\nand these are his present sentiments), \"decides in the plainest terms\nthat Christians are bound to acquiesce in and support those laws and\nregulations concerning slavery which are enacted by the respective civil\ngovernments under which they live. The legislature must determine who\nshall be kept in bondage, and what shall be their condition and\nprivileges. The pulpit must not interfere in this important and delicate\nmatter.... Let him (the clergyman) at all times preach unconditional\nsubmission to civil laws and institutions.\"\n\nAt the outset, therefore, the religious teachers of the slaves disclaim\nall desire or intention to interfere with the condition of servitude.\nTheir appropriate and only work, they say, is the saving of souls![F]\nThat their brother's soul is brutalized and deadened, in consequence of\nslavery, is to them no reason why they should interfere with slavery;\nfor slavery is a _civil_ condition, which God, in his mysterious\nprovidence, has allowed to exist! But, though it is thus improper to\n\"interfere\" with the civil condition of the slaves, that religious\nteacher (as we shall shortly see) does _not_ \"step out of his way,\" but\nmerely does his duty, who preaches to them that submission to their\ncivil condition, and faithful service for their masters, is demanded of\nthem by God! They cannot interfere to _injure_ the institution of\nslavery; but _very materially to strengthen_ it falls within their\nlegitimate province! To condemn slavery would be to condemn the\nprovidence of God; but in strengthening slavery, they are preaching \"the\nunsearchable riches of Christ\" to their perishing fellow-men!\n\nThe Right Rev. William Meade, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church\nfor the diocese of Virginia, who has also devoted a great deal of\nattention to the religious instruction of slaves, a few years since\ncollected and published a volume of sermons and tracts, designed to aid\nthe almoners of Divine Mercy in their work of salvation. The grand\nmotive to duty is thus presented to the slaves, pp. 94, 95 (\"Slavery and\nthe Slaveholder's Religion as opposed to Christianity, by Samuel\nBrooke,\" p. 29, &c.):--\n\n  \"Besides, when people die, we know but of two places they have to go\n  to, and that is heaven or hell; so that whoever misses the one must\n  go to the other. Now, heaven is a place of great happiness, which\n  God hath prepared for all that are good; where they shall enjoy rest\n  from their labors, and a blessedness which shall never have an end.\n  And hell is a place of great torment and misery, where all wicked\n  people will be shut up with the devil and other evil spirits, and be\n  punished for ever because they will not serve God. If, therefore, we\n  would have our souls saved by Christ; if we would escape hell and\n  obtain heaven, we must set about doing what he requires of us, that\n  is, to serve God. Your own poor circumstances in this life ought to\n  put you particularly upon this, and taking care of your souls; for\n  you cannot have the pleasures and enjoyments of this life like rich\n  free people, who have estates and money to lay out as they think\n  fit. If others will run the hazard of their souls, they have a\n  chance of getting wealth and power, of heaping up riches, and\n  enjoying all the ease, luxury, and pleasure their hearts should long\n  after. But you can have none of these things; so that, if you sell\n  your souls for the sake of what poor matters you can get in this\n  world, you have made a very foolish bargain indeed. Almighty God\n  hath been pleased to make you slaves here, and to give you nothing\n  but labor and poverty in this world, which you are obliged to submit\n  to, as it is his will that it should be so. And think within\n  yourselves what a terrible thing it would be, after all your labors\n  and sufferings in this life, to be turned into hell in the next\n  life; and, after wearing out your bodies in service here, to go into\n  a far worse slavery when this is over, and your poor souls be\n  delivered over into the possession of the devil, to become his\n  slaves for ever in hell, without any hope of ever getting free from\n  it. If, therefore, you would be God's freemen in heaven, you must\n  strive to be good and serve him here on earth. Your bodies, you\n  know, are not your own: they are at the disposal of those you belong\n  to; but your precious souls are still your own, which nothing can\n  take from you, if it be not your own fault. Consider well, then,\n  that, if you lose your souls by leading idle, wicked lives here, you\n  have got nothing by it in this world, and you have lost your all in\n  the next. For your idleness and wickedness is generally found it,\n  and your bodies suffer for it here; and, what is far worse, if you\n  do not repent and amend, your unhappy souls will suffer for it\n  hereafter.\"\n\nThe Rev. Alexander Glennie, Rector of All-Saints Parish, Waccamaw, S.C.\nhas for several years been in the habit of preaching expressly for\nslaves. In 1844, he published in Charleston a selection of these\nsermons, under the title of \"Sermons preached on Plantations to\nCongregations of Negroes.\" This book[G] contains twenty-six sermons; and\nin twenty-two of them there is either a more or less extended account or\na reference to eternal misery in hell as a motive to duty. He thus\ndescribes the day of judgment (Serm. 15, Matt. xxv. 31, p. 90):--\n\n  \"When all people shall be gathered before him, 'he shall separate\n  them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the\n  goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats\n  on the left.' That, my brethren, will be an awful time, when this\n  separation shall be going on; when the holy angels, at the command\n  of the great Judge, shall be gathering together all the obedient\n  followers of Christ, and be setting them on the right hand side of\n  the judgment-seat, and shall place all the remainder on the left.\n  Remember that each of you must be present; remember that the great\n  Judge can make no mistake; and that you shall be placed on one side\n  or on the other, according as in this world you have believed in and\n  obeyed him or not. How full of joy and thanksgiving will you be, if\n  you shall find yourselves placed on the right hand! but how full of\n  misery and despair, if the left shall be appointed as your\n  portion!\"...\n\n  \"But what shall he say to the wicked on the left hand? To them he\n  shall say, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,\n  prepared for the devil and his angels.' He will tell them to depart:\n  they did not while here seek him by repentance and faith; they did\n  not obey him; and he will drive them from him. He will call them\n  cursed.\"\n\n  Page 42 (Sermon 7, Rom. vi. 28): \"The death, which is the wages of\n  sin, is this everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his\n  angels. It is a fire which shall last for ever; and the devil and\n  his angels, and all people who will not love and serve God, shall\n  there be punished for ever. The Bible says, 'The smoke of their\n  torment ascendeth up for ever and ever:' the fire is not quenched;\n  it never goes out: 'their worm dieth not:' their punishment is\n  spoken of as a worm, always feeding upon them, but never consuming\n  them: it never can stop.\"\n\nMr. Jones orally catechizes[H] the slaves in the same manner:--\n\n  Page 83: \"Q. Are there two places only spoken of in the Bible to\n  which the souls of men go after death?--A. Only two.\n\n  Q. Which are they?--A. Heaven and hell.\n\n  Pp. 91, 92: Q. After the Judgment is over, into what place do the\n  righteous go?--A. Into heaven.\n\n  Q. What kind of a place is heaven?--A. A most glorious and happy\n  place.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Q. Shall the righteous in heaven have any more hunger or thirst, or\n  nakedness or heat or cold? Shall they any more have sin or sorrow,\n  or crying or pain or death?--A. No.\n\n  Q. Repeat, 'And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'--A.\n  'And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall\n  be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be\n  any more pain; for the former things are passed away.'\n\n  Q. Will heaven be their everlasting home?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. And shall the righteous grow in knowledge and holiness and\n  happiness for ever and ever?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. To what place should we wish and strive to go, more than to all\n  other places?--A. Heaven.\n\n  Pp. 93, 94: Q. Into what place are the wicked to be cast?--A. Into\n  hell.\n\n  Q. Repeat, 'The wicked shall be turned.'--A. 'The wicked shall be\n  turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.'\n\n  Q. What kind of a place is hell?--A. A place of dreadful torments.\n\n  Q. What does it burn with?--A. Everlasting fire.\n\n  Q. Who are cast into hell besides wicked men?--A. The devil and his\n  angels.\n\n  Q. What will the torments of hell make the wicked do?--A. Weep and\n  wail, and gnash their teeth.\n\n  Q. What did the rich man beg for when he was tormented in the\n  flame?--A. A drop of water to cool his tongue.\n\n  Q. Will the wicked have any good thing in hell? the least comfort?\n  the least relief from torment?--A. No.\n\n  Q. Will they ever come out of hell?--A. No: never.\n\n  Q. Can any go from heaven to hell, or from hell to heaven?--A. No.\n\n  Q. What is fixed between heaven and hell?--A. A great gulf.\n\n  Q. What is the punishment of the wicked in hell called?--A.\n  Everlasting punishment.\n\n  Q. Will this punishment make them better?--A. No.\n\n  Q. Repeat, 'It is a fearful thing.'--A. 'It is a fearful thing to\n  fall into the hands of the living God.'\n\n  Q. What is God said to be to the wicked?--A. A consuming fire.\n\n  Q. What place should we strive to escape from above all others?--A.\n  Hell.\"\n\nThe slaves are taught that they must do what God requires of them, if\nthey would escape never-ending torments in hell. How strict an account\nof their stewardship does God require at their hands! He, they are\ntaught, has made them slaves, and has given them nothing but labor and\npoverty for their lot in this life. Will he require much, where he has\ngiven little? Bishop Meade continues (Brooke's \"Slavery,\" pp. 30, 31,\n32):--\n\n  \"Having thus shown you the chief duties you owe to your great Master\n  in heaven, I now come to lay before you the duties you owe to your\n  masters and mistresses here upon earth; and for this you have one\n  general rule that you ought always to carry in your minds, and that\n  is, to do all service for them as if you did it for God himself.\n  Poor creatures! you little consider, when you are idle and\n  neglectful of your masters' business, when you steal and waste and\n  hurt any of their substance, when you are saucy and impudent, when\n  you are telling them lies and deceiving them; or when you prove\n  stubborn and sullen, and will not do the work you are set about\n  without stripes and vexation; you do not consider, I say, that _what\n  faults you are guilty of towards your masters and mistresses are\n  faults done against God himself_, who hath set your masters and\n  mistresses over you in his own stead, and expects that you will do\n  for them just as you would do for him. And, pray, do not think that\n  I want to deceive you, when I tell you that _your masters and\n  mistresses are God's overseers_; and that, if you are faulty towards\n  them, God himself will punish you severely for it in the next world,\n  unless you repent of it, and strive to make amends by your\n  faithfulness and diligence for the time to come; for God himself\n  hath declared the same.\n\n  \"Now, from this general rule,--namely, that you are to do all\n  service for your masters and mistresses as if you did it for God\n  himself,--there arise several other rules of duty towards your\n  masters and mistresses, which I shall endeavor to lay out in order\n  before you.\n\n  \"And, in the first place, you are to be obedient and subject to your\n  masters in all things.... And Christian ministers are commanded to\n  'exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to\n  please them well in all things, not answering them again, or\n  gain-saying.' You see how strictly God requires this of you, that\n  whatever your masters and mistresses order you to do, you must set\n  about it immediately, and faithfully perform it, without any\n  disputing or grumbling, and take care to please them well in all\n  things. And for your encouragement he tells you, that he will reward\n  you for it in heaven; because, while you are honestly and faithfully\n  doing your master's business here, you are serving your Lord and\n  Master in heaven. You see also that you are not to take any\n  exceptions to the behavior of your masters and mistresses, and that\n  you are to be subject and obedient, not only to such as are good and\n  gentle and mild towards you, but also to such as may be froward,\n  peevish, and hard. For you are not at liberty to choose your own\n  masters; but into whatever hands God hath been pleased to put you,\n  you must do your duty, and God will reward you for it.\n\n  \"2. You are not to be eye-servants. Now, eye-servants are such as\n  will work hard, and seem mighty diligent, while they think anybody\n  is taking notice of them; but, when their masters' and mistresses'\n  backs are turned, they are idle, and neglect their business. I am\n  afraid there are a great many such eye-servants among you, and that\n  you do not consider how great a sin it is to be so, and how severely\n  God will punish you for it. You may easily deceive your owners, and\n  make them have an opinion of you that you do not deserve, and get\n  the praise of men by it; but remember that you cannot deceive\n  Almighty God, who sees your wickedness and deceit, and will punish\n  you accordingly. For the rule is, that you must obey your masters in\n  all things, and do the work they set you about with fear and\n  trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ; not with\n  eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing\n  the will of God from the heart; with good-will doing service as to\n  the Lord, and not as to men. If, then, you would but say within\n  yourselves, 'My master hath set me about this work, and his back is\n  turned, so that I may loiter and idle if I please, for he does not\n  see me; but _there is my great Master in heaven, whose overseer my\n  other master is_,[I] and his eyes are always upon me and taking\n  notice of me, and I cannot get anywhere out of his sight, nor be\n  idle without his knowing it; and what will become of me, if I lose\n  his good-will and make him angry with me?'--if, I say, you would\n  once get the way of thinking and saying thus upon all occasions, you\n  then would do what God commands you, and serve your masters with\n  singleness of heart, that is, with honesty and sincerity, and do the\n  work you are set about with fear and trembling, not for fear of your\n  masters and mistresses upon earth, for you may easily cheat them,\n  and make them believe you are doing their business when you do not,\n  but with fear and trembling, lest God your heavenly Master, whom you\n  cannot deceive, should call you to account, and punish you in the\n  next world for your deceitfulness and eye-service in this.\n\n  \"3. _You are to be faithful and honest to your masters and\n  mistresses, not purloining or wasting their goods or substance, but\n  showing all good fidelity in all things...._ Do not your masters,\n  under God, provide for you? And how shall they be able to do this,\n  to feed and to clothe you, unless you take honest care of every\n  thing that belongs to them? _Remember that God requires this of you;\n  and, if you are not afraid of suffering for it here, you cannot\n  escape the vengeance of Almighty God, who will judge between you and\n  your masters, and make you pay severely in the next world for all\n  the injustice you do them here._ And though you could manage so\n  cunningly as to escape the eyes and hands of man, yet think what a\n  dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, who\n  is able to cast both soul and body into hell!\n\n  \"4. _You are to serve your masters with cheerfulness, reverence, and\n  humility. You are to do your masters' service with good-will, doing\n  it as the will of God from the heart, without any sauciness or\n  answering again._ How many of you do things quite otherwise, and,\n  instead of going about your work with a good will and a good heart,\n  dispute and grumble, give saucy answers, and behave in a surly\n  manner! There is something so becoming and engaging in a modest,\n  cheerful, good-natured behavior, that a little work done in that\n  manner seems better done and gives far more satisfaction than a\n  great deal more that must be done with fretting, vexation, and the\n  lash always held over you. It also gains the good-will and love of\n  those you belong to, and makes your own life pass with more ease and\n  pleasure. Besides, you are to consider that this grumbling and\n  ill-will does not affect your masters and mistresses only. They have\n  ways and means in their hands of forcing you to do your work,\n  whether you are willing or not. _But your murmuring and grumbling is\n  against God, who hath placed you in that service, who will punish\n  you severely in the next world for despising his commands._\"\n\nIf the slave who wastes his master's goods and substance will not be\nable to escape the vengeance of Almighty God, what will become of the\nmaster who impoverishes and darkens the mind of his brother-man? Who\ncommits the greater injustice,--the man who robs another of his mind, or\nthe man who robs another of his money?\n\nMr. Glennie is equally explicit in his teaching. His fourth Sermon is on\nthe text, Eph. vi. 7, \"With good-will doing service, as to the Lord, and\nnot to men,\" pp. 21, 22:--\n\n  \"In this part of the word of God, servants are taught with what mind\n  they ought to do their service. They are told to do what is required\n  of them 'with good-will;' and to do it, 'as to the Lord, and not to\n  men.'\n\n  \"What a blessed book the Bible is, my brethren! It speaks comfort to\n  all people in every station of life; it shows how every one must\n  live here so as to please our heavenly Father. He, the Father of\n  mercies and the God of all comfort, has in his word forgotten none\n  of the children of men. All may learn from that holy book how their\n  souls may be saved through the merits of the death of Christ. And,\n  in addition to this, every one, in whatever condition he may be,\n  will find in that holy book what his peculiar duties are. Thus,\n  ministers are taught in the Bible how they ought to preach the\n  gospel, and how they ought to live, so as to glorify their Saviour\n  Jesus Christ. The rich are taught in the Bible how they must do good\n  with their riches; and the poor, how they must be contented with the\n  portion that God has given them; and both rich and poor are taught\n  how to lay up treasure in heaven. Parents are told in the Bible how\n  they must bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of\n  the Lord; and children, how they must obey their parents. Masters\n  are taught in the Bible how they must rule their servants, and\n  servants how they must obey their masters. Truly, this holy word of\n  God is a blessed gift indeed; and how greatly blessed shall we all\n  be, if we diligently seek the help of the Holy Spirit, that we may\n  be 'doers of the word, and not hearers only'! I will now read to you\n  the whole of this passage out of God's holy word, which is written\n  especially for your instruction:--'Servants, be obedient to them\n  that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and\n  trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with\n  eye-service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing\n  the will of God from the heart: with good-will doing service, as to\n  the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man\n  doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or\n  free.' This passage from the Bible shows to you what God requires\n  from you as servants; and there are many other passages which teach\n  the same things. You should try and remember these parts of the\n  Bible, that you may be able 'to do your duty in that state of life\n  unto which it has pleased God to call you.' For, although a bad\n  servant may not wish to know what God requires of him, yet a\n  Christian servant will desire to know this, and to do his will in\n  every thing.\"\n\nHow easy it must be for those who cannot read to learn from the holy\nbook what God requires of them! Mr. Glennie assures his hearers, that\nnot one of them will be able to say, in the day of judgment, \"I had no\nway of hearing and learning about my God and Saviour\"! (p. 137). May\nthey not all listen to such words of comfort as fall from his lips? And\nhow full of comfort to their souls must that book be which tells them\nthat God intended to make them slaves, and that they must be faithful\nand obedient to their oppressors, if they wish to avoid endless\npunishment in hell!\n\n  Pp. 22, 23: \"Our heavenly Father commands that you, who are\n  servants, should 'be obedient to your masters according to the\n  flesh;' that is, to your earthly master, the master that you serve\n  here while in the body. Here is a very plain command: 'Servants, be\n  obedient;' be obedient to your masters. A bad servant will not try\n  and obey this command. A worldly-minded servant, who is not living\n  in the fear of God, will neglect this command. But you, who call\n  yourselves children of God, will do his will, and be obedient to\n  your earthly master. You can every day give proof that you wish to\n  serve God, by your ready, your cheerful obedience.\n\n  \"You are here directed to be obedient to your master 'with fear and\n  trembling;' that is, you ought to feel as anxious to discharge your\n  duty faithfully as to feel afraid of giving offence by any conduct\n  that looks like disobedience; for, by disobedience, you not only\n  offend your earthly master, but you sin against God; and of this\n  every Christian servant will be afraid. A bad servant will be afraid\n  only of the punishment which he will receive, if his disobedience\n  should be found out. But a Christian servant must look up always to\n  his heavenly Master. Therefore, if you love God, whose children you\n  were made at your baptism, you will do every day all that you have\n  to do, with fear and trembling; that is, in the fear of God; knowing\n  that he would be angry with you, if you neglected your duty. If you\n  love the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood for you, you will do\n  your daily work with fear and trembling, lest, by any act of\n  disobedience, you bring reproach on him whose name you bear. If you\n  desire that the Holy Spirit should abide in your hearts, you will\n  not willingly be disobedient, being afraid that this Comforter and\n  Sanctifier would forsake you, if you paid so little attention to the\n  plain word of God.\"\n\nHow full of comfort must the Bible be to the slaveholder! How gratifying\nto him the reconciliation between God and mammon! How interesting to a\nreverend father must be the reflection, that, just in the proportion as\nhe serves his God, by imparting to his hearers gospel truth, he is\nserving mammon, and putting money in the purses of his employers, by\nmaking his hearers more valuable as slaves!\n\n  Page 23: \"You are here commanded to be obedient, 'in singleness of\n  your heart, as unto Christ:' that is, do not be double-minded,\n  professing to be one thing, but really being another; but, in your\n  duty to your master, have a single heart; an honest, upright, and\n  true heart, as unto Christ; knowing that he sees your heart, and\n  will not be pleased with double-dealing.\"\n\n  Page 24: \"This part of the Bible goes on speaking of the same matter\n  in different words; it gives 'line upon line and precept upon\n  precept;' because it is what all of us ought to keep in mind, that\n  we must engage in our several duties with a desire to please God,\n  and with a fear of sinning against him. It says, 'not with\n  eye-service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing\n  the will of God from the heart.' Do not attend to your work, only\n  when your earthly master's eye is upon you; but remember that the\n  eye of your heavenly Master is always upon you. Do your work as\n  serving Christ, _look upon your daily tasks as the will of God_, and\n  do them from the heart, with a hearty desire to please God. A bad\n  servant is an eye-servant, doing the work required of him so long as\n  his master's eye is upon him: he has no regard to Christ our\n  Saviour; and, instead of the will of God, he thinks only of his own\n  will, and the desires of his own evil heart. But you, who profess to\n  be the servants of Jesus Christ, will, if you are indeed his, do all\n  your duty faithfully, whether the eye of man is upon you or not; you\n  will feel that such is the will of God; and you will daily watch and\n  pray, that, by the help of the Holy Spirit, you may 'do the will of\n  God from the heart.'\n\n  \"The word of God goes on teaching you the same thing. It says, 'with\n  good-will doing service as to the Lord, and not to men.' A bad\n  servant will very often do his service with a very bad will; he will\n  try many ways to deceive his master, and will do as little for him\n  as he can. You, however, who call yourselves the servants of Christ,\n  will, if you indeed belong to him, aim at doing your service 'with\n  good-will;' you will pray that your will may be subject to the will\n  of God, so that you may 'do service' cheerfully, 'as to the Lord,\n  and not to men.'\"\n\nWe candidly confess, that we have not sufficient faith to believe that\nthe Rev. Rector of All-Saints Parish would, if he were a slave, be a\ngood servant, and do service as unto the Lord. We do verily believe,\nthat both he and Bishop Meade would follow the desires of man's\nunregenerate and evil heart, and do their utmost to escape from this\nunwelcome service of Christ. But what a curious subject for reflection,\nthat the saving of negro souls and of negro overseers in All-Saints\nParish must keep pace one with another!\n\nThe Rector concludes his Sermon with these important suggestions:--\n\n  Page 25: \"This passage of Scripture ends by telling you to remember\n  that the day of judgment is coming, when every one, in every\n  condition of life, shall receive according to what he has done in\n  the body. It says, 'Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man\n  doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or\n  free.' We are here told, that in the day of judgment, the inquiry\n  will be, What have we done in this world? how did we live in this\n  world? It matters not, we see, in what condition we have been here;\n  it matters not whether we be bond-servants or freemen; it matters\n  not whether we be among the high and the rich, or among the low and\n  the poor, we shall in that day receive according as we now live. If\n  we now live as obedient followers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus\n  Christ, we shall, through him who loved us, inherit everlasting\n  life. But if we are not true believers in him, if we are disobedient\n  to his word, we can inherit only everlasting misery. With regard to\n  you, the disobedient servants amongst you, the unfaithful, the\n  deceitful, the ungodly servants, unless they repent and turn from\n  the service of the devil to the service of God, shall surely 'be\n  punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,\n  and from the glory of his power.' Whilst the obedient servants\n  amongst you, the faithful, the true, the godly servants, who are\n  living 'as the servants of Christ,' 'doing service as to the Lord,\n  and not to men,' shall, if they continue steadfast unto the end, be\n  blessed for ever.\"\n\nWe read in the Bible, that \"God is no respecter of persons;\" that \"he\nhath made of one blood all the nations of men;\" \"Thou shalt love thy\nneighbor as thyself;\" and that \"all things whatsoever ye would that men\nshould do to you, do ye even so to them.\" Would not the slaves be led to\nneglect of duty and insubordination by hearing such sentences? This\neffect, says Mr. Jones (speaking in reference to these sentences, \"Rel.\nInst.\" p. 197), \"might result from _imperfect_ and _injudicious_\nreligious instruction.... But who will say that neglect of duty and\ninsubordination are the _legitimate_ effects of the gospel, purely and\nsincerely imparted to servants?\" How judicious is the instruction given\nby Bishop Hedding! How purely and sincerely does Bishop Meade thus\ncontinue imparting the gospel! p. 116 (Brooke's \"Slavery,\" &c. pp. 32,\n33):--\n\n  \"'All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye\n  even so unto them;' that is, do by all mankind just as you would\n  desire they should do by you, if you were in their place and they in\n  yours.\n\n  \"Now, to suit this rule to your particular circumstances, suppose\n  you were masters and mistresses, and had servants under you, would\n  you not desire that your servants should do their business\n  faithfully and honestly, as well when your back was turned as while\n  you were looking over them? Would you not expect, that they should\n  take notice of what you said to them? that they should behave\n  themselves with respect towards you and yours, and be as careful of\n  every thing belonging to you as you would be yourselves? You are\n  servants: do, therefore, as you would wish to be done by, and you\n  will be both good servants to your masters and good servants to God,\n  who requires this of you, and will reward you well for it, if you do\n  it for the sake of conscience, in obedience to his commands.\"\n\nFrom the same command of Christ, Mr. Jones instructs the slaves that\nthey must not steal any of their own earnings, and must inform their\nmasters when any of their fellow-slaves intend to steal! (\"Catechism,\"\npp. 114-116.) He never for an instant imagines (to use the words of the\nRev. Dr. Jonathan Edwards in 1791), that \"_to hold any man in slavery is\nto be every day guilty of robbing him of his liberty, or of\nman-stealing_\" (\"The Church as it is,\" p. 8). How solemnly would Bishop\nFreeman declare to the slaves, that thieves can never enter the kingdom\nof God, without thinking of the law of North Carolina, which provides\nthat no slave shall be \"permitted, on any pretence whatever, to raise\nany horses, cattle, hogs, or sheep\" (\"Rev. Stat.\" chap. 111, Sec. 25),\nwithout the same being liable to be seized and sold, and the proceeds\ndistributed, one half towards the support of the poor of the county, and\nthe other half to the informer! (Ib. chap. 89, Sec. 24.)\n\nA friend once said that she was always grieved at receiving any\nexpression of gratitude. She was grieved to think that the mere\nperformance of duty was so uncommon as to call forth gratitude. In a\nsomewhat similar manner, we feel more distinctly than ever how great is\nthe degradation of the slaves, when such arguments as these can be\naddressed to them by intelligent men, with the expectation of producing\nconviction! How degraded must that slave be who does not feel or who\ncannot expose these wicked perversions of a beautiful command, and who\ncannot ask, in indignant tones, of these truly reverend fathers in God,\n\"If _you_ were the slave, would you consider yourself bound to work for\nyour master faithfully?\" Verily, \"We owners and ministers\" _are_ \"the\nalmoners of _Divine_ mercy\" to the suffering slave!\n\nMr. Glennie declares, that God requires them patiently to submit to all\nthe wrongs of slavery, as being afflictions sent by him for the good of\ntheir souls!--\n\n  Page 145: \"Is it strange that any person who is loved by our Lord\n  should endure sickness or pain or sorrow of any kind? No: this is\n  what the whole Bible teaches. We read in one place, 'Whom the Lord\n  loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.'\n  And in another place, 'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.' The\n  Bible also tells us the reason of this, which is, that the children\n  of God may be taught to repent more of their sins, and to be more\n  submissive and obedient to God; ... that they may think less about\n  this world, and may be more diligent in getting ready for heaven.\n  For these good reasons, God chastises his people; and whenever you\n  become sick, or are visited with sorrows, you should try and look up\n  to God as chastising you for your sins, and should pray much to him\n  for his Spirit, that you may be patient like our Saviour, when he\n  suffered for our sins, that you may improve by his chastening, and\n  grow more like him in holiness.\"--Pp. 128, 129: \"Whenever,\n  therefore, the sorrows of this life are pressing you sore, think of\n  this saying of our Saviour, 'Every branch which beareth fruit, he\n  purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.' If you are indeed\n  followers of Jesus, it will at such times comfort you to think that\n  a Father's hand is upon you, chastising you,--in love chastising you\n  to make you partakers of his holiness.\"\n\nMr. Glennie also frequently represents Christ as having appeared on\nearth as a servant, in order still more to reconcile his hearers to\ntheir lot (pp. 2, 3, 89). Nay, so anxious does he seem to be to induce\nhis hearers to believe that Christ really endured the wrongs of a slave,\nthat he sometimes goes beyond the Bible record. Thus, in describing\nChrist's sufferings before Pilate, he says (p. 9), \"They spit in his\nface, and beat him with their hands; they scourged him, _making long\nfurrows in his back with the whip_.... How grievous were the sufferings\nof our dear Lord!\"\n\nBut he is not content with telling them they must patiently endure their\nwrongs: he also declares to them, that, unless they _love_ those who\nwrong them, they are \"going along the broad road that leads to hell\"! He\nsays (pp. 115, 116):--\n\n  \"That we may all understand how the case stands with us, whether we\n  are in the broad road leading to destruction, or in the narrow road\n  leading to heaven, let us see what our Lord says about his sheep,\n  and the mark by which they are known.\"--Page 117: \"Our Lord says,\n  'By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have\n  love one to another.' Do ye hear his voice in this? Are you trying\n  to love your neighbor as yourselves? Are you trying to do to others\n  as you would have them do to you? Do you, for Jesus Christ's sake,\n  love your enemies? Do you bless them that curse you, do good to them\n  that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and\n  persecute you? In this way, again, you may try yourselves, and see\n  whether you are the sheep of Jesus Christ.\"--Page 93: \"If, in the\n  great day, you would be placed on the right hand, you must, from\n  love to Jesus, be kind to one another, and be ready to help any one\n  as much as you can.... In your daily work, you should try and keep\n  the Lord before you, and do it as to him, and not to man.... When\n  any one offends you, you should, from love to Jesus, forgive him and\n  pray for him.\"\n\nBishop Meade is equally explicit, pp. 131, 132 (Brooke's \"Slavery,\" &c.\npp. 33, 34). Senator Dickinson regrets that he was not born in a Slave\nState, so congenial is slavery to his soul! But the bishop, if he\nbelieves in his own argument, must be sorrowful that he is not himself a\nslave, so easy does he say is the slave's road to heaven!--\n\n  \"_Take care that you do not fret or murmur, grumble or repine at\n  your condition; for this will not only make your life uneasy, but\n  will greatly offend Almighty God._ Consider that it is not\n  yourselves, it is not the people that you belong to, it is not the\n  men that have brought you to it, but _it is the will of God, who\n  hath, by his providence made you servants, because, no doubt, he\n  knew that condition would be best for you in this world, and help\n  you the better towards heaven, if you would but do your duty in\n  it_. So that any discontent at your not being free or rich or\n  great, as you see some others, is quarrelling with your heavenly\n  Master, and finding fault with God himself, who hath made you what\n  you are, and hath promised you as large a share in the kingdom of\n  heaven as the greatest man alive, if you will but behave yourself\n  aright, and do the business he hath set you about in this world\n  honestly and cheerfully. Riches and power have proved the ruin of\n  many an unhappy soul, by drawing away the heart and affections from\n  God, and fixing them on mean and sinful enjoyments; so that, when\n  God, who knows our hearts better than we know them ourselves, sees\n  that they would be hurtful to us, and therefore keeps them from us,\n  it is the greatest mercy and kindness he could show us.\n\n  \"You may perhaps fancy, that, if you had riches and freedom, you\n  could do your duty to God and man with greater pleasure than you can\n  now. But, pray, consider that, if you can but save your souls\n  through the mercy of God, you will have spent your time to the best\n  of purposes in this world; and he that at last can get to heaven has\n  performed a noble journey, let the road be ever so rugged and\n  difficult. Besides, you really have a great advantage over most\n  white people, who have not only the care of their daily labor upon\n  their hands, but the care of looking forward and providing\n  necessaries for to-morrow and next day, and of clothing and bringing\n  up their children, and of getting food and raiment for as many of\n  you as belong to their families, which often puts them to great\n  difficulties, and distracts their minds so as to break their rest,\n  and take off their thoughts from the affairs of another world.\n  Whereas you are quite eased from all these cares, and have nothing\n  but your daily labor to look after, and, when that is done, take\n  your needful rest. Neither is it necessary for you to think of\n  laying up any thing against old age, as white people are obliged to\n  do; for the laws of the country have provided, that you shall not be\n  turned off when you are past labor, but shall be maintained, while\n  you live, by those you belong to, whether you are able to work or\n  not.[J] _And these are great and real advantages, for which, if you\n  consider things rightly, you cannot but thank Almighty God, who hath\n  so wisely provided for your well-being here and your eternal\n  happiness hereafter._\"\n\nGod has made some men slaves, in order the better to help them towards\nheaven! How admirably has the plan of the All-wise succeeded! The slaves\nare a nation of _heathen_ in our very midst, daily and hourly (if we may\nbelieve their religious teachers) descending to everlasting perdition.\nFrom our very souls we are sick of the expression, \"the providence of\nGod,\" as thus cantingly used! Wherever a great wrong is committed by\n_man_, there the wrong is made part of God's mysterious providence! Are\nthe poor oppressed,--it is a part of God's providence! Are bloody wars\ncarried on for man's selfish ends,--they are part of God's providence!\nNothing is too wicked, nothing too infamously mean, for that Being to do\nwhose essence is love, whose law is just. We denounce the African\nslave-trader as a fiend, and, with appropriate religious ceremonies,\nhang him by the neck until he is dead, so deep is our detestation of a\npirate; and yet, at the same time, we thank God, that, in his infinite\nwisdom, he has devised and executed the plan of negro-slavery, as the\ntrue way of Christianizing and elevating Africa! The slave-owner is said\nto have it in his power to shut up the kingdom of heaven against his\nslaves, and the power is said to have been exercised; and Mr. Jones\nseems to think that the race, taken as a whole, are thus shut out. And\nyet the slaves are called upon by right reverend bishops to fall on\ntheir knees, and devoutly thank God that he has made them slaves, in\norder the better to help them towards heaven! Truly wonderful is it,\nthat (\"Rel. Inst.\" p. 153) \"they are living in manifold and gross sins;\ntheir iniquities are aggravated and great before the Lord, and _not the\nleast of them is their neglect and contempt of the spiritual mercies and\nprivileges within their reach_\"!\n\nWe conclude our extracts from Bishop Meade's book with the following\n(Brooke's \"Slavery,\" pp. 34, 35):--\n\n  \"There is only one circumstance which may appear grievous, that I\n  shall now take notice of, and that is correction.\n\n  \"Now, when correction is given you, you either deserve it, or you do\n  not deserve it. But whether you really deserve it or not, it is your\n  duty, and Almighty God requires that you bear it patiently. You may\n  perhaps think that this is hard doctrine; but, if you consider it\n  right, you must needs think otherwise of it. Suppose, then, that you\n  deserve correction, you cannot but say that it is just and right you\n  should meet with it. Suppose you do not, or at least you do not\n  deserve so much, or so severe a correction, for the fault you have\n  committed, you perhaps have escaped a great many more, and are at\n  last paid for all. Or suppose you are quite innocent of what is laid\n  to your charge, and suffer wrongfully in that particular thing, is\n  it not possible you may have done some other bad thing which was\n  never discovered, and that Almighty God who saw you doing it would\n  not let you escape without punishment one time or another? And ought\n  you not, in such a case, to give glory to him, and be thankful that\n  he would rather punish you in this life for your wickedness than\n  destroy your souls for it in the next life? But, suppose even this\n  was not the case (a case hardly to be imagined), and that you have\n  by no means, known or unknown, deserved the correction you suffered,\n  there is this great comfort in it, that, if you bear it patiently,\n  and leave your cause in the hands of God, he will reward you for it\n  in heaven, and the punishment you suffer unjustly here shall turn to\n  your exceeding great glory hereafter.\"\n\nDouglass's aunt Hester disobeyed _God's_ commands, when she paid no heed\nto the orders of Capt. Anthony,--God's overseer. Accordingly, says\nDouglass (\"Narrative,\" p. 7), who was an eye-witness of the transaction,\nthe latter \"took her into the kitchen, and stripped her from neck to\nwaist, leaving her neck, shoulders, and back entirely naked. After\ncrossing her hands, he tied them with a strong rope, and led her to a\nstool under a large hook in the joist, put in for the purpose. He made\nher get upon the stool, and tied her hands to the hook. She now stood\nfair for his infernal purpose. Her arms were stretched up at their full\nlength, so that she stood upon the ends of her toes. He then said to\nher,--'Now, you d----d b----h! I'll learn you how to disobey my orders!'\nAnd, after rolling up his sleeves, he commenced to lay on the heavy\ncowskin; and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-ending shrieks from\nher, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor.\"[K] Poor,\nignorant, degraded aunt Hester! She little thought that _God_ had\nordered her not to visit her companion; and that, instead of shrieking,\nshe ought rather to be giving glory to Him who was punishing her in this\nworld, in order to save her soul in the next!\n\nBishop Ives thus instructs the slave-children under his charge[L]\n(\"Catechism\"):--\n\n  Page 27: \"Q. You said that at your baptism you were made inheritors\n  of the kingdom of heaven; but will you get eternal life in heaven,\n  if you do not strive to go there?--A. No; but I shall be sent down\n  to hell.\n\n  Q. How are you to strive or try to go to heaven?--A. I must have\n  nothing to do with the devil and his works; which I gave up at my\n  baptism.\n\n  Q. In what way are you to shun the devil and his works?--A. By\n  keeping within me no bad thoughts; by speaking no bad words; and by\n  doing no bad things.\n\n  Q. What do you mean by keeping within you no bad thoughts?--A. I\n  mean that I must not hate anybody, nor wish to hurt anybody, nor\n  wish to do any wrong.\n\n  Page 30: Q. What do you mean by doing no bad things, such things as\n  the devil tempts you to do?--A. I mean that I must not hurt anybody;\n  must not disobey my parents, nor disobey my master, nor disobey God.\n\n  Q. But can you not disobey your parents and your master without\n  their knowing it?--A. Yes; but God knows it; for God always sees me.\n\n  Q. What else must you do to get to heaven?--A. I must believe all\n  that God has told me about the way to get there.\n\n  Pp. 35, 36: Q. How are you to show that you love your neighbor as\n  yourself?--A. I am to show it by always doing my duty to my\n  neighbor, as God has commanded me.\n\n  Q. Who is your neighbor?--A. Everybody who lives with me and around\n  me, and has the control over me.\n\n  Q. Can you name some persons?--A. My playfellows, my master and\n  mistress, and my parents....\n\n  Q. How are you to show your love to your master and mistress and\n  your parents?--A. I am never to lie to them, to steal from them, nor\n  speak bad words about them, but always to do as they bid me.\n\n  Page 47: Q. How do others sin against you?--A. By cursing me,\n  telling lies about me, or striking me.\n\n  Q. What must you do to those who thus sin against you?--A. I must\n  forgive them.\n\n  Q. What if you do not forgive them?--A. Then God will not forgive\n  me.\n\n  Q. Why?--A. Because I pray to him to forgive me, just as I forgive\n  others.\n\n  Page 48: Q. How are you to forgive others, when they trespass\n  against you?--A. I am not to hurt them, because they hurt me; but I\n  must pray for them, and try to do them good.\n\n  Q. What if you do to them just as they do to you?--A. Then God will\n  not forgive my sins, but will punish me.\n\n  Page 43: Q. What do you pray for, when you say in the Lord's prayer,\n  'Thy will be done'?--A. I pray that my will and everybody's will may\n  submit to God's will.\n\n  Q. Where does God make his will known to us?--A. In his word and in\n  his acts.\n\n  Page 44: Q. What are God's acts by which he makes his will known to\n  us?--A. Every thing that happens to us is God's act.\n\n  Q. How are you to submit to God's will as made known in his\n  acts?--A. When God sends trouble or sickness or death, I am to feel\n  that God does right.\"\n\nMr. Jones thus catechizes the slaves (\"Catechism,\" pp. 129-131):--\n\n  \"Q. What command has God given to servants concerning obedience to\n  their masters?--A. 'Servants, obey in all things your masters\n  according to the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in\n  singleness of heart, fearing God.'\n\n  Q. What does God mean by masters according to the flesh?--A. Masters\n  in this world.\n\n  Q. What are servants to count their masters worthy of?--A. 'All\n  honor.'\n\n  Q. How are they to do the service of their masters?--A. '_With good\n  will_, doing service as unto the Lord, and not unto men.'\n\n  Q. How are they to try to please their masters?--A. 'Please them\n  well in all things, not answering again.'\n\n  Q. Is a servant who is an eye-servant to his earthly master an\n  eye-servant to his heavenly Master?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. Is it right in a servant, when commanded to do any thing, to be\n  sullen and slow, and answer his master again?--A. No.\n\n  Q. If the servant professes to be a Christian, ought he not to be\n  _as a Christian servant_, an example to all other servants of love\n  and obedience to his master?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. And, should his master be a Christian also, ought he not on that\n  account specially to love and obey him?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. But suppose the master is hard to please, and threatens and\n  punishes more than he ought, what is the servant to do?--A. Do his\n  best to please him.\n\n  Q. When the servant suffers _wrongfully_ at the hands of his master,\n  and, to please God, takes it patiently, will God reward him for\n  it?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. Is it right for the servant to _run away_, or is it right to\n  _harbor_ a runaway?--A. No.\n\n  Q. What did the Apostle Paul to Onesimus, who was a runaway? Did he\n  harbor him, or send him back to his master?--A. He sent him back to\n  his master with a letter.\n\n  Q. Is it any praise to a servant to be punished for his faults, or\n  ought he to think hard of it?--A. No.\n\n  Q. Are servants at liberty to tell lies, and deceive their\n  masters?--A. No.\n\n  Q. Are they at liberty to steal from their masters?--A. No.\n\n  Q. What ought they to show in their whole character and conduct?--A.\n  '_All good fidelity_, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our\n  Saviour in all things.'\n\n  Q. If servants will faithfully do their duty and serve God in their\n  stations as servants, will they be respected of men, and blessed and\n  honored of God as well as others?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. Will servants have to account to God for the manner in which they\n  serve their masters on earth?--A. Yes.\"\n\nMr. Jones thus expounds the tenth commandment (\"Catechism,\" pp.\n118-120):--\n\n  \"Q. How does God require me to love my neighbor?--A. As myself.\n\n  Q. Ought I not therefore to be glad when I see him have and enjoy\n  every good thing?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. But suppose I am _not glad_, and desire the very things he has,\n  and begrudge his having them, what do I?--A. I covet.\n\n  Q. Is it not my duty to be contented with such things as I have,\n  without coveting what my neighbor has?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. What did the Apostle Paul say he had learned?--A. 'I have\n  learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.'\n\n  Q. Repeat, 'Godliness with contentment.'--A. 'Godliness with\n  contentment is great gain; for we brought nothing into this world,\n  and it is certain we can carry nothing out; and, having food and\n  raiment, let us be therewith content.'\n\n  Q. From whom cometh down every good gift and every perfect gift?--A.\n  From God.\n\n  Q. Who is exalted as head above all, and giveth riches and honor and\n  greatness and strength, and also casteth down and maketh poor whom\n  he pleaseth?--A. God.\n\n  Q. If I work and am industrious, and walk uprightly with God, will\n  he suffer me to want any good thing?--A. No.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Q. Does this commandment forbid _the very thought itself_ of evil\n  against our neighbor?--A. Yes.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  We are to be contented with our own condition and circumstances, as\n  appointed unto us by our infinitely wise and gracious Father in\n  heaven.\"\n\nThus discourseth that eminent son of Massachusetts, the Rev. Theodore\nClapp, after seventeen years' experience of the blessedness of slavery\n(Sermon, p. 66):--\n\n  \"Let all Christian teachers show our servants the importance of\n  being submissive, obedient, industrious, honest, and faithful to the\n  interests of their masters. Let their minds be filled with sweet\n  anticipations of rest eternal beyond the grave. Let them be trained\n  to direct their views to that fascinating and glorious futurity,\n  where the sins, sorrows, and troubles of earth will be contemplated\n  under the aspect of means indispensable to our everlasting progress\n  in knowledge, virtue, and happiness. I would say to every slave in\n  the United States, You should realize that a wise, kind, and\n  merciful Providence has appointed for you your condition in life;\n  and, all things considered, you could not be more eligibly situated.\n  The burden of your care, toils, and responsibilities is much lighter\n  than that which God has imposed on your master. The most enlightened\n  philanthropists, with unlimited resources, could not place you in a\n  situation more favorable to your present and everlasting welfare\n  than that which you now occupy. You have your troubles. So have all.\n  Remember how evanescent are the pleasures and joys of human life.\"\n\n_Judicious_ religious instruction, therefore, makes the slaves faithful,\ndiligent, and honest, and very materially promotes discipline; and it\nproduces these results much more perfectly than any other motive which\ncan be used. The cowskin and the paddle are doubtless serviceable; but\nthat South Carolina planter told the truth who said to Dr. Brisbane\n(Brooke's \"Slavery,\" p. 35), that religion was worth more to him with\nhis slaves than four wagon-loads of cowskins! A judiciously awakened\nconscience, an earnest wish on the part of the slave to do what he\nbelieves to be the will of God, in order to escape never-ending torments\nin hell, constitute a much more forcible and constant incitement and\nrestraint than that of fear. When we reflect that \"ignorance and\nsuperstition render them easy dupes to their teachers,\" and that the\nmore ignorant and superstitious they are, the more easily they may be\nduped, it is evident that this religious restraint is easily created,\nand daily increases in strength. How infinitely more powerful, then, is\nsuch a motive than the fear of bodily suffering! It is equally easy and\nvastly more efficacious to ply judicious religious instruction than to\nply the cowskin or the paddle!\n\nIt is evident also, that the religious instruction of slaves increases\ntheir market-value, and greatly promotes the safety of the community.\n\"Experience teaches us,\" says the Right Rev. Dr. Gibson, \"the great\nvalue of those servants who are truly religious, compared with those who\nhave no sense of religion\" (\"Rel. Inst.\" p. 22). No persons feel this\nmore sensibly than the slaveholders. \"Even _men of the world_,\" says the\nPresbytery of Georgia, \"throw wide the door of access to their negroes.\"\nThe fourth of a series of resolutions reported to the Synod of South\nCarolina and Georgia in 1833 reads, \"We deem religious instruction to\nmaster and servant every way conducive to _our interests for this world_\nand for that which is to come\" (ib. p. 74). With the proceedings of a\nconvention held in Charleston, S.C. in 1845, to consider the subject of\nthe religious instruction of slaves, were published letters from several\npersons, describing the effect actually produced by such instruction.\nOne person writes, \"The deeper the piety of the slave, the more valuable\nis he in every sense of the word.\" Another says, \"A regard to\nself-interest should lead every planter to give his people religious\ninstruction.\" \"On such large plantations,\" says Mr. Jones (\"Rel.\nInst.\" p. 239), \"_as a mere matter of gain_, a religious instructor\nshould be employed.\" _By religious instruction_ (ib. p. 208), \"_the\npecuniary interests of masters will be advanced as a necessary\nconsequence._\"--Page 204: \"Is it not conceded, that a truly pious\nservant gives less trouble, and is more profitable, than one who is not?\nIs there one master in a thousand who does not desire such servants? Is\nit not true, that the most pious servants exert the happiest influence\nin promoting honesty and good order on plantations and in\ncommunities?\"--Page 210: \"_The religious instruction of the slaves will\ncontribute to safety._ 'The thing that hath been, it is that which may\nbe;' and although, as a slaveholding country, we are so situated that,\nso far as man can see, the hope of success on the part of our laboring\nclass, in any attempt at revolution, is forlorn; yet no enemy (if there\nbe an enemy) should be despised, however weak, and no danger unprovided\nfor, however apparently remote.... It is, then, but a prudent foresight,\na dictate of benevolence and of wisdom, to originate, and set in\noperation, means that may act as _a check upon, if not a perfect\npreventive, of evil_. I am a firm believer in the efficacy of _sound\nreligious instruction_ as a means to the end desired.\"\n\nIb. p. 212: \"Besides the general and special influences of the gospel\nnow adverted to, safety will be connected with _the very dispensation of\nit_.... The presence of white instructors, settled ministers, or\nmissionaries, in their private as well as public religious assemblies,\nand free intercourse with the people and with their influential men and\nleaders, exert a restraining influence upon any spirit of\ninsubordination that may exist, and at the same time give opportunities\nfor its detection. The negroes are as capable of strong personal\nattachments to their religious instructors as are any other people, _and\nof their own will are inclined to make confidential communications_\"!\n\nSuch is the quality of the religious instruction imparted to slaves;\nsuch is the way in which their famishing souls are led away to the water\nof life! To escape everlasting torments in hell, a slave must submit to\nremain in slavery! He must neither murmur nor repine at his lot, but\nrather give thanks to God for his loving-kindness and tender mercy in\nremoving from his path so many temptations to sin! He must obey his\nmaster in all things, and do the work assigned to him faithfully and\ndiligently, \"in singleness of heart, as unto Christ\"! He must act\nhonestly, and never waste any of \"the comforts and conveniences of life\"\nwhich he procures for his master. No accumulation of injuries or\ndeprivations can excuse him for running away; but he is bound to endure\nall his wrongs with cheerfulness and patience, and, leaving his cause in\nthe hands of God, look to Heaven alone for his reward! Who is there that\ndoes not feel irresistibly impelled, with Bishop Ives, to cease \"wailing\nover the _imaginary_ suffering\" of the slaves, and to unite with him in\n\"the heart-felt exclamation, 'How happy are the people that are in such\na case! yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God'\"?\n(Bishop Ives's \"Address to the Convention in his Diocese;\" Jay's\n\"Letter,\" p. 3). Who cannot say to the slaves, with Mr. Glennie (p. 58),\n\"Your advantages are indeed great: ... oh! make full use of your\nprivileges, and show that you thank God by serving him\"?\n\nTo teach untruths is a greater wrong to a man's soul than merely to keep\nhim in ignorance. How much more pitifully wicked is it, then, to teach\nsuch untruths only or mainly as must advance the pecuniary interest of\nthe oppressor!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nINDIRECT INSTRUCTION.--NO LEGAL MARRIAGE OF SLAVES.\n\n  \"Marriage unites all which ennobles and beautifies life.\"--_De\n  Wette._\n\n  \"Negro marriages are neither recognized nor protected by\n  law.\"--_Rev. C. C. Jones._\n\n\nBesides the direct instruction thus imparted to slaves, there is an\nindirect instruction much more powerful and effective in securing their\ndegradation.\n\n\"Marriage,\" says De Wette, \"is genuine only when single and permanent.\nIt is then also the first and most important institution of human\nexistence; the foundation of all civilization and culture; the root of\nchurch and state. It is the most intimate covenant of heart formed among\nmankind; and thousands are first made aware by it that they have within\nthem a nobler impulse and a nobler want than to labor, to acquire, and\nto enjoy. It is the union of manly strength with feminine gentleness;\nthe tempering of masculine rudeness by female delicacy; and, for\ninnumerable persons, the only relation in which they feel the true\nsentiments of humanity. It gives scope for every human virtue, since\neach of these is developed from the love and confidence which here\npredominate. It unites all which ennobles and beautifies\nlife,--sympathy, kindness of will and deed, gratitude, devotion, and\nevery delicate, intimate feeling. As the only asylum for true education,\nit is the first and last sanctuary of human culture. As husband and\nwife, through each other, become conscious of complete humanity, of\nevery humane feeling and every humane virtue; so children, at their\nfirst awakening in the fond covenant of love between parents, both of\nwhom are tenderly concerned for the same object, find an image of\ncomplete humanity, leagued in free love. The spirit of love, which\nprevails between them, acts with creative power upon the young mind, and\nawakens every germ of goodness within it. This invisible, uncalculated,\nand incalculable influence of parental life acts more upon the child\nthan all the efforts of education by means of instruction, precept, and\nexhortation.\"\n\nHow true and yet how faint a picture of the vast influence for good of\nthe institution of marriage! But if marriage thus unites all which it\nennobles and beautifies life; if, as a means of education, its influence\nis uncalculated and incalculable, what must be the moral degradation of\nthat people to whom marriage is denied? Must not the degradation also be\nuncalculated and incalculable? And yet such is the condition of the\nslaves! Not content with depriving them of all the higher and holier\nenjoyments of marriage, by degrading and darkening their souls, the\nslaveholders deny to their slaves even that slight alleviation to their\nmisery which would result from their marriage-relations being protected.\n\nIt is obviously true, that (Jones's \"Catechism,\" p. 112) \"all the\ncomfort and happiness of the marriage-state, and all the good flowing\nfrom it, to families and the world at large, depend upon its sacredness\nand purity.\" Without these there can be no marriage. No less true is it,\nthat the institution (\"Rel. Inst.\" p. 132) \"depends, for its perpetuity,\nsacredness, and value, _largely_ upon the protection given to it by the\nlaw of the land.\" _But the law gives no protection whatever to the\nmarriage of slaves!_\n\n\"Slaves cannot marry,\" says the Civil Code of Louisiana (Art. 182),\n\"without the consent of their masters; and their marriages do not\nproduce any of the civil effects which result from such contract.\"\n\n  \"With the consent of their masters, slaves may marry, and their\n  moral power to agree to such a contract or connection as that of\n  marriage cannot be doubted; but, whilst in a state of slavery, it\n  cannot produce any civil effect, because slaves are deprived of all\n  civil rights\" (6 Martin's Rep. 550.)\n\n  \"As the State,\" says a writer in the \"Carolina Baptist,\"\n  \"constitutionally and legally is ignorant of the marriage of slaves,\n  it is equally ignorant of its dissolution. _It leaves this whole\n  matter where it ought to be, that is, untouched, and with the owners\n  themselves._ If there be an abuse of this power, the remedy is not\n  with the State, but social, religious, and ecclesiastical\" (\"The\n  Church as it is,\" p. 77).\n\n\"_Negro marriages_,\" says Mr. Jones (\"Rel. Inst.\" pp. 132, 133), \"_are\nneither recognized nor protected by law._ The negroes receive no\ninstruction on the nature, sacredness, and perpetuity of the\ninstitution: at any rate, they are far from being duly impressed with\nthese things. They are not required to be married in any particular\nform, nor by any particular persons. Their ceremonies are performed by\ntheir own watchmen or teachers, by some white minister, or, as it\nfrequently happens, not at all.... There is no special disgrace\nnor punishment visited upon those who criminally violate their\nmarriage vows,[M] except what may be inflicted by owners, or, if\nthe parties be members, by the church in the way of suspension and\nexcommunication.\"--Page 119: \"_The relation is liable to disruption in a\nvariety of forms, for some of which there is no remedy._\"--Page 133:\n\"Families are, and may be, divided for improper conduct on the part of\neither husband or wife, _or by necessity, as in cases of the death of\nowners, division of estates, debt, sale, or removals; for they are\nsubject to all the changes and vicissitudes of property_. Such divisions\nare, however, carefully guarded against and prevented, _as far as\npossible_, by owners, on the score of interest, as well as of religion\nand humanity. Hence, as may well be imagined, the marriage-relation\nloses much of the sacredness and perpetuity of its character. It is a\ncontract of convenience, profit, or pleasure, that may be entered into\nand dissolved at the will of the parties, and that without heinous sin.\"\n\nWhat a pitiful and wicked mockery it is thus to expound to slaves the\nseventh commandment! (Jones's \"Catechism,\" pp. 110, 111):\n\n  \"Q. Should persons be married in a public or in a private way?--A.\n  In a public way.\n\n  Q. And by whom should the ceremony be performed?--A. By a minister\n  or some other lawful person.\n\n  Q. Is God really present to witness the marriage?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. How near of kin may a man marry?--A. His first cousin.\n\n  Q. After marriage, can husband and wife separate whenever they\n  please?--A. No.\n\n  Q. Has any person whatever power to separate them if he pleases?--A.\n  No.\n\n  Q. What saith our Saviour, 'What, therefore, God hath joined'? A.\n  'What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put\n  asunder.'\n\n  Q. Can husband and wife ever separate?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. In how many ways?--A. In two only.\n\n  Q. What is the first?--A. When either of them commits adultery.\n\n  Q. What is the second?--A. When either of them dies.\n\n  Q. After one dies, may the other lawfully marry again?--A. Yes.\n\n  Page 112: Q. How will God punish those who break this commandment in\n  the world to come?--A. In everlasting fire.\"\n\nHow sacred is the marriage of slaves! They cannot even go through the\n_form_, without the consent of their owners. And if the owner of two\nbodies consents to the performance of the ceremony \"by a minister or\nsome other lawful person,\" and God himself \"is really present to witness\nthe marriage,\" the law, notwithstanding, declares the so-called marriage\nto be as complete a nullity as the union of any other kind of\nlive-stock! It declares that those whom God hath joined may be put\nasunder, whenever the owner pleases; as if, wishing to raise money to\npay his debts, he finds it more convenient to sell the wife at auction\nto pledging his bank-stock; or if, wishing to remove, he thinks it will\nbe better economy to take his stock with him than sell out, perhaps at a\nsacrifice, and buy again an inferior article! In order to be able to\nlive with his wife at all, Henry Brown was obliged to hire her of her\nowner for fifty dollars a year; and, when her master became short of\nfunds, he sold the wife and three children, before Brown's very face, to\na Methodist minister,--one of those holy men who are \"called of God\" and\n\"solemnly set apart\" to preach to all men the gospel of love! So sacred\nis the marriage of slaves!\n\nThere is no such thing as a sacred marriage among slaves. Marriage, with\nthem, at its best estate, is but concubinage. The relation _must_ be\nentered into when and as the owner orders! It is changed whenever, in\nhis good pleasure, he wills that it shall change! It ends when he wills\nthat it shall end! Wherein is the union among the _human_ stock, on the\nSouthern plantations, regarded as more sacred and lasting than the union\namong the _brute_ stock? In both cases, the law considers the union as a\nmerely animal relation, for an animal purpose,--the increase, perhaps\nthe improvement, of the breed! So sacred is the marriage of slaves!\n\nThe following advertisements, and hundreds of similar ones might be\ncited, throw light on the subject:--\n\nFrom the \"Richmond Enquirer,\" Feb. 20, 1838:\n\n  \"STOP THE RUNAWAY!!!--$25 Reward. Ran away from the Eagle Tavern, a\n  negro fellow, named Nat. _He is no doubt attempting to follow his\n  wife, who was lately sold to a speculator, named Redmond._ The above\n  reward will be paid by Mrs. Lucy M. Downman, of Sussex county, Va.\"\n\nFrom the \"Richmond (Va.) Compiler,\" Sept. 8, 1837:\n\n  \"RAN AWAY FROM THE SUBSCRIBER--BEN. He ran off _without any known\n  cause_, and _I suppose he is aiming to go to his wife, who was\n  carried from the neighborhood last winter_.              JOHN HUNT.\"\n\nFrom the \"Lexington (Ky.) Intelligencer,\" July 7, 1838:\n\n  \"$160 REWARD.--Ran away from the subscribers, living in this city,\n  on Saturday, 16th inst. a negro man, named Dick, about 37 years of\n  age. _It is highly probable said boy will make for New Orleans, as\n  he has a wife living in that city, and he has been heard to say\n  frequently that he was determined to go to New Orleans._\n\n                                                     DRAKE & THOMPSON.\n  \"Lexington, June 17, 1838.\"\n\n  \"$50 REWARD.--Ran away from the subscriber, his negro man,\n  Pauladore, commonly called Paul. I understand Gen. R. Y. Hayne _has\n  purchased his wife and children_ from H. L. Pinckney, Esq. and has\n  them now on his plantation at Goosecreek, where, no doubt, the\n  fellow is frequently _lurking_.\n                                                            T. DAVIS.\"\n\nThe wife has been sold to the speculator in human flesh! The sacred\nrelation has been for ever sundered by God's overseer! The husband has\nbeen orally taught to say,--\"Thou shalt not commit adultery,\" and to\nconsider such to be a divine command. But he is strong and healthy, and\nhis master orders him to live with another woman. What is he to do? If\nhe obeys, he commits adultery, and disobeys God's commands. Truly a\ndifficult matter to settle!\n\nWhat ardent prayers will the church send up to heaven, that their\nbrother may have strength given to him to enable him to save his\nsoul alive! What earnest entreaties! How solemnly will the church\nremonstrate with its member against the commission of so great a\nsin! And, when prayers, entreaties, remonstrances, have all been\ntried and have failed, how sternly will the church proceed to the last\nextremity,--excommunication! If the man who marries his deceased wife's\nsister must be cut off from \"membership in the Saviour's body\" as\nimpure,[N] how much more must that man be cut off who is faithless\nduring his wife's lifetime?\n\nHow admirably does the Savannah River Baptist Association harmonize the\nworship of God and mammon, and reconcile obedience to the commands of\nthe master with obedience to God! This Association, in reply to the\nquestion (Brooke's \"Slavery,\" p. 38),--\n\n  \"Whether, in a case of involuntary separation, of such a character\n  as to preclude all prospect of future intercourse, the parties ought\n  to be allowed to marry again,\"\n\nAnswer--\n\n  \"That such separation among persons situated as our slaves are, is\n  civilly a separation by death; and they believe, that, in the sight\n  of God, it would be so viewed. To forbid second marriages in such\n  cases would be to expose the parties, not only to stronger hardships\n  and strong temptation, but to church-censure for acting in obedience\n  to their masters, who cannot be expected to acquiesce in a\n  regulation at variance with justice to the slaves, and to the spirit\n  of that command which regulates marriage among Christians. The\n  slaves are not free agents; and a dissolution by death is not more\n  entirely without their consent, and beyond their control, than by\n  such separation.\"\n\nA similar decision was made by the Shiloh Baptist Association in\nVirginia. This question was presented for solution (\"The Church as it\nis,\" pp. 76, 77),--\n\n  \"Is a servant, whose husband or wife has been sold by his or her\n  master into a distant country, to be permitted to marry again?\"\n\nThe query was referred to a committee, who made the following report;\nwhich, after discussion, was adopted:--\n\n  \"That, in view of the circumstances in which servants in this\n  country are placed, the committee are unanimous in the opinion, that\n  it is better to permit servants thus circumstanced to take another\n  husband or wife.\"\n\nConvenient truth! A different rule would lessen the productiveness of\nthe master's stock! Can any man who owns the body of his sister be\nexpected to acquiesce in a regulation which would deprive his property\nof half its value!\n\nBut, suppose the master wishes to sell the female slave for purposes of\nlicentiousness, or suppose the master is himself impure, is this\nagreeable to the order of Divine Providence? Does any one say that\neither law or public opinion protects the female slave from the\nbrutality of her master? The great frequency of outrages of this kind is\ndemonstrated by the tens of thousands of slaves, more or less white, who\nare found at the South. It was a Southerner who said, that the best\nblood of Virginia flowed in the veins of her slaves!\n\nFrom the \"Richmond (Va.) Whig:\"\n\n  \"$100 REWARD will be given for the apprehension of my negro(?)\n  Edmund Kenney. _He has straight hair, and complexion so nearly\n  white, that it is believed a stranger would suppose there was no\n  African blood in him._ He was with my boy Dick a short time since in\n  Norfolk, _and offered him for sale_, and was apprehended, _but\n  escaped under pretence of being a white man_!\n\n  \"January 6, 1836.                                  ANDERSON BOWLES.\"\n\nFrom the \"Republican Banner and Nashville Whig\" of July 14, 1849:\n\n  \"$200 REWARD--Ran away from the subscriber, on the 23d of June last,\n  a bright mulatto woman, named Julia, about 25 years of age. She is\n  of common size, _nearly white_, and very likely. She is a good\n  seamstress, and can read a little. _She may attempt to pass for\n  white_,--dresses fine. She took with her Anna, her child, 8 or 9\n  years old, and considerably darker than her mother.... She once\n  belonged to a Mr. Helm, of Columbia, Tennessee.\n\n  \"I will give a reward of $50 for said negro and child, if delivered\n  to me or confined in any jail in this State, so I can get them;\n  $100, if caught in any other Slave State, and confined in a jail so\n  that I can get them; and $200, if caught in any Free State, and put\n  in any good jail in Kentucky or Tennessee, so I can get them.\n\n  \"Nashville, July 9, 1849.                            A. W. JOHNSON.\"\n\nThe following three advertisements are taken from Alabama papers:\n\n  \"RAN AWAY FROM THE SUBSCRIBER, working on the plantation of Col. H.\n  Tinker, a bright mulatto boy, named Alfred. Alfred is about 18 years\n  old, pretty well grown, _has blue eyes, light flaxen hair, skin\n  disposed to freckle. He will try to pass as free-born._\n\n  \"Green County, Ala.                                  S. G. STEWART.\"\n\n  \"$100 REWARD.--Ran away from the subscriber, a bright mulatto\n  man-slave, named Sam. _Light sandy hair, blue eyes, ruddy\n  complexion,--is so white as very easily to pass for a free white\n  man._\n                                                           EDWIN PECK.\n  \"Mobile, April 22, 1837.\"\n\n  \"RAN AWAY, on the 15th of May, from me, a negro woman, named Fanny.\n  Said woman is 20 years old; is rather tall; can read and write, and\n  so forge passes for herself. Carried away with her a pair of\n  ear-rings,--a Bible with a red cover; is very pious. She prays a\n  great deal, and was, as supposed, contented and happy. _She is as\n  white as most white women, with straight light hair, and blue eyes,\n  and can pass herself for a white woman._ I will give $500 for her\n  apprehension and delivery to me. She is very intelligent.\n\n                                                           JOHN BALCH.\n  \"Tuscaloosa, May 29, 1845.\"\n\nFrom the \"Newbern (N.C.) Spectator:\"\n\n  \"$50 REWARD will be given for the apprehension and delivery to me of\n  the following slaves,--Samuel and Judy, his wife, with their four\n  children, belonging to the estate of Sacker Dubberly, deceased.\n\n  \"I will give $10 for the apprehension of _William Dubberly_, a slave\n  belonging to the estate. William is about 19 years old, _quite\n  white, and would not readily be taken for a slave_.\n\n  \"March 13, 1837.                                       JOHN J. LANE.\"\n\nThe next two advertisements we cut from the \"New Orleans Picayune\" of\nSept. 2, 1846:\n\n  \"$25 REWARD.--Ran away from the plantation of Madame Fergus\n  Duplantier, on or about the 27th of June, 1846, a bright mulatto,\n  named Ned, very stout built, about 5 feet 11 inches high, _speaks\n  English and French_, about 35 years old, waddles in his walk. _He\n  may try to pass himself for a white man, as he is of a very clear\n  color, and has sandy hair._ The above reward will be paid to whoever\n  will bring him to Madame Duplantier's plantation, Manchac, or lodge\n  him in some jail where he can be conveniently obtained.\"\n\n  \"$200 REWARD.--Ran away from the subscriber, last November, _a white\n  negro_ man, about 35 years old, height about 5 feet 8 or 10 inches,\n  _blue eyes, has a yellow woolly head, very fair skin_,\n  (particularly under his clothes).... Said negro man was raised in\n  Columbia, S.C. and is well known by the name of Dick Frazier.... He\n  was lately known to be working on the railroad in Alabama, near\n  Moore's Turn Out, _and passed as a white man_, by the name of Jesse\n  Teams. I will give the above reward for his delivery in any jail, so\n  that I can get him; and I will give $500 for sufficient proof to\n  convict, in open court, any man who carried him away.\n\n  \"Barnwell Court House, S.C.                             J. D. ALLEN.\n\n  \"P.S. Said man has a good-shaped foot and leg, and his foot is very\n  small and hollow.\"\n\nIn the \"New Orleans Bee\" of June 22, 1831, P. Bahi advertises as a\nrunaway \"_Maria, with a clear, white complexion_.\" Ellen Craft is as\nwhite as our own sisters. Wm. W. Brown (\"Narrative,\" p. 34), describing\na gang of slaves who were under his charge, and destined to supply the\nNew Orleans market, thus speaks of one who attracted the attention of\nthe passengers and the crew:--\n\n  \"It was a _beautiful girl_, apparently about twenty yeas of age,\n  _perfectly white, with straight, light hair, and blue eyes_. But it\n  was not the whiteness of her skin that created such a sensation\n  among those who gazed upon her: it was her almost unparalleled\n  beauty. She had been on the boat but a short time before the\n  attention of all the passengers, including the ladies, had been\n  called to her; and the common topic of conversation was about the\n  beautiful slave-girl.\"\n\nA friend, a resident for some time in New Orleans, describes to us a\nvery beautiful slave he saw there, who had light curling hair, blue\neyes, and almost a blonde complexion. After having been kept as a\nmistress by her owner, he finally sold her to pay his debts! No isolated\ncase is exhibited by Wm. W. Brown when he relates the history of poor\nCynthia!\n\nIs any sickly sentimentalist shocked at these recitals? Be of stout\nheart! Do not Christian bishops, and hundreds of other reverend\nfathers,--the messengers of God's everlasting truth to our\nsouls,--assure us that _slavery_, \"AS IT EXISTS,\" _is right_; and that,\nconsequently, the fundamental maxim of slavery, \"the child follows the\ncondition of the mother,\" is right also! Why, then, should not the\nchildren of slave-women by white fathers be rightfully slaves? Of what\nconsequence, then, is the pollution of the soul of the mother, compared\nwith the fact of her increased value as a commodity? How utterly\ninsignificant is the fact that a father holds his own children in\nslavery, compared with the advantages notoriously derived from such an\nimprovement in the slave-stock? In sober, literal truth, the brother\nowns the body of his sister, and the sister that of her brother,--so\nsacred is the marriage-state of slaves! If the father wishes to repair\nthe wrong he has done, the law forbids his teaching his own child to\nread or write! If he is poor, too poor to pay his debts, a creditor may\nseize his child in its very cradle, and sell it at auction to pay the\ndebt! It ought not to be otherwise! Is it not agreeable to the order of\nDivine Providence, that a child should be sold to pay his father's\ndebts? How fitting it is for Mr. Jones and Bishop Freeman to teach such\na vendible commodity to say, \"Thou shalt honor thy father and thy\nmother\"!\n\nDoes any reader still doubt whether an owner thus has uncontrolled\nauthority over the body of his female slave? Let him read the following\nextract from an opinion of the Supreme Court of the State of North\nCarolina,--the Old North State, whence Bishop Ives has long since ceased\nto weep over the \"imaginary sufferings\" of the slaves! To avoid a\nchastisement, a female slave ran off, and, on her refusal to stop when\ncalled, was shot at and wounded. Judge Ruffin, in delivering the opinion\nof the court (State _vs._ Mann, 2 Dev. Rep. 263), says:--\n\n  \"The inquiry here is, whether a cruel and unreasonable battery on a\n  slave by the hirer is indictable?... In criminal proceedings, and,\n  indeed, in reference to all other persons but the general owner, the\n  hirer and possessor of a slave, in relation to both rights and\n  duties, is, for the time being, the owner....\n\n  \"With slavery it is far otherwise. The end is the profit of the\n  master, his security, and the public peace. The subject is one\n  doomed in his own person, and in his posterity, to live without\n  knowledge, and without capacity to make any thing his own, and to\n  toil that others may reap the fruits.\n\n  \"What moral considerations shall be addressed to such a being to\n  convince him what it is impossible but that the most stupid must\n  feel and know can never be true, that he is thus to labor upon a\n  principle of natural duty, or for the sake of his own personal\n  happiness? Such services can only be expected from one who has no\n  will of his own, who surrenders his will in explicit obedience to\n  that of another. _Such obedience is the consequence only of\n  uncontrolled authority over the body._ There is nothing else which\n  can operate to produce the effect. The power of the master must be\n  absolute to render the submission of the slave perfect. I most\n  freely confess my sense of the harshness of this proposition. I feel\n  it as deeply as any man can. And, as a principle of moral right,\n  every person in his retirement must repudiate it. But, in the actual\n  condition of things, it must be so. There is no remedy. This\n  discipline belongs to slavery.\"[O]\n\nJudge Ruffin had not enjoyed the benefit of the instruction imparted\nsome years later by Bishops Ives and Freeman. If he had, he would not\nthus have followed the dictate of a \"desperately wicked\" heart, and have\nrepudiated the discipline of slavery as morally wrong!\n\nThe Rev. Robert J. Breckenridge, of the Presbyterian Church, himself a\nslaveholder, was a delegate to the State Emancipation Convention\nrecently held in Kentucky. In a speech made by him before the\nConvention, he is reported to have said (\"Louisville Examiner\"), that--\n\n  \"The system of slavery denies to a whole class of human beings the\n  sacredness of marriage and of home, compelling them to live in a\n  state of concubinage; for, in the eye of the law, _no colored\n  slave-man is the husband of any wife in particular, nor any\n  slave-woman the wife of any husband in particular; no slave-man is\n  the father of any children in particular, and no slave-child is the\n  child of any parent in particular_.\"\n\nWho will venture even to conceive, much less compute, the deep\ndegradation caused by the denial of marriage to the slaves?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n\"SOUL-DRIVING.\"\n\n  \"A negro speculator, or a _soul-driver_ as they are generally called\n  among slaves.\"--_Wm. W. Brown's Narrative_, p. 39.\n\n\nIf we would most effectually degrade a man, we need only trample on the\nhighest and holiest of all his rights,--his right to himself; we have\nonly to make him the subject of barter and sale, a thing for speculators\nto make money on, for jockeys to deceive about, and for buyers to\ndepreciate. And yet how few act as if they admitted this truth, or even\nfaintly realized the enormity of this wrong!\n\nSlaves, as subjects of property, are continually spoken of and treated\nas horses and cows, and other live-stock! Tens of thousands of\nadvertisements might be adduced to prove this. We have room only for a\nvery few proofs. The Civil Code of Louisiana provides:--\n\n  \"Art. 2500. The latent defects of slaves and animals are divided\n  into two classes,--vices of body and vices of character.\n\n  \"Art. 2501. The vices of body are distinguished into absolute and\n  relative....\n\n  \"Art. 2502. The absolute vices of slaves are leprosy, madness, and\n  epilepsy.\n\n  \"Art 2503. The absolute vices of horses and mules are short wind,\n  glanders, and founder.\"\n\nIn the \"National Intelligencer\" of May 2, 1843, the administrators of\nAlexius Boarman advertise for sale \"twelve or thirteen likely young\nnegroes, among whom are two carpenters; four head of horses, two yoke\nof oxen, several head of cows, all the sheep and hogs belonging to said\ndeceased.\" The same paper of December 2, 1843, contains the following:--\n\n  \"PUBLIC SALE OF VERY VALUABLE NEGROES AND STOCK.--The subscriber\n  will offer at public sale at his residence, near Bladensburg, Prince\n  George's County, Maryland, on Wednesday, the 20th of December next,\n  if fair, if not, the next fair day thereafter, _forty-five or fifty\n  very valuable young negroes, consisting of men and women, boys,\n  girls, and children_.\n\n  \"_At the same time and place, he will offer his entire stock of\n  blood horses, together with some farm stock._\n\n  \"The terms of sale will be a credit of nine and eighteen months; the\n  purchaser giving bond with approved security, bearing interest from\n  the day of sale.\n\n  \"Sale to commence at 10 o'clock, A. M.                SAMUEL SPRIGG.\n\n  \"The Marlborough Gazette will copy till day of sale.\"\n\nIn the same paper of January 25, 1843, directly under an advertisement\nfor sale of \"_a girl_ about 18 years of age, who is honest, industrious,\nand a good cook, fine washer and ironer, and a good seamstress,\" we find\nthe notice of a \"_Blooded colt_ at auction.--A thorough bred colt, two\nyears old the coming spring, got by Farmer, dam by Lafayette\"! D. H.\nCandler, the sheriff of Montgomery County, Md. in an advertisement now\nbefore us, states that he has seized on execution, and will sell \"for\ncash only\" at the Court House door in Rockville, \"_one stallion, Red\nBuck_, and _one negro boy, John_\"![P] To bring the case nearer home:--in\nthe \"New England Weekly Journal\" of August 27, 1733, printed in\n_Boston_, we find the following advertisement:--\n\n  \"SEVERAL LIKELY YOUNG NEGROES, best Barbadoes sugars, very good\n  Bohea tea, bag Hollands, fine cambric muslins, and sundry other\n  merchandise, to be sold by Hugh Hall, Esq.\"[Q]\n\nIn the \"Boston Gazette\" of October 21, 1734:--\n\n  \"TO BE SOLD BY ----, Several likely young negroes, lately\n  imported,--as men, women, boys. Also choice raisins of the sun,\n  gunpowder, Newcastle glass, in crates and boxes.\"\n\nNot only are slaves thus placed on the same level with other property,\nbut they are treated in the same manner. As our horse-jockeys not\ninfrequently color their horses, or put on false tails, for the sake of\nenhancing their value, so similar arts are practised by the\nslave-jockeys of the South! Wm. W. Brown thus describes a part of his\nduties, whilst hired to the slave-trader Walker (\"Narrative,\" pp. 42,\n43):\n\n  \"In the course of eight or nine weeks, Mr. Walker had his cargo of\n  human flesh made up. There was in this lot a number of old men and\n  women, some of them with gray locks. We left St. Louis in the\n  steamboat Carlton, Captain Swan, bound for New Orleans. On our way\n  down, and before we reached Rodney, the place where we made our\n  first stop, I had to prepare the old slaves for market. I was\n  ordered to have the old men's whiskers shaved off, and the gray\n  hairs plucked out, where they were not too numerous, in which case\n  he had a preparation of blacking to color it, and with a\n  blacking-brush we would put it on. This was new business to me, and\n  was performed in a room where the passengers could not see us. These\n  slaves were also taught how old they were by Mr. Walker; and, after\n  going through the blacking process, they looked ten or fifteen years\n  younger; and I am sure that some of those who purchased slaves of\n  Mr. Walker were dreadfully cheated, especially in the ages of the\n  slaves which they bought.\"--Pp. 45, 46: \"The next day we proceeded\n  to New Orleans, and put the gang in the same negro-pen which we\n  occupied before. In a short time the planters came flocking to the\n  pen to purchase slaves. Before the slaves were exhibited for sale,\n  they were dressed and driven out into the yard. Some were set to\n  dancing, some to jumping, some to singing, and some to playing\n  cards. This was done to make them appear cheerful and happy. My\n  business was to see that they were placed in those situations before\n  the arrival of the purchasers, and I have often set them to dancing\n  when their cheeks were wet with tears.\"\n\nCan such treatment result in any thing but brutalizing every noble\nfaculty? If advertisements of stallions and boys, blood-horses and men\nand women, blooded colts and young slave-girls, are considered so very\nsimilar as to be placed in the same paragraph, or alongside each other,\nhow great a difference can there be in the treatment by the public of\nthe two kinds of stock? Is the auction-block a scene for cultivating the\naffections of a poor slave-girl? Are the coarse and unfeeling jests\nthere perpetrated calculated to increase her purity, or strengthen her\nmoral sensibilities? Treat a man as you would have him to be, is a good\nmaxim. Respect him, and he will respect himself. Continually disregard\nhis holiest and best purposes, and in time he will do the same.\n\nWhat but pecuniary profit does the speculator in horses look to? What\nother object has the speculator in men, women, and children, in view?\nWhatever mammon bids the slave-trader do, will be done. How much more\nthan this, or will any thing more than this, be done? Will such a person\nconsider as of any consequence the broken hearts of husbands and wives,\nof parents and children, who are torn by this terrible trade from all\nthey hold dear in life, so long as their bodies are sound, strong, and\nhealthy; so long as the investment retains its market-value? Of what\nconsequence is deep, heart-felt agony to a speculator? Is he whose idol\nis gold to be turned from his purpose merely by the foolish wailing of a\nwoman whose heart-strings are breaking? Do the cries of children made\norphans, and of parents made childless, by his acts, move the heart of\nthat man who makes his living by buying parents and children, husbands\nand wives, at the lowest prices, and by selling them, \"singly or in lots\nto suit,\" to whomsoever will give the highest price?\n\nThe following is a well-known extract front an Address (p. 12) published\nby the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky to the churches under their care,\nin 1835:--\n\n  \"Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are\n  torn asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. These acts\n  are daily occurring in the midst of us. The shrieks and the agony\n  often witnessed on such occasions proclaim, with a trumpet-tongue,\n  the iniquity of our system. There is not a neighborhood where these\n  heart-rending scenes are not displayed. There is not a village or\n  road that does not behold the sad procession of manacled outcasts,\n  whose mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by force from\n  all that their hearts hold dear.\"\n\nIn the \"New Orleans Bulletin,\" we find the following \"Slavery as it is,\"\np. 168):--\n\n  \"NEGROES FOR SALE.--A negro woman, 24 years of age, and has two\n  children, one eight, and the other three years. _Said negroes will\n  be sold separately or together, as desired._ The woman is a good\n  seamstress. She will be sold low for cash, or _exchanged for\n  groceries_. For terms apply to                  MAYHEW, BLISS, & CO.\n                                                      1, Front Levee.\"\n\nA similar advertisement will be found in the \"New England Weekly\nJournal\" (Boston), April 9, 1733; printers, S. Kneeland and T. Green:--\n\n  \"A VERY LIKELY NEGRO WOMAN, that has a child of _about six weeks\n  old, to be sold, either with or without the child_. Inquire of the\n  printers hereof.\"\n\nThe following was a standing advertisement, a few years since, in the\nCharleston (S. C.) papers:--\n\n  \"ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY NEGROES FOR SALE.--The subscriber has just\n  arrived from Petersburg, Virginia, with one hundred and twenty\n  likely young negroes, of both sexes and every description, which he\n  offers for sale on the most reasonable terms.\n\n  \"The lot now on hand consists of plough-boys; several likely and\n  well-qualified house-servants, of both sexes; several women with\n  children; small girls, suitable for nurses; and _several small boys,\n  without their mothers_. Planters and traders are earnestly requested\n  to give the subscriber a call previously to making purchases\n  elsewhere, as he is enabled, and will sell as cheap or cheaper than\n  can be sold by any other person in the trade.\n\n  \"Hamburg, S.C. Sept. 28, 1838.                      BENJAMIN DAVIS.\"\n\nThis is taken from the \"Jackson (Tenn.) Telegraph,\" Sept. 14, 1838:--\n\n  \"COMMITTED TO THE JAIL OF MADISON COUNTY, a negro woman, who calls\n  her name Fanny, and says she belongs to Wm. Miller, of Mobile. She\n  formerly belonged to John Givins, of this county, who now owns\n  several of her children.                  DAVID SHROPSHIRE, Jailer.\"\n\nHow strong was that poor mother's love! She had toiled all the way from\nMobile to the county where her children lived, and the laws of a\nChristian country consigned her to the jail! Perhaps, in her loneliness,\nshe remembered some oral instruction like this (Jones's \"Catechism,\" pp.\n125,126):\n\n  \"Q. Should mothers and fathers very tenderly love their\n  children?--A. Yes.\n\n  Q. And, as they receive their children from the Lord, is it not\n  their duty and privilege to present them unto the Lord in his own\n  appointed ordinance, and to train them up for his church and\n  service?--A. Yes....\n\n  Q. What should they teach them to do every night and morning?--A.\n  Pray to God.\n\n  Q. What book should parents early make their children acquainted\n  with, and out of which diligently instruct them?--A. The Holy Bible.\n\n  Q. Is it the duty of parents to pray with and for their children\n  continually?--A. Yes.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  Q. Is it their duty to warn their children of bad company, and keep\n  them out of it?--A. Yes.\"\n\nPoor slave-mother! very tenderly indeed did you love your children. But,\nin your agony, you forgot that it was wicked to run away,--even for the\nsake of teaching them to pray night and morning! How thankful, then,\nought you to be to God, that, in his great mercy, he was willing to\npunish your transgression in this world, instead of the next!\n\nWe never so deeply feel the brutalizing effects of slavery as when we\nreflect upon its peculiarly degrading influences upon woman. On some\naccounts, we would gladly pass over this point in silence; but so\natrocious a wrong should rest upon the heart of every one.\n\nIt is an established maxim of trade, that the supply eventually equals\nthe demand. If the trade happens to be in men and women; in one way or\nanother, men and women will be supplied to meet the demand. There is a\ngreat demand for slaves in the Southern and South-western States,\nbecause slave-labor is very profitable there. \"The domestic cannot\ncompete with the South-western demand for slaves,\" says a writer in the\nleading Democratic paper of Virginia (\"Richmond Enquirer,\" Nov. 13,\n1846). The slaves in the South and West do not increase fast enough to\nsupply the demand. The foreign slave-trade is piracy. The only resource,\ntherefore, which is left to those States is a domestic slave-trade with\nthe Northern Slave States; where, to meet the demand, they resort to\nbreeding slaves! _Woman is degraded into a breeder!_\n\nMr. Gholson, of Virginia, in his speech in the legislature of that\nState, Jan. 18, 1832 (see \"Richmond Whig\"), says:--\n\n  \"It has always (perhaps erroneously) been considered by steady and\n  old-fashioned people, that the owner of land had a reasonable right\n  to its annual profits; the owner of orchards, to their annual\n  fruits; the owner of _brood mares_, to their product; and the owner\n  of _female slaves, to their increase_. We have not the fine-spun\n  intelligence nor legal acumen to discover the technical distinctions\n  drawn by gentlemen. The legal maxim of '_Partus sequitur ventrem_'\n  is coeval with the existence of the rights of property itself, and\n  is founded in wisdom and justice. It is on the justice and\n  inviolability of this maxim that the master foregoes the service of\n  the female slave; has her nursed and attended during the period of\n  her gestation, and raises the helpless and infant offspring. The\n  value of the property justifies the expense; and I do not hesitate\n  to say, that in its increase consists much of our wealth.\"\n\nHon. Thomas M. Randolph, of Virginia, formerly governor of that State,\nin his speech before the legislature in 1832, said:--\n\n  \"_It is a practice, and an increasing practice, in parts of\n  Virginia, to rear slaves for market._ How can an honorable mind, a\n  patriot, and a lover of his country, bear to see this ancient\n  dominion converted into _one grand menagerie, where men are to be\n  reared for market, like oxen for the shambles_!\"\n\nPresident Dew, of William and Mary's College, speaking of the annual\nexportation of slaves from Virginia, says:--\n\n  \"A full equivalent being thus left in the place of the slave, this\n  emigration becomes an advantage to the State, and does not check the\n  black population as much as at first view we might imagine; because\n  it furnishes every inducement to the master to attend to the\n  negroes, to _encourage breeding_, and to cause the greatest number\n  possible to be raised,\" &c.\n\n  \"_Virginia is, in fact, a negro-raising State for other States._\"\n\nHenry Clay, in his speech before the Colonization Society in 1829,\nsays:--\n\n  \"It is believed that nowhere in the farming portion of the United\n  States would slave-labor be generally employed, if the proprietor\n  were not tempted _to raise slaves by the high price of the Southern\n  market, which keeps it up in his own_.\"\n\n\"It is a melancholy fact,\" says the same writer in the \"Richmond (Va.)\nEnquirer,\" Nov. 13, 1846, \"that negroes have become the only _reliable\nstaple_ of the tobacco-growing sections of Virginia, the only reliable\nmeans of liquidating debts foreign and domestic.\"\n\nThe following advertisement is taken from the \"Charleston (S.C.)\nMercury\" (\"Slavery as it is,\" p. 175):--\n\n  \"NEGROES FOR SALE.--A girl, about twenty years of age (raised in\n  Virginia), and her two female children, one four and the other two\n  years old; is remarkable strong and healthy, never having had a\n  day's sickness, with the exception of the small-pox, in her life.\n  The children are fine and healthy. _She is very prolific in her\n  generating qualities, and affords a rare opportunity to any person\n  who wishes to raise a family of strong and healthy servants for\n  their own use._\n\n  \"Any person wishing to purchase will please leave their address at\n  the Mercury office.\"\n\nDoes any reader exclaim there must be some mistake; it is impossible\nthat such a notice could be inserted in the _leading political paper_ of\nSouth Carolina? Will he feel any more convinced by reading this, taken\nfrom the \"_Boston_ Evening Post\" of September 10, 1744?--\n\n  \"TO BE SOLD,--A likely negro wench, about 25 years of age, that can\n  do all sorts of household work, especially cookery; _is very hearty\n  and strong; has proved her faculty at propagation_, and is very\n  fluent in the English language. Inquire of the printer.\"\n\nSlavery is said to have existed in a _mild_ form in Massachusetts! And\nyet we find in our own history parallels to some of the most brutal\natrocities which can be perpetrated on any human being. So essentially\nthe same is the character and effect of slavery, wherever it exists!\nDoes any one, and who does not, feel deep disgust at these recitals? Let\nus rather feel disgusted at the system which leads to such atrocities!\nLet not our indignation rest upon the story of the wrong, but upon the\nwrong itself and its perpetrators.\n\nDoes any one say these are solitary instances of atrocity? Doubtless\nsuch advertisements are rare, but not unique. Others of the same kind,\nand still more atrocious, might be adduced. But which constitutes the\ngreater atrocity,--to use men and women as \"stallions\" and \"brood\nmares,\" or to speak or print the damning deed? If the latter shows\nhardened feeling, what does the former prove? If these advertisements\nwere the only ones of the kind which could be cited, still they tell a\nstory of brutal outrage, which is happening in this Christian land,\nevery day, hour, and minute, to tens of thousands of human beings! Other\nadvertisements, showing the brutality of the examinations to which women\nare frequently subjected, might be cited. But for these we must refer\nthe reader to other anti-slavery documents; for enough of the disgusting\ndetails has been exhibited to establish our position.\n\nTo obtain any thing like an adequate conception of the brutalizing\ninfluence upon the slaves of this trading in their bodies and the bodies\nof their children, we must first see to what an extent it is carried. We\nshall confine our attention chiefly to those who make a business of the\nmatter, \"to gentlemen dealing in slaves;\" leaving almost wholly\nunnoticed the vast number of instances of buying and selling slaves\nbetween private individuals, chaffering between neighbors, for their\nprivate ends! Not that this latter kind of slave-trade is any less\ndegrading in its effects, but only because proofs in relation to the\nother are more accessible, and are amply sufficient for our purpose.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\"DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE.\"\n\n  \"The traffic in slaves is irreconcilable with the principles of\n  justice and humanity.\"--_Treaty of Ghent._\n\n\nNo description of ours can give any adequate idea of the extent of this\nterrible trade. It is as regular a branch of business as any other that\ncan be named. The city of Washington licenses persons to \"traffic in\nslaves for profit\"! The trade is carried on between Maryland, Virginia,\nNorth and South Carolina, Kentucky,--or the slave-raising States,--and\nAlabama, Mississippi, and the other slave-consuming States. Depots, or\nprivate jails, are erected at convenient places.\n\nIn the \"American Beacon\" (published at Norfolk, Va.), Jan. 24, 1848,\nappear the two following advertisements:--\n\n  \"NEGRO REPOSITORY.--The undersigned has, at a very considerable\n  expense, erected, and fitted up in a style of comfort and\n  convenience, a commodious two-story building on Union-street, second\n  door east of Church-street, for the safe keeping and accommodation\n  of negroes, both male and female (the apartments being entirely\n  separate), which are brought to this market for sale. This building\n  is admirably adapted to the object proposed, having airy and\n  pleasant rooms, and every convenience which could be desired,\n  besides large yards, _walled in high_, a capacious cistern, &c.\n  which, whilst they secure the comfort of the negro, likewise\n  guarantee the most ample security for his safe keeping.\n\n  \"In addition to boarding negroes for sale, the undersigned proposes\n  keeping on hand from time to time, for sale, such negroes as may be\n  in demand in this market, embracing every description of house and\n  field-hands, male and female, young and old, that may be called for,\n  and upon terms entirely accommodating.\n\n  \"Besides the boarding and the selling of negroes, he will also make\n  exchanges, giving or receiving such boot as the difference in age,\n  character, qualifications, and appearance may notify.\n\n  \"The highest cash market prices paid for negroes of both sexes at\n  all times.                                             WM. W. HALL.\"\n\n  \"CASH FOR NEGROES.--I will pay the highest cash for likely young\n  negroes of both sexes, from 10 to 30 years of age. All those that\n  have such to dispose of would do well to give me a call before\n  selling. I will also attend to shipping of negroes to any of the\n  Southern ports, free of charge, when left with me; _as I have a\n  private jail for the safe keeping of servants_. For further\n  information, inquire at my office at Union Hotel, Union-street, or\n  through the post-office.                            G. W. APPERSON.\"\n\nThe following is taken from a New Orleans paper:--\n\n  \"SLAVE DEPOT.--J. Buddy.--Slave-yard and boarding-house, 159,\n  Gravier-street, second door from Carondelet.\n\n  \"House-servants and field-hands for sale at all times. Slaves will\n  be received on board or sold on favorable terms. The building is a\n  large three-story brick house, and _very commodious as a slave\n  depot_. Particular attention will be paid to the health and\n  cleanliness of all slaves placed in this yard.\"\n\nFrom the \"Missouri Republican,\" St. Louis, July 13, 1849:--\n\n  \"REMOVAL.--Blakey & McAfee have removed to No. 93, Olive-street, six\n  doors west of their old stand. They are prepared at all times to pay\n  the highest prices for negroes. _They have also a good secure yard,\n  with a strong jail attached_, and are prepared to board negroes sent\n  to this market for sale. Persons having negroes for sale will please\n  call and see us. Those wishing to purchase can find what they want\n  at our yard.                              BLAKEY & MCAFEE,\n                                                No. 93, Olive-street.\"\n\nHon. Horace Mann has described to us the slave-pen in the city of\nWashington; and another member of Congress informs us, that the United\nStates jail in the District of Columbia is frequently used for the\npurpose of storing human beings for sale! Thus, in the \"National\nIntelligencer\" (Dec. 19, 1844), we find the following notice:--\n\n  \"FOR SALE,--A likely young negro, in the jail of Washington. He is a\n  most excellent teamster, and well acquainted with the care of\n  horses. Persons wishing to purchase will apply to Mr. Ball, at the\n  jail, where the boy may be seen, and further information given.\"\n\nThe activity of this trade may be inferred from these advertisements,\nwhich constitute but a small portion of what might be produced.\n\nIn the \"National Intelligencer,\" March 28, 1836, three slave-traders in\nthe District of Columbia advertise for _twelve hundred_ negroes, and a\nfourth offers to buy any number! Here is one of the advertisements:--\n\n  \"CASH FOR FIVE HUNDRED NEGROES, including both sexes, from ten to\n  twenty-five years of age.--Persons having likely servants to dispose\n  of will find it their interest to give us a call, as we will give\n  higher prices in cash than any other purchaser who is now or may\n  hereafter come into the market.     FRANKLIN & AMFIELD, Alexandria.\"\n\nIn a later number of the same paper are the following:--\n\n  \"CASH FOR NEGROES.--I will give cash and liberal prices for any\n  number of young and likely negroes, from eight to forty years of\n  age. Persons having negroes to dispose of will find it to their\n  advantage to give me a call at my residence, on the corner of\n  Seventh-street and Maryland Avenue, and opposite Mr. Williams's\n  private jail.                                  WILLIAM H. RICHARDS.\"\n\n  \"CASH FOR NEGROES.--The subscriber wishes to purchase a number of\n  negroes for the Louisiana and Mississippi market. Himself or an\n  agent at all times can be found at his jail, on Seventh-street.\n                                                     WM. H. WILLIAMS.\"\n\nIn a later number, June 24, 1843, Mr. Richards is not so eager:--\n\n  \"CASH FOR NEGROES.--The subscriber wishes to purchase twenty or\n  thirty negroes, and will pay the highest market price. Persons\n  having negroes to sell will find it to their interest to give him a\n  call before they sell. I can be always found at my residence,\n  corner of Seventh-street and Maryland Avenue. All communications\n  through the post-office will be promptly attended to.\n                                                     WM. H. RICHARDS.\"\n\nIn a still later number, July 22, 1843, appears this:--\n\n  \"CASH! CASH!--The subscriber wishes to purchase any number of\n  negroes for the Southern markets. The subscriber will at all times\n  give the highest market price in cash for likely negroes, mechanics\n  and house servants included. Himself or agent can at all times be\n  seen at the corner of Seventh-street and Maryland Avenue. All\n  communications will receive prompt attention.      THOMAS WILLIAMS.\"\n\nThe following are samples of some of the advertisements of Maryland\ntraders. The original of all of these advertisements will be found at\nthe Anti-Slavery office, Boston. We begin with one of Hope H. Slatter:--\n\n  \"NEGROES WANTED.--Having returned from New Orleans, I will now pay\n  the highest cash prices for all likely negroes that are slaves for\n  life and good titles. All communications will be promptly attended\n  to.                                   HOPE H. SLATTER, Pratt-street.\n\n  \"N.B. On the 7th day of June, 1844, Jonathan M. Wilson (my former\n  agent), by mutual consent, withdrew from my employment, and is no\n  longer my agent.                                    HOPE H. SLATTER.\n\n  \"Baltimore, July 29.\"\n\n  \"CASH FOR FIVE HUNDRED NEGROES, at the old establishment of\n  Slatter's, No. 244, Pratt-street, Baltimore, between Sharp and\n  Howard-streets, where the highest prices are paid,--which is well\n  known. _We have large accommodations for negroes, and always\n  buying._ _Being regular shippers to New Orleans_, persons should\n  bring their property where no commissions are paid, as the owners\n  lose it. All communications attended to promptly by addressing\n                                                       H. F. SLATTER.\"\n\n  \"NEGROES WANTED.--I have removed from my former residence, West\n  Pratt-street, to my new establishment on Camden-street, immediately\n  in the rear of the railroad depot, where I am permanently located.\n  Persons bringing negroes by the cars will find it very convenient,\n  as it is only a few yards from where the passengers get out. Those\n  having negroes for sale will find it to their advantage to call and\n  see me, as I am at all times paying the highest prices in cash.\n                                        J. S. DONOVAN, Baltimore, Md.\"\n\n  \"NEGROES WANTED.--O. C. & S. Y. Harris, of Upper Marlboro', wish to\n  purchase any number of negroes, for which they will give the highest\n  market price in cash. They will be in Port Tobacco once in every\n  week. Any communications left in their absence with Mr. Lyne\n  Shackelford will be promptly attended to.\"\n\n  \"NEGROES WANTED.--The highest market prices will be given for\n  negroes at all times. Persons having negroes for sale will please\n  call at my office, No. 26, Conway-street, between Charles and\n  Hanover. Communications promptly attended to.\n\n  \"Also negroes will be received and kept at twenty-five cents per\n  day.                                                 B. M. CAMPBELL.\n\n  \"April 7, 1846.\"\n\n  \"NEGROES WANTED.--Persons wishing to sell their negroes will find it\n  to their advantage to give me a call before selling elsewhere. _I\n  have all the facilities that the trade will admit of in the New\n  Orleans and other markets._ Such being the case, I can give as much\n  as any one else, which I am determined to do. Any communication\n  addressed to me, either in Baltimore or Port Tobacco, will be\n  attended to immediately.                           JOHN G. CAMPBELL,\n  \"Jan. 1, 1847.                             Agent for B. M. Campbell.\"\n\n  \"TAKE NOTICE.--Persons wishing to dispose of their servants would do\n  well to give me a call before they sell to the traders. By paying a\n  small commission to an agent, they can get from $75 to $100 more; as\n  _I receive monthly from New Orleans, Savannah, Georgia, and\n  Charleston, S.C. the full market prices for slaves_.\n                \"SCOTT'S Intelligence Office, No. 10, Exchange Place.\"\n\nThe following is taken from the \"Wilmington (Va.) Journal\" of Sept. 3,\n1847:--\n\n  \"NEGROES WANTED.--I wish to purchase a large number of negroes, of\n  both sexes, from the age of 14 to 30, for which I will pay the\n  highest cash market price. As I intend making a long stay in\n  Wilmington for that purpose, persons from the country would find it\n  to their advantage to bring such slave-property to town as they have\n  to dispose of. Also wanted some good carpenters, blacksmiths,\n  coopers, and bricklayers.--Apply to me, at the Carolina Hotel.\n                                      ANSLEY DAVIS, of Petersburg, Va.\n  \"Wilmington, May 7, 1847.\"\n\nThe following is extracted from an advertisement of Lewis A. Collier, a\ntrader in Richmond, Va.:--\n\n  \"NOTICE.--This is to inform my former acquaintances and the public\n  generally, that I yet continue in the slave-trade, at Richmond,\n  Virginia, and will at all times buy and give a fair market price for\n  young negroes. Persons in this State, Maryland, or North Carolina,\n  wishing to sell lots of negroes, are particularly requested to\n  forward their wishes to me at this place. Persons wishing to\n  purchase lots of negroes are requested to give me a call, as I keep\n  constantly on hand at this place a great many for sale; and have at\n  this time the use of one hundred young negroes, consisting of boys,\n  young men, and girls. I will sell at all times at a small advance on\n  cost, to suit purchasers. _I have comfortable rooms, with a jail\n  attached, for the reception of the negroes_; and persons coming to\n  this place to sell slaves can be accommodated, and every attention\n  necessary will be given to have them well attended to; and, when it\n  may be desired, the reception of the company of _gentlemen dealing\n  in slaves_ will conveniently and attentively be received. My\n  situation is very healthy, and suitable for the business.\n                                                    LEWIS A. COLLIER.\"\n\nThe \"St. Louis Daily Union\" of August 26, 1847, contains the\nfollowing:--\n\n  \"ONE HUNDRED NEGROES WANTED.--The subscriber wishes to purchase one\n  hundred negroes, of both sexes, for which I will pay the highest\n  price, in cash. I can be found at all times at No. 104,\n  Locust-street, by Gerard's stable.                     WM. JOHNSON.\"\n\n  \"NEGROES WANTED.--For two hundred negroes, the highest prices will\n  be paid by                              B. W. POWELL, City Hotel, or\n                                                    51, Front-street.\"\n\nThe \"Daily Reveille\" (St. Louis), of the same date, contains the\nfollowing:--\n\n  \"WANTED to purchase, thirty or forty young negroes, by\n                                    CURLE & GODDIN, 79, Olive-street.\"\n\nThe following is taken from the \"St. Louis Republican:\"\n\n  \"NEGROES WANTED AND BOARDED.--The highest cash price paid for young\n  likely negroes, at 104, Locust-street, between Third and Fourth,\n  adjoining Gerard's stables.\n\n  \"N.B. Our house will be well secured, and afford the _advantages of\n  a jail surrounded by walls, and a basement cell in it_.\n                                                       WHITE & TOOLY.\"\n\nThe following two are found in the \"Evening Mercury\" of Jan. 14, 1848,\npublished in New Orleans:--\n\n  \"SLAVES WANTED.--Wanted to purchase, slaves of every description, at\n  the New Orleans depot, No. 156, Common-street, for which liberal\n  prices will be paid. Slaves will also be sold on commission, and\n  purchasers are invited to call and see a well-selected lot of slaves\n  offered at low prices.                              ELIHU CRESWELL.\"\n\n  \"SLAVES WANTED.--E. Creswell, No. 163, Gravier-street, will pay the\n  most liberal price for slaves of all descriptions; and those who\n  have slaves for sale will do well to give him a call before selling\n  to others. He will also exchange slaves, sell slaves on commission;\n  and those who wish to purchase will do well to give him a call\n  before buying elsewhere, _as he keeps on hand a good selection of\n  slaves_, sold under full guarantee, and good reference for titles\n  given.\"\n\nThe foregoing advertisements give us some faint idea of the demand for\nslaves. Those which follow are of slaves for sale. We cannot commence\nmore appropriately than with these, taken from the \"New Orleans\nPicayune:\"--\n\n  \"SLAVES FOR SALE.--Hope H. Slatter, who has retired from the trade,\n  has sold to me his establishment in Baltimore, and leased for a\n  number of years his old stand at the corner of Esplanade and\n  Moreau-streets, at which place _I shall keep up a large and general\n  assortment of slaves for sale, imported direct from Maryland and\n  Virginia_.                                       WALTER L. CAMPBELL,\n                                        Successor to Hope H. Slatter.\"\n\n  \"NEGROES, NEGROES.--Just received, and for sale at No. 7,\n  Moreau-street, Third Municipality, a large and likely lot of\n  negroes, consisting of field-hands, house-servants, and mechanics.\n  _Will be receiving new lots regularly from Virginia during the\n  season._                                            WM. F. TALBOTT.\"\n\nThe same paper of Oct. 18, 1846, contains the following two:--\n\n  \"SLAVES FOR SALE, No. 165, Gravier-street.--The subscriber has\n  always on hand a number of slaves, consisting of house-servants,\n  field-hands, and mechanics, which will be sold low, for cash or\n  negotiable paper. Persons desirous of purchasing will find it to\n  their interest to call and examine. The subscriber will also receive\n  and sell on consignment any negro that may be entrusted to his care.\n\n  \"He would also respectfully notify persons engaged in the\n  slave-trade, that he is prepared to board them and their slaves on\n  the most reasonable terms.                           WM. H. MERRITT.\n\n  \"Reference: J. Barelli, C. J. Mansoni.\"\n\n  \"NEGROES FOR SALE.--We, the subscribers, have for sale, at our\n  establishment, No. 159, Gravier-street (block in the rear of St.\n  Charles Exchange), a large lot of valuable slaves, suitable for\n  plantation, house-servants, &c. &c. Persons desirous of purchasing\n  will find it to their interest to call and examine.\n\n  \"We will also receive and sell on consignment any negroes that may\n  be entrusted to us. We would also respectfully notify owners of\n  negroes, _and persons engaged in the slave-trade_, that we are\n  prepared to board negroes, and furnish traders with rooms, &c.\n\n  \"Our house is roomy, airy, and dry. Terms reasonable.\n                                                           JOHN BUDDY.\n                                                       WM. H. MERRITT.\"\n\nMr. Wm. H. Bolton, whose name is appended to the next advertisement, is\nfrom Tennessee:--\n\n  \"NEGROES FOR SALE.--I have again returned to this market, with\n  eighteen or twenty likely negroes. I have located on the corner of\n  Main and Adams-streets. I have plough-boys, men, women, and girls,\n  _and some very fancy ones_. _I intend to keep a constant supply\n  through the season, and will not be undersold by any in market._ My\n  motto is, 'the swift penny; the slow shilling' I never get.\n\n  \"I will also pay the highest cash price for young negroes.\n\n  \"November 21, 1846.                                   W. H. BOLTON.\"\n\nTo what uses these \"very fancy\" girls are put may be inferred from the\nfollowing advertisement,[R] taken from the \"Norfolk Herald:\"--\n\n  \"NOTICE.--For sale, a colored girl, of very superior qualifications,\n  who is now in Mr. Hall's jail in Norfolk. She is what speculators\n  call a fancy girl; a bright mulatto, fine figure, straight, black\n  hair, and very black eyes; remarkably neat and cleanly in her dress\n  and person. I venture to say, that there is not a better seamstress,\n  cutter and fitter of ladies' and children's dresses in Norfolk, or\n  elsewhere, or a more fanciful netter of bead bags, money-purses, &c.\n\n  \"Any lady or gentleman in Norfolk or Portsmouth, who may wish to\n  purchase a girl of this description (whom I consider the most\n  valuable in Virginia), may take her and try her a month or more at\n  my risk, and, if she does not suit and answer the description here\n  given, may return her to Mr. Hill.\n\n  \"The cause of offence for which I intend, though reluctantly, to\n  sell her, is, that she has been recently induced by the persuasions\n  of some colored persons to make her escape with them to the North,\n  in which she failed, and is now for sale.--Apply to the subscriber,\n  in Suffolk, or to James Murdaugh, Esq. or to C. C. Robinson, of\n  Portsmouth, for further information.               JOSEPH HOLLADAY.\"\n\nTennessee can also claim the honor of having such careful traders as Mr.\nJ. S. Curtis:--\n\n  \"ONE HUNDRED \"A NO. 1\" NEGROES.--I have on hand one hundred negroes,\n  men, women, boys, and girls, at my depot, in Gaine's brick building,\n  immediately back of Howard's Row, between the Gayoso and Herron\n  House. I have judicious men purchasing in North Carolina, Kentucky,\n  and Middle Tennessee, and will keep constantly on hand a large\n  number.\n\n  \"Persons wishing to purchase will do well not to trade, without\n  first calling to see my stock.                         J. S. CURTIS.\n\n  \"Memphis, November 20, 1846.\"\n\nThe \"Spirit of Liberty\" contains the following:--\n\n  \"SOUTHERN PLANTERS, wishing to purchase negroes, would do well to\n  give me a call before they make their purchases, as it would be\n  greatly to their advantage. Negroes purchased and sold on reasonable\n  commission. Apply at\n                 SCOTT'S Intelligence Office, No. 10, Exchange Place.\"\n\nIn the \"Daily Richmond Enquirer,\" Sept 1, 1847, we find this:--\n\n  \"NEGROES AT AUCTION.--On Monday, the 6th of September (Albemarle\n  Court day), at Charlottesville, there will be sold at public auction\n  about sixty valuable negroes, of every description.\n\n  \"August 31.\"\n\nIn the same paper, Jan. 25, 1848, we find this:--\n\n  \"TWENTY NEGROES.--Will be sold Friday, 28th inst. at 10 o'clock,\n  twenty likely young negroes, viz. ten able-bodied men, three boys,\n  four women, and three girls.\n\n  \"Will be added to the above sale, a negro-man, 40 years of age, who\n  is a first-rate carpenter by trade, also a rough blacksmith.\n                                       \"BENJ. DAVIS, Auctioneer,\n                                                  No. 3, Wall-street.\"\n\nThe following is taken from the \"Alabama Argus,\" published at Dayton,\nAla.:--\n\n  \"FOR SALE SIXTY NEGROES.--By order of the Hon. the Orphans' Court of\n  Marengo County, the undersigned, administrator of the estate of\n  Moses W. Alexander, deceased, will, on Monday, the 5th of February,\n  1849, at the plantation of said Moses W. Alexander, deceased, in the\n  Cane Brake, one mile south of Col. Pickens's mills, offer at public\n  sale, to the highest bidder, a lot, numbering sixty, of the\n  likeliest and best negroes ever sold in the South. They are all\n  family negroes,--not bought up by speculators from every State in\n  the South, but raised by different men, in families from five to\n  twenty each. Among this stock of negroes are some able-bodied,\n  stout, and valuable negro-men, and several likely young boys, from\n  10 to 18 years of age; also some likely negro-women, girls, and\n  children. Among the same, A No. 1 cotton-pickers; a good weaver; and\n  also one negro, who is a very good carpenter and blacksmith.--Terms\n  of sale, twelve months' credit, with approved security.\n                                       J. M. ALEXANDER, Administrator.\n  \"January 5.\"\n\nThe following advertisement is before us (\"Spirit of Liberty\"):--\n\n  \"VALUABLE SLAVES AT AUCTION.--I will sell on Saturday, the 14th\n  inst. in front of the Market-house, one woman and her child. The\n  woman is about 24 years old; and the child, a girl, about 5 years of\n  age. The woman accustomed to house-business, also to the farm. The\n  negroes are very likely, and warranted sound. They will be sold on\n  a credit of sixty days for negotiable paper satisfactorily endorsed.\n\n  \"Nov. 5.                                CHARLES PHELPS, Auctioneer.\"\n\nThe following is taken from a paper published at Opelousas (La.):--\n\n  \"AUCTION SALE.--The undersigned will offer for sale, through the\n  ministry of a public auctioneer, on her plantation, near Carancro,\n  in the parish of St. Landry, on Monday the 5th day of February next,\n  and the following days, one hundred choice slaves, of both sexes and\n  different ages, among which is a good blacksmith and several other\n  mechanics. These slaves will be sold separately, and under full and\n  satisfactory guarantee of titles.--8 ox-carts, 69 work-oxen, 20\n  mules, 20 work-horses, 1,500 barrels of corn, 12,500 cypress\n  pickets.\n\n  Conditions of Sale.--The slaves will be sold on a credit of one and\n  two years from the day of sale; purchasers giving sufficient\n  security to the satisfaction of the vendor, and the slaves remaining\n  specially mortgaged until final payment of principal and the\n  interest which may accrue thereon, at the rate of eight per cent per\n  annum from time due until final payment. The conditions of the sale\n  of the movable property will be made known on the day of sale.\n                                               WIDOW HYPOLITE CRETIEN.\n  \"Opelousas, January 3d, 1849.\"\n\nLiterally speaking, tens of thousands of such advertisements as these\nmight be adduced. You can hardly open a Southern paper without finding\nseveral.\n\nPart of the trade is carried on by water. This part of the trade is\nregulated by Act of Congress (Act March 2, 1807, sect. 8-10), and\nslavers sail apparently with commendable regularity. The following\nnotice is taken from the \"National Intelligencer\" a few years since:--\n\n  \"ALEXANDRIA AND NEW ORLEANS PACKETS.--Brig Tribune, Samuel C. Bush,\n  master, will sail as above on the 1st January; brig Isaac Franklin,\n  William Smith, master, on the 15th January; brig Uncas, Nathaniel\n  Boush, master, on the 1st February. They will continue to leave this\n  port on the 1st and 15th of each month, throughout the shipping\n  season. _Servants that are intended to be shipped will at any time\n  be received for safe keeping at twenty-five cents a day._\n                                            JOHN AMFIELD, Alexandria.\"\n\nThe two following advertisements are taken from the \"American Beacon\" of\nJanuary 24, 1848, published at Norfolk, Virginia. They are\nadvertisements of the same person, who, as we have just seen, offers to\n\"attend to shipping of negroes to any of the Southern ports:\"--\n\n  \"FOR NEW ORLEANS.--Virginia and Louisiana Line Packets. The\n  fast-sailing packet barque Bachelor, Page, master, will sail for the\n  above port from the 20th to the 27th inst. For freight, cabin or\n  steerage passage, for which she has good accommodations, apply to\n                                                      G. W. APPERSON.\"\n\n  \"FOR NEW ORLEANS.--Virginia and Louisiana Line Packets will commence\n  their regular trips to the above port the 20th September, and\n  continue monthly throughout the season. They consist of the\n  following vessels, to wit, barque Parthian, Capt. G. W. Allen;\n  barque Bachelor, Capt. Hiram Horton; barque Phoenix, Capt.\n  Nathaniel Boush.\n\n  \"The above vessels are all of the first class, and commanded by long\n  and experienced commanders.--For further information, apply to\n                                                      G. W. APPERSON.\"\n\nThis Capt. Nath. Boush is probably the same man who figures in Mr.\nAmfield's advertisement. But _Southern_ traders by no means have a\nmonopoly of this coastwise slave-trade. The barque Parthenon, Mellish,\nmaster, cleared from the port of New York, October 10, 1846, for\nRichmond, Virginia, _avowedly_ \"_to load with slaves for the port of New\nOrleans_.\"\n\nHow business-like is the following letter from a North Carolina\nslave-trader to his consignee in New Orleans! (\"A Reproof of the\nAmerican Church,\" p. 22):--\n\n                                     \"HALIFAX, N.C. November 16, 1839.\n\n  \"Dear Sir,--I have shipped in the brig Addison, prices as\n  below:--No. 1, Caroline Ennis, $650; 2, Silvy Holland, $625; 3,\n  Silvy Booth, $487.50; 4, Maria Pollock, $475; 5, Emeline Pollock,\n  $475; 6, Delia Averit, $475.\n\n  \"The two girls that cost $650 and $625 were bought before I shipped\n  my first. I have a great many negroes offered to me; but I will not\n  pay the prices they ask, for I know they will come down. I have no\n  opposition in market. I will wait until I hear from you before I\n  buy, and then I can judge what I must pay. Goodwin will send you the\n  bill of lading for my negroes, as he shipped them with his own.\n  _Write often, as the times are critical, and it depends on the\n  prices you get to govern me in buying._\n                                              \"Yours, &c.\n                                                         G. W. BARNES.\n  \"Mr. Theophilus Freeman, New Orleans.\"\n\nThe number of slaves thus bought and sold can never be known with\nperfect accuracy. Hon. John G. Palfrey, in his excellent Papers on the\nSlave Power (p. 83), estimates the number annually sold from the more\nnortherly Slave States at not less than _forty thousand_! We think his\nestimate within the truth.\n\nIn the course of a single year, 1835-6, no less than forty thousand\nslaves are said to have been sold out of Virginia alone! (\"Niles's Reg.\"\nOct. 8, 1836.) The \"New York Journal of Commerce\" of Oct. 12, 1835,\ncontained a letter from a Virginian, whom the editor calls \"a very good\nand sensible man,\" asserting that _twenty thousand_ slaves had been\ndriven to the South from Virginia during that year, of which nearly one\nfourth was then remaining. But 1835 and 1836 were years of great\nspeculation. In 1837 the consequent severe pressure in the money market\nwas attributed by a committee of the citizens of Mobile (Ala.) in part\nto over-trading in slaves. Their report states, that purchases by\nAlabama of that species of property from other States since 1833 have\namounted to about ten million dollars annually.\n\nThe slaves increase in about the same ratio in all of the Slave States.\nIf the warmer latitudes of the extreme South are more congenial to them,\nand favor their increase more than the climate of Virginia, this effect\nis, at least, fully balanced by the great amount and unhealthy character\nof much of the labor on the sugar, rice, and cotton plantations, and by\nthe great extent to which slave-breeding is carried in the more northern\nStates. The following table exhibits the rates of increase of the\nslaves, every ten years, from 1790 to 1840:--\n\n  +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+\n  | 1790-1800 | 1800-1810 | 1810-1820 | 1820-1830 | 1830-1840 |\n  +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+\n  |    27     |    33     |    29     |    30     |    28     |\n  +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+\n\nAccordingly, for the fifty years ending in 1840, the slaves increased on\nan average a little over twenty-eight per cent every ten years. We adopt\nthis as a fair statement of what should be their decennial natural\nincrease in all the States; and, by natural increase, we mean increase\nfrom births. The following tables explain themselves:--\n\n  SLAVE-EXPORTING STATES.\n  +----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------+---------+\n  |                |         |         |   Number    |         |         |\n  |                |         |         | which ought |Decrease | Annual  |\n  | Name of State. |  Slaves |  Slaves |to have been |every ten|decrease.|\n  |                | in 1830.| in 1840.|in each State| years.  |         |\n  |                |         |         |   in 1840.  |         |         |\n  +----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------+---------+\n  |Delaware        |   3,292 |   2,605 |      4,214  |   1,619 |    162  |\n  |Maryland        | 102,294 |  89,737 |    130,936  |  41,199 |  4,120  |\n  |Dis. of Columbia|   6,119 |   4,694 |      7,833  |   3,139 |    313  |\n  |Virginia        | 469,757 | 448,987 |    601,289  | 152,302 | 15,230  |\n  |North Carolina  | 235,601 | 245,817 |    301,569  |  55,752 |  5,575  |\n  |South Carolina  | 315,401 | 327,038 |    403,713  |  76,675 |  7,668  |\n  |Kentucky        | 165,213 | 182,258 |    211,473  |  29,215 |  2,922  |\n  |Tennessee       | 681,904 | 829,210 |    872,837  |  43,627 |  4,363  |\n  +----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------+---------+\n  |     Total      |         |2130,346 |             | 403,528 | 40,353  |\n  +----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------+---------+\n\n  SLAVE-IMPORTING STATES.\n  +----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------+---------+\n  |                |         |         |    Number   |         |         |\n  |                |         |         | which ought |  Extra  |  Extra  |\n  | Name of State. |  Slaves |  Slaves |to have been |decennial| annual  |\n  |                | in 1830.| in 1840.|in each State|increase.|increase.|\n  |                |         |         |   in 1840.  |         |         |\n  +----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------+---------+\n  | Georgia        | 217,531 | 280,944 |    278,440  |   2,504 |     250 |\n  | Florida        |  15,501 |  25,717 |     19,841  |   5,876 |     587 |\n  | Alabama        | 117,549 | 253,532 |    150,462  | 103,070 |  10,307 |\n  | Mississippi    |  65,659 | 195,211 |     84,043  | 111,168 |  11,117 |\n  | Louisiana      | 109,588 | 168,452 |    140,273  |  28,179 |   2,818 |\n  | Arkansas       |   4,576 |  19,935 |      5,857  |  14,078 |   1,408 |\n  | Missouri       |  25,081 |  58,240 |     32,104  |  26,136 |   2,614 |\n  +----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------+---------+\n  |     Total      |         |         |             | 291,011 |  29,101 |\n  +----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------+---------+\n\nThe census of 1840, therefore, exhibits an annual unnatural decrease of\nover forty thousand of the slave-population in the exporting States. But\nthis census, at least so far as statistics touching slaves and free\ncolored persons are concerned, is notoriously and grossly incorrect.\nEither it or the tables prepared from it in the State Department have\nbeen dishonestly prepared, or very much garbled, apparently with the\nintent to prove that slavery was better calculated to secure the health\nof the negro race than a state of freedom. What figures will tell in\nfavor of slavery?--not, what figures will tell the truth?--seems to have\nbeen the principle on which the last census was taken. Such being the\ncase, we feel confident that the census makes the slaves in the\nexporting States decrease as little as possible. In 1830, Virginia had\n469,757 slaves. In 1840 she ought to have had this number, and their\nnatural increase for ten years, 135,532. Instead of this, all the\nnatural increase is gone, and 20,770 besides! All will see that such a\nstatement would tell too strongly against slavery to be admitted into a\ncensus got up under such slave-supporting auspices, unless the statement\nwas really _within the truth_.\n\nWe believe, therefore, that the census of 1850, if truly taken, will\nexhibit a much larger annual unnatural decrease of the slave-population\nin the exporting States. This decrease, whatever it may really be, has\nnot been owing to manumissions. It has not been caused by slaves running\naway. For the effects of both these causes, the surplus over 40,000\nwould be a liberal allowance. This unnatural decrease must, then, be\ncaused by the slave-trade, and the migration of planters with their\nslaves. The fact is beyond all question, that every year forty thousand\nmen, women, and children are torn from their homes and friends, and\ndriven to the South and West. So truly did the Rev. Theodore Clapp speak\n(Sermon, p. 46), when he declared, \"Slaves possess the inappreciable\nbenefits which grow out of the endearing ties of friendship, kindred,\nsympathy, and the whole class of domestic affections. Parents and\nchildren, husbands and wives (it is true), are sometimes separated by\nbeing involved in those calamities which sweep away the possessions and\nprosperity of the master. But, take it all in all, they are as free and\nundisturbed in the enjoyment of their domestic relations, as the white\ninhabitants of the Northern States\"! Forty thousand fathers, mothers,\nbrothers, sisters, and children are every year carried from the places\nof their birth, like so many cattle, although the terrible fact is well\nknown that at least one fourth of them must die in the process of\nacclimation![S] So very tender is man of man, when he holds his brother\nin slavery, and makes merchandise of his sister! So eager is the\nsoul-driver to coin his brother's blood into dollars! So ready are those\nwhom \"God has appointed masters\" to sacrifice the lives of one fourth of\nthose committed to their charge, in order greatly to advance the market\nvalue of the survivors!\n\nWe have no data from which to infer the number of planters who go South\nwith their slaves. But, allowing that five hundred thus remove, and that\non an average they have ten slaves each (proper estimates we believe),\nwe have left thirty-five thousand as the number of human beings who are\nevery year sold to the speculators in human flesh!\n\nNow, Mr. Barnes's \"lot\" of his fellow-creatures averaged in value over\nfive hundred dollars apiece; and those were times when, from his\naccount, the market was glutted, and the prices accordingly low. \"Young\nand likely\" negroes are more easily acclimated, and are better able to\nwork, than others. Consequently, they are the ones most sought after by\njudicious traders. We should consider five hundred dollars for a young,\nhealthy negro, warranted sound, as really a low price. But, if we\nsuppose the slaves annually exported to be worth less than any of Mr.\nBarnes's lot,--considering them as worth only $450 apiece,--we have, as\n_the sums of money every year invested in the trade in slaves, the very\nmoderate sum of fifteen millions seven hundred and fifty thousand\ndollars_! This is _exclusive_ of the cost of all the private jails, of\ntransportation by sea and land, food, wages of drivers, &c.; which\ncannot but very largely increase this sum. This sum, $15,750,000, would,\nin less than three years, double the number of miles of railroad which\nwere in operation in all the Southern States in 1846 (Parker's \"Letter\non Slavery,\" p. 52). It would, in only two years, more than double in\nlength all the railroads which were then in operation in all the Slave\nStates, except Maryland. It costs every year five millions more to carry\non the domestic slave-trade than it does to fit out and victual all the\nwhale-ships of the United States! (\"American Almanac, 1843,\" p. 178.)\nOver one fifth of the entire value of the cotton, sugar, rice, and\ntobacco raised in the fifteen Slave States in 1839, and over one third\nof the value of articles manufactured in the South, was invested in\nslaves! Nearly twice as many slaves are carried South and West every\nyear as there are men in all the Slave States engaged in the learned\nprofessions!--so terribly prominent is this trade in men and women! Who\nwill venture to conceive, much less express, the deep degradation which\nmust be caused by a trade of such fearful character and\nmagnitude;--degradation not only to the immediate sufferers, but to all\nthose who may be subjected to it?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nRUNAWAY SLAVES.\n\n  \"It is contrary also to the will of God for servants either to run\n  away, or harbor a runaway\"--_Rev. C. C. Jones's Teaching to Slaves._\n\n\nThe treatment which runaway slaves receive cannot but greatly degrade\nthem. Pious as well as worldly masters consider that their slaves have\nno more right to run away than their horses or mules. The Christian\nslaveholder orally teaches his slaves, that, by taking this step, they\nsin in the sight of God; for has not Paul most emphatically condemned\nthe practice? So careful is he of the souls of those whom God has\ncommitted to his charge!\n\nWe frequently find advertisements similar to this, cut from the\n\"American Beacon\" (Norfolk, Va.), Jan. 24, 1848:--\n\n  \"$50 REWARD.--Stop Ruffin and Wyatt.--These men left my house on\n  Saturday night, January 15, 1848, _without any provocation_. They\n  have uniformly maintained a good character for honesty, industry,\n  and sobriety,--were obedient and trustworthy servants, and _no\n  severity nor threats had been offered towards them_; and I very much\n  fear they have left for some Northern State.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  \"These slaves were originally owned in Surry, and _possibly_ may be\n  in the vicinity of their relatives.                 GEORGE N. HATCH.\n\n  \"Gaysville, P.O. Prince George County, Va.\"\n\nGood Mr. Bryant Johnson is very much more indignant. In the \"Macon\n(Georgia) Telegraph,\" May 28, is the following:--\n\n  \"About the first of March last, the negro-man, Ransom, left me\n  _without the least provocation whatever_. I will give a reward of\n  $20 for said negro if taken, dead or alive; and, if killed in any\n  attempt, an advance of $5 will be paid.              BRYANT JOHNSON.\n\n  \"Crawford County, Georgia.\"\n\nIn the extremity of his wrath, he cannot think of the least provocation\nwhatever which he has given his slave. But we confess we are much more\ntouched by friend Hatch's advertisement. Simple-minded creature! He\nevidently speaks more in sorrow and astonishment than in anger.\nDoubtless he had uniformly fed, clothed, and housed his servants well,\nand had never been severe with or threatened them. How could they desire\nto leave him? They have run away without any provocation! So unnatural,\nalmost impossible, in the eyes of masters, is any spark of manliness in\na slave! They cannot conceive it possible for a manly love of liberty to\nprovoke a favored negro to run away. Still, however, even favored\nservants are continually escaping from their happy state; and, by the\nmethods adopted to retake them, they are most efficiently taught that\nthey have no more rights than has a favored hound or a valued horse.\nTheir manliness is crushed, until at last they really feel themselves to\nbe little else than items of profit or loss to their owners. The old\nslave who, at the point of death, was asked whether he was not sorry to\ndie, and who replied, \"Oh! no: the loss is massa's,\" had very faithfully\nimproved the instruction imparted to his class.\n\nIf our horse is stolen from his stable, or our cow strays from her\npasture, we advertise them as \"strayed or stolen.\" If a slave runs away,\nhis master advertises him, and offers a reward for his capture. If he is\nfound, the lucky finder deposits him in jail for safe keeping, to await\na favorable opportunity of sending him back to his master,--of course,\nlike Onesimus, as a brother beloved. The jailer gets his legal fees, the\nfinder gets his reward, the master gets his slave, and the slave most\ngenerally receives some \"moderate correction\" from the cowskin or the\npaddle. If he will not listen to the teaching of God's messengers to his\nsoul, who are continually repeating to him (Jones's \"Rel. Inst.\" 188)\n\"a servant who knows his master's duty, and will not do it, must be made\nto do it,\" how can he complain of his treatment?\n\nSo anxious are they at the South that every poor African should have a\ngood, kind master to attend to the wants of his soul, and support him in\nold age, that, if a stray negro is taken up running at large without an\napparent owner, and for any cause he cannot legally prove his freedom,\neven though he does really own himself, he is nevertheless advertised,\nand sold at auction to the highest bidder, to pay the expenses\noccasioned by his own capture and detention. How happy must be the\npeople that are in such a case! Yea, blessed is his condition whose body\nis fed and whipped, whose soul is saved and darkened, by his brother\nman!\n\nThe \"Revised Statutes\" of NORTH CAROLINA, chap. 111, sec. 11, provides\nthat,--\n\n  \"If any negro who shall be taken up as a runaway, and brought before\n  any justice of the peace, will not declare the name of his or her\n  owner, such justice shall in such case, and he is hereby required,\n  by a warrant under his hand, to commit the said negro-slave to the\n  jail of the county wherein he or she shall be taken up; and the\n  sheriff or undersheriff of the county into whose custody the said\n  runaway shall be committed, shall forthwith cause notice in writing\n  of such commitment to be set up on the Court-house door of the said\n  county, and there continued during the space of two months; in which\n  notice a full description of the said runaway and his clothing shall\n  be particularly set down.\"--When the owner is supposed to be a\n  resident in another State, the jailer is obliged by sec. 15, \"by the\n  first opportunity after such commitment, to send a description of\n  such negro or runaway, together with the account of the time of\n  commitment, and the county where such runaway is committed, to the\n  press, to be advertised in the State Gazette.\"--Sec. 16 provides,\n  that, \"whenever any negro-slave shall be taken up in this State as a\n  runaway, and confined in any jail for the space of twelve months,\n  and the apprehension and confinement of said slave have been\n  advertised in the State Gazette at least six months, and the owner\n  does not apply to prove property in said time, then it shall be\n  lawful for the court of pleas and quarter sessions of the county in\n  which said runaway is confined, to command their sheriff to expose\n  said negro-slave to public sale for ready money, giving three\n  months' notice in some public newspaper in this State, at the\n  Court-house door, and at two other public places in the said county,\n  of the time and place of sale, and of the circumstances under which\n  the said slave is to be sold.\"--Sect. 17 gives the sheriff \"two and\n  a half per centum on the amount of sale.\"--Sect. 18 declares that\n  \"the bill of sale of the sheriff shall vest in the purchaser an\n  absolute right to the said slave.\" The residue of the amount of\n  sales, after deducting commissions and prison charges, is directed\n  to be paid to the county trustee for the use of the county.\n\nSimilar laws, authorizing the sale into slavery of negroes taken up as\nrunaway slaves, who cannot from any cause prove their freedom, are found\nin Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida,\nAlabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. A similar law\nhas always existed in the District of Columbia, originally enacted, and\nsince supported, by Northern freemen. _Our_ law, however, differs from\nthe others in offering to the marshal a high bribe to induce him to sell\n_free_ negroes, by providing that the _proceeds of the persons sold may\nremain in his own pocket_, unless after the sale the master shall be\ndiscovered, and shall claim the balance.\n\nThroughout all the Slave States, the law presumes every free negro to be\na slave, until he can legally prove his freedom. Consequently, every\n_free_ negro, out of his own neighborhood, is presumed to be, and\ntreated as, a runaway slave, until he can establish his freedom. Under\nlaws of this kind, many free negroes are taken; and, if from want of\nmoney or friends, or distance from home, or any other cause, they cannot\nprove their freedom, as no owner can come forward and \"claim property\nand pay charges,\" they must necessarily be sold into slavery for life!\n\nVery recently, in the columns of the \"Washington Union,\" appeared the\nfollowing notices:--\n\n  \"NOTICE.--Was committed to the jail of Washington County, D.C. on\n  the 5th July, 1846, as a runaway, a negro-man, who calls himself\n  John Crew. He is black, about 5 feet 6-1/2 inches high, and about 43\n  years of age. _He says he is free_, and was born in Hanover County,\n  Virginia, _and was set free_ by Mrs. Allen, formerly Mrs. Watson, of\n  said county; and that he lived with Jude & Muir, in Richmond,\n  Virginia; and that he obtained his free papers in Richmond in 1823,\n  when a Mr. Henning was clerk of the court. He has had right leg\n  broken, which has left a large scar on it. He has a scar on the\n  right side of his neck, which he says he has received since he left\n  Richmond.\n\n  \"The owner or owners of the above-described negro-man are hereby\n  required to come forward, prove him, and take him away, _or he will\n  be sold for his prison and other expenses, as the law directs_.\n                                                ROBT. BALL, Jailer for\n  \"Aug. 15.                                       A. HUNTER, Marshal.\"\n\n  \"NOTICE.--Was committed to the jail of Washington County, D.C. on\n  the 23d of July, 1847, as a runaway, a negro-woman, who calls\n  herself Ann E. Hodges. She is nearly black, about 5 feet 5-1/4\n  inches high, and about 22 years of age. Had on, when committed, a\n  slate-colored Merino dress and a brown calico sun-bonnet. _She says\n  she is free_, and served her time out with a Mr. Benjamin Daltry, of\n  Southampton, Va.; and that Messrs. Griffin & Bishop, of the same\n  place, know her to be free. She has two scars on the left leg, near\n  the knee, from the bite of a dog, one on her left wrist, and one on\n  the point of her breast-bone, occasioned by a burn.\n\n  \"The owner or owners of the above-described negro-woman are hereby\n  required to come forward, prove her, and take her away, _or she will\n  be sold for her prison and other expenses, as the law directs._\n                                               ROBT. BALL, Jailer, for\n  \"Aug. 23.                                       A. HUNTER, Marshal.\"\n\nHere is another instance, which happened several years since:--\n\n  \"NOTICE.--Was committed to the jail of Washington County, District\n  of Columbia, as a runaway, a negro-woman, by the name of Polly\n  Leiper, and her infant child, William.... _Says she was set free_ by\n  John Campbell, of Richmond, Va. in 1818 or 1819. The owner of the\n  above-described woman and child, _if any_, are requested to come and\n  prove them, and take them away, or they will be _sold for their jail\n  fees and other expenses, as the law directs_.\n                                              TENCH RINGGOLD, Marshal.\n  \"May 29, 1827.\"\n\nMany other similar ones might be cited from papers published in the\nDistrict. The following is taken from the \"Mobile (Ala.) Register\" of\nJuly 21, 1837:--\n\n  \"WILL BE SOLD CHEAP FOR CASH, in front of the Court-house of Mobile\n  County, on the 22d day of July next, one mulatto-man, named Henry\n  Hale, _who says he is free_. His owner or owners, if any, having\n  failed to demand him, he is to be sold according to the statute in\n  such case made and provided, _to pay jail fees_.\n                                            WILLIAM MAGEE, Shff. M.C.\"\n\nHere are two from the \"Vicksburg (Miss.) Register.\" The first is the\nnotice of the committal of a negro. The second is the advertisement for\nhis sale:--\n\n  \"SHERIFF'S SALE.--Committed to the jail of Warren County, as a\n  runaway, on the 23d inst. a negro-man, who calls himself John J.\n  Robinson; says that he is free; says that he kept a baker's shop in\n  Columbus, Miss. and that he peddled through the Chickasaw nation to\n  Pontotoc, and came to Memphis, where he sold his horse, took water,\n  and came to this place. The owner of said boy is requested to come\n  forward, prove property, pay charges, and take him away, or he will\n  be dealt with as the law directs.\n\n  \"Dec. 24, 1835.                                WM. EVERETT, Jailer.\"\n\n  \"Notice is hereby given, that the above-described boy, who calls\n  himself John J. Robinson, having been confined in the jail of Warren\n  County as a runaway for six months, and having been regularly\n  advertised during this period, _I shall proceed to sell said\n  negro-boy at public auction to the highest bidder for cash_, at the\n  door of the Court-house in Vicksburg, on Monday, 1st of August,\n  1836, _in pursuance of the statute in such case made and provided_.\n\n  \"Vicksburg, July 2, 1836.                    E. W. MORRIS, Sheriff.\"\n\nSlavery, as it exists, is not wrong, according to Bishops\nIves and Freeman; and yet, in the diocese of the former, in\nthe \"Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer,\" June 27, 1838, this\nadvertisement appears:--\n\n  \"TAKEN AND COMMITTED TO JAIL, a negro-girl, named Nancy,\n  who is _supposed_ to belong to Spencer P. Wright, of the State of\n  Georgia. She is about 30 years of age, and is a _lunatic_. The\n  owner is requested to come forward, prove property, pay charges,\n  and take her away, or _she will be sold to pay her jail fees_.\n                                              FREDERICK HOME, Jailer.\"\n\nAnd suppose this supposition is incorrect, and that this poor woman does\nnot belong to Mr. Wright, but on the contrary that she is free, how then\nwill stand the case? A poor free woman, a lunatic, one who accordingly\ncannot by any possibility prove her freedom, being arrested as a\nrunaway, may be sold as a slave for life, in virtue of the laws of the\nChristian State of North Carolina! And no one is entitled to pronounce\nsuch act to be wrong, unless he can produce a new revelation from\nHeaven! If a slave has performed a great service to the State or his\nmaster, as a reward he is set free; and, if the freeman, availing\nhimself of his privileges, goes out of his own neighborhood, the law,\nwith the sanction of right reverend fathers in God, consigns him to the\nauction block!\n\nBut the runaway slave is not always to be taken easily. Strenuous\nliberty is often preferred to slavish ease. To meet such cases, ample\nprovision is made, no less degrading to the slave.\n\nIf any one here at the North should advertise that he was ready to\npursue, with dogs trained for the purpose, runaway apprentices, or\nprisoners who had escaped from jail, we should all shudder at the\ncold-bloodedness of the proposition. Have we not, in the Old Bay State,\njust solemnly enacted that not even the most hardened convicts in our\nState Prison shall be whipped? How, then, can we so far forget our\ncommon manhood as to pursue our brother with bloodhounds? The slave,\nunlike the prisoner, has committed no crime. Unlike the apprentice, he\nhas never consented, either by himself or his parents, to be a slave. He\nis held in slavery against his will, and not as the punishment for any\ncrime; and yet, if he ventures to take his freedom, to assert the\nhighest and holiest of all his rights, he is liable to be hunted with\ndogs and maimed with shot! In this so-called Christian country, which is\nspending its millions in regenerating the heathen, whole communities\nexist which tolerate such a fiendish occupation as a slave-hunter!\nCommunities do we say? Has not the nation elevated to its highest post\nof honor the individual who first suggested to our government the idea\nof importing bloodhounds from Cuba, with which to track the Seminole\nIndians, and the fugitive slaves whom they protected, and with whom they\nhad intermarried? How proudly did the star-spangled banner wave its\nfolds over the gallant men and hounds that pursued and finally conquered\nthe panting fugitives!\n\nIn the \"Madison Journal,\" published at Richmond, La. Nov. 26, 1847,\nappears the following:--\n\n  \"NOTICE.--The subscriber, living on Carroway Lake, on Hoe's Bayou,\n  in Carroll Parish, sixteen miles on the road leading from Bayou\n  Mason to Lake Providence, _is ready with a pack of dogs to hunt\n  runaway negroes at any time_. These dogs are well trained, and are\n  known throughout the parish. Letters addressed to me at Providence\n  will secure immediate attention.\n\n  \"My terms are $5 per day for hunting the trails, whether the negro\n  is caught or not. Where a twelve hours' trail is shown, and the\n  negro not taken, no charge is made. For taking a negro, $25, and no\n  charge made for hunting.                             JAMES W. HALL.\"\n\nIn the \"Sumpter County Whig\" (Alabama) of Nov. 6, 1845, the following is\nfound:--\n\n  \"NEGRO DOGS.--The undersigned, having bought the entire pack of\n  negro dogs (of the Hay & Allen stock), _he now proposes to catch\n  runaway negroes_. His charges will be $3 a day for hunting, and $15\n  for catching a runaway. He resides three and one half miles north of\n  Livingston, near the lower Jones' Bluff road.\n\n  \"Nov. 6, 1845.                                     WILLIAM GAMBREL.\"\n\nWilliam W. Brown was hunted by Major Benjamin O'Fallon, who kept for his\nprofessional purposes five or six bloodhounds (\"Narrative,\" p. 22). Last\nyear, 1848, Mr. J. Ervin, a native of Fairfield District, South\nCarolina, a slave-hunter by profession, was murdered by some runaway\nslaves. Owners sometimes vary the monotony of a plantation life by a\nprivate hunt on their own account. But, unless they have considerable\npractice, they make a bungling piece of work of it. The true object,\nboth of dogs and men, is the capture of the negro, not his death. Gen.\nTaylor did not wish to \"worry\" the Seminoles. We might cite many notices\nlike the following, cut from the \"Raleigh (N.C.) Register,\" Aug. 20,\n1838:--\n\n  \"On Saturday night, Mr. George Holmes, of this county, and some of\n  his friends were in pursuit of a runaway slave (the property of Mr.\n  Holmes), and fell in with him in attempting to make his escape. Mr.\n  H. discharged a gun at his legs, for the purpose of disabling him;\n  but, unfortunately, the slave stumbled, and the shot struck him near\n  the small of the back, of which wound he died in a short time. The\n  slave continued to run some distance after he was shot, until\n  overtaken by one of the party. We are satisfied from all that we can\n  learn, that Mr. H. had no intention of inflicting a mortal wound.\"\n\nThe hunter, in the following instance, was more skilful or lucky. The\nadvertisement is found in the \"Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser,\"\nJan. 25, 1848:--\n\n  \"$50 REWARD.--Ran away from the subscribers, on Sunday, the 8th\n  instant, a negro-man, named George. The said slave is about 21 years\n  of age, black, about 5 feet 6 inches high, weighs about 150 pounds,\n  has good teeth, and a round and likely face. He was purchased at R.\n  H. Dickinson & Bro.'s auction-room, on the 22d of March, last, from\n  Messrs. Millner & Keen, of Pittsylvania Court-house. He was\n  purchased by them (M. & K.) in Rickingham, N.C.; and he will in all\n  probability make for that place, as he ran off last April, and was\n  taken upon his way there, at Amelia Court-house. _The person that\n  took him on that occasion shot him with small shot on the legs, and\n  the shot-marks are very perceptible on the hind part or the calves\n  of his legs._ We will give $50 for the apprehension and delivery of\n  said boy to R. H. Dickinson & Bro. in Richmond, Va. if taken up\n  after this date; and, if taken up previous to this date, we will pay\n  $25 for his delivery here, and the expense of bringing him to this\n  place from where he may be taken up.           KELLY, HUNDLEY, & CO.\n\n  \"Richmond, Aug. 27, 1847.\"\n\nThe Rev. Mr. Jones would probably instruct \"George,\" that he was shot\nbecause he disobeyed God's commands in running away, and especially\nbecause he \"robbed God of his own\" in breaking the Sabbath! But how\njudicious was the man who took him up on that occasion! He only shot him\nwith small shot in the legs!\n\nIn the \"Macon (Ga.) Telegraph,\" Nov. 27, 1838, we find the following\naccount of a runaway's den, and of the good luck of a \"Mr. Adams,\" in\nrunning down one of them \"with his excellent dogs:\"--\n\n  \"A runaway's den was discovered on Sunday, near the Washington\n  Spring, in a little patch of woods, where it had been for several\n  months so artfully concealed under ground, that it was detected only\n  by accident, though in sight of two or three houses, and near the\n  road and fields where there has been constant daily passing. The\n  entrance was concealed by a pile of pine straw, representing a\n  hog-bed, which being removed, discovered a trap-door and steps that\n  led to a room about six feet square, comfortably ceiled with plank,\n  containing a small fireplace, the flue of which was ingeniously\n  conducted above ground and concealed by the straw. The inmates took\n  the alarm, and made their escape; _but Mr. Adams and his excellent\n  dogs being put upon the trail, soon run down and secured one of\n  them_, which proved to be a negro-fellow who had been out about a\n  year. He stated that the other occupant was a woman, who had been a\n  runaway a still longer time. In the den was found a quantity of\n  meal, bacon, corn, potatoes, &c. and various cooking utensils and\n  wearing apparel.\"\n\nThe Lord of the sabbath seems to favor the masters; for Mr. Adams's hunt\noccurred on Sunday! Many other instances might be given. We adduce only\nthis. The \"St. Francisville (La.) Chronicle\" of Feb. 1, 1839, gives the\nfollowing account of a \"negro-hunt\" in that parish:--\n\n  \"Two or three days since, a gentleman of this parish, in hunting\n  runaway negroes, came upon a camp of them in the swamp on Cat\n  Island. He succeeded in arresting two of them; but the third made\n  fight, and, upon being shot in the shoulder, fled to a sluice, where\n  the dogs succeeded in drowning him before assistance could arrive.\"\n\nDoes any one say these atrocities must be confined to the extreme\nSouth, and that law or public opinion in North Carolina would forbid\nthem? How far otherwise is the fact! The \"Revised Statutes\" of North\nCarolina, chap. 111, sec. 22, provide as follows:--\n\n  \"Whereas, many times slaves run away and lie out, hid and lurking in\n  swamps, woods, and other obscure places, killing cattle and hogs,\n  and committing other injuries to the inhabitants of this State; in\n  all such cases, upon intelligence of any slave or slaves lying out\n  as aforesaid, any two justices of the peace for the county wherein\n  such slave or slaves is or are supposed to lurk or do mischief,\n  shall, and they are hereby empowered and required to issue\n  proclamation against such slave or slaves (reciting his or their\n  names, and the name or names of the owner or owners, if known),\n  thereby requiring him or them, and every of them, forthwith to\n  surrender him or themselves; and also to empower and require the\n  sheriff of the said county to take such power with him as he shall\n  think fit and necessary for going in search and pursuit of, and\n  effectually apprehending, such outlying slave or slaves; which\n  proclamation shall be published at the door of the Court-house, and\n  at such other places as said justices shall direct.[T] And if any\n  slave or slaves against whom proclamation hath been thus issued stay\n  out, and do not immediately return home, it shall be lawful for any\n  person or persons whatsoever to kill and destroy such slave or\n  slaves by such ways and means as he shall think fit, without\n  accusation or impeachment of any crime for the same.\"\n\nThis is truly a Christian law! A written proclamation to men, of whom\nnot one in ten thousand can read a letter of it!--and yet, after\npublication of it at the door of the Court-house, and at such other\nplaces (if any) as the justices may direct, if the slaves do not\nimmediatelyy return, it is lawful for any person to kill and destroy\nthem \"by such ways or means as he shall think fit.\" And may not\nbloodhounds be the most expeditious and fit?\n\nIs this law a dead letter? Only fifteen days before Bishop Freeman's\nsermon was delivered, and Bishop Ives enjoyed \"most unfeigned pleasure\"\nat the thought that slavery existed as it did in North Carolina, the\nfollowing proclamation and advertisement appeared in the \"Newbern (N.C.)\nSpectator:\"--\n\n  \"STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, LENOIR COUNTY.--Whereas complaint hath\n  been this day made to us, two of the justices of the peace for the\n  said county, by William D. Cobb, of Jones county, that two\n  negro-slaves belonging to him, named Ben (commonly known by the name\n  of Ben Fox) and Rigdon, have absented themselves from their said\n  master's service, and are lurking about in the counties of Lenoir\n  and Jones, committing acts of felony; these are, in the name of the\n  State, to command the said slaves forthwith to surrender themselves,\n  and turn home to their said master. And we do hereby also require\n  the sheriff of said county of Lenoir to make diligent search and\n  pursuit after the above-mentioned slaves.... And we do hereby, by\n  virtue of an Act of Assembly of this State concerning servants and\n  slaves, intimate and declare, if the said slaves do not surrender\n  themselves and return home to their master immediately after the\n  publication of these presents, that any person may kill or destroy\n  said slaves by such means as he or they think fit, without\n  accusation or impeachment of any crime or offence for so doing, or\n  without incurring any penalty or forfeiture thereby.\n\n  \"Given under our hands and seals, this 12th of November, 1838.\n\n                                              B. COLEMAN, J.P. [Seal.]\n                                              JAS. JONES, J.P. [Seal.]\n\n  \"$200 REWARD.--Ran away from the subscriber, about three years ago,\n  a certain negro-man, named Ben, commonly known by the name of Ben\n  Fox, also one other negro, by the name of Rigdon, who ran away on\n  the 8th of this month.\n\n  \"I will give the reward of $100 for each of the above negroes, to be\n  delivered to me, or confined in the jail of Lenoir or Jones County,\n  _or for the killing of them, so that I can see them_.\n\n  \"Nov. 12, 1838.                                         W. D. COBB.\"\n\nIn what has preceded, we have endeavored to give a faint but true\npicture of slaveholding as it most generally exists. Though we have\npurposely left unmentioned many wrongs, we have abundantly supported our\nconclusion. If, as we have seen, every slave, as a man, has a natural,\nGod-given right to be left free to seek after wisdom, to strive to\nbecome pure in heart, to cherish his affections, it is a great wrong\ndeliberately and carefully to close against him all the avenues to\nknowledge, to refuse him even the rudiments imparted to the child that\nclings to our knees, to refuse him all moral and religious instruction,\nor give him such only as is calculated to make him contented with his\nlot, and more profitable to his oppressors. It is a great wrong--who can\nconceive a greater?--to deny to a whole race the sacredness of marriage,\nthe blessings of home, the joys of brother and sister, of father and\nmother, and all the refining, ennobling influences of these relations.\nIt is a great wrong, none can conceive a greater, than to trade in the\nbodies of men, to higgle in the market-place about the price of our\nbrother, to traffic in our sister's flesh and bones as merchandise.\nSlaveholding, as it most generally exists, darkens the mind, deadens the\nsoul, and brutalizes the affections, of its victims. It is carefully\nplanned and deliberately executed murder of the soul. No human heart\nexists, unwarped by self-interest, that does not respond to the poor\nslave's call for help. We need no new revelation from Heaven, we need no\nbook to tell us, that it would be wrong for any one to darken _our_\nminds, to deaden _our_ souls, to brutalize _our_ affections. No more do\nwe need, a new revelation from Heaven to convince us, that all men are\nbrethren; that the slave who toils on the Louisiana plantation is no\nless our neighbor than the friend whom we have known and loved from\nboyhood; and that we should love the slaves as ourselves, not with that\nbarren love which consists in saving their souls by imparting to them a\nstill more barren creed, but that love which never wearies, and which\nsacrifices its own for another's good.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nSLAVEHOLDING ALWAYS WRONG.\n\n  \"No seeming of logic can ever convince the American people, that\n  thousands of our slaveholding brethren are not excellent, humane,\n  and even Christian men, fearing God, and keeping his\n  commandments.\"--_Rev. Dr. Joel Parker._\n\n\nIt remains for us to consider the special cases in which slaveholding is\nthought by many to be right. All slaveholders are not actors in the\ncruel system which we have just described. There are in the Southern\nStates, we are ready to believe, thousands who disregard the laws, who\ntreat their slaves as humanely as is possible, who cultivate to a\nconsiderable extent their mental and moral faculties, and who would\nunite with us in condemning the barbarities we have been considering.\n\nThe Rev. Dr. Richard Fuller, of Beaufort, S.C. thus describes the\ncondition of his slaves (\"Domestic Slavery considered as a Scriptural\nInstitution,\" &c. p. 222; 1845):\n\n  \"In a familiar correspondence like this, I may be pardoned for\n  saying, that, during twelve years, I have devoted the salary given\n  me, whenever at my disposal, to the spiritual instruction of the\n  slaves, and am now doing so. With reference to my own servants,\n  their condition is as good as I can make it. They are placed under a\n  contract, which no instrument in writing could make more sacred. By\n  this contract, they, on their part, perform not one half the work\n  done by free laborers; and I, on my part, am bound to employ a\n  missionary to teach and catechize them and their children; to\n  provide them a home and clothes and provisions and fuel, and land to\n  plant for themselves; to pay all medical bills; to guaranty to them\n  all the profits of their skill and labor in their own time; to\n  protect them as a guardian, and to administer to the wants of their\n  children, and of those that are sick and infirm and aged. Such is\n  their state; nor have I any idea that they would consent to be\n  removed.\"\n\nThis picture may be deepened as we please. Dr. Fuller, and every\nslaveholder who is like him, may clothe, feed, and house his slaves as\nhe does himself; he may watch over their mental and moral condition with\nas much real solicitude as he does that of a child; he may love them\nalmost with a father's love; and yet, notwithstanding all alleviations,\nit is wrong for him to hold slaves. Slaveholding is always wrong.\n\nIt should be constantly borne in mind, that no man can be obliged either\nto become or continue a slaveholder. No man can make me a slaveholder or\na landholder without or against my consent. Indeed, no gift to me of\nslaves or land is perfect, until I have accepted it. No man need accept\nan inheritance of slaves, or be a slaveholder any longer than he pleases\nto be. Where the law of his State permits, he may emancipate his slaves.\nIf manumission is actually or virtually forbidden, he may take his\nslaves into a Free State; and, by such act alone, they become freemen.\nWith full power, therefore, at any moment to dissolve the relation, Dr.\nFuller voluntarily continues to hold slaves. All slaveholding is\nunnecessary, and none is involuntary on the part of the owner.\n\nIt should also be borne in mind, that a slave, under all circumstances,\nwhether he be caressed or scourged, loved or hated, overworked or\nunderworked, instructed or debased, is the property of his master, and,\nas such, is subject to all the legal incidents of property. Dr. Fuller's\nslaves are as much Dr. Fuller's property as his horse, his watch, the\ncoat on his back, or the books on the shelves of his library; and, as\nproperty, their happy, elevated condition necessarily depends upon the\naccidents of Dr. Fuller's life, health, and wealth. When these fail,\ntheir condition will unquestionably be either very materially affected\nfor the worse, or altogether changed.\n\nAnd, first, if his wealth should fail from unforeseen calamities; so\nthat from affluence, it may be, he should be reduced to real want, and\nbe unable to pay the just claims of his creditors; the latter may\nsatisfy their claims by a sale of his slaves. Nothing but payment of the\ndebts could prevent such a catastrophe. Equally with his horses and\ntheological library,[U] his slaves would legally constitute a fund out\nof which his creditors might satisfy their claims. Husband and wife,\nparent and child, the prattling infant and the old man of seventy\nwinters, might legally be placed upon the auction-block, and sold to the\nhighest bidder, singly or in lots to suit, as might seem most calculated\nto advance the interest of the creditors. Dr. Fuller's prayers and tears\nwould avail nothing. His kind and humane treatment, continued through so\nmany years, would then increase the market-value of his slaves; and that\nis all. Nothing that he could do would be able to save them from the\nauction-block. And what, under such circumstances, would become of their\nmental, moral, or even their physical condition? There would not be one\nchance in a thousand that all their new masters would be like Dr.\nFuller, or that they would escape the lot of most other slaves,--a state\nof hopeless degradation!\n\nDoes any one say, that, though the law would favor such a sale by\ncreditors, public opinion would not tolerate it? We will not stop to\nconsider how far the law may be regarded as an index of public opinion.\nWe simply ask, If Christian churches may sell slaves at auction, what\nmay not private individuals do consistently with public opinion? We have\nalready given the advertisement for sale by Thomas N. Gadsden, a\nbrother, we believe, of Bishop Gadsden, of South Carolina (\"Slavery as\nit is,\" p. 174), of a prime gang of negroes belonging to the Independent\nChurch in Christ Church Parish; and we will adduce only one other\nsimilar instance. Few, if any, theological bodies at the South seem to\nhave devoted more time, attention, and money to elevating the moral\ncharacter of the slaves than the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia;\nand yet the Board of Directors of its Theological Seminary do not\nscruple to invest the funds of the institution in slaves, or to sell\nthem by auction in order to obtain repayment of a loan. The \"Savannah\n(Ga.) Republican\" of March 3, 1845, contains an advertisement, of which\nthe following is an extract:--\n\n  \"WILL BE SOLD, on the first Tuesday in March, in front of the\n  Court-house, in the city of Darien, Georgia, between the legal hours\n  of sale, the following negro-slaves, _i.e._ Charles, Peggy,\n  Antonett, Davy, September, Maria, Jenny, and Isaac, levied on as the\n  property of Henry T. Hall, _to satisfy a mortgage, fi. fa., issued\n  out of the M'Intosh Superior Court in favor of the Board of\n  Directors of the Theological Seminary of the Synod of South Carolina\n  and Georgia, against said Henry T. Hall_.--Conditions cash.\n                                      C. O'NEAL, Deputy-sheriff, M.C.\"\n\nSuppose Dr. Fuller should become insane, or otherwise unfit to manage\nhis own affairs. Such cases often occur. Then the control of the slaves\nwould pass with his other property into other hands. What would insure\ntheir continued mental and moral well-being? The law would not,--public\nopinion would not! Every thing would depend on the character of the\nlegal guardian or trustee; and even this could afford no adequate\nprotection. The law permits an _owner_ to do many things which it would\nnot suffer a guardian or a trustee to do. The legal guardian of Dr.\nFuller's estate would hardly be allowed to suffer his slaves to \"perform\n_not one half_ the work done by free laborers.\" The guardian's rule of\nconduct would be the _law_, and the _common_ mode of treatment in the\ncommunity. If he overstepped this line, and any pecuniary loss should be\nthe consequence, the loss would fall on him personally. How many\nguardians or trustees would be willing to run any risk of a criminal\nprosecution or a fine or imprisonment, in order to insure the happy\ncondition of anther's man property? Not one in ten thousand! And yet,\nunless his guardian was willing to do this,--unless he was willing to\nbrave the law, and act contrary to the general customs of society, Dr.\nFuller's slaves would very soon lapse into the same degraded condition\nin which the slaves about them commonly live. Nothing would be more\nlikely than to find Dr. Fuller's guardian advertising in the following\nmanner:--\n\n  \"NEGROES TO HIRE.--On Wednesday, the 26th inst. I will hire to the\n  highest bidder the negroes belonging to Charles and Robert Innes.\n                                          GEO. W. WILLIAMS, Guardian.\"\n\n  \"NEGRO HIRINGS.--Will be offered for hire, at Capt. Long's Hotel, a\n  number of slaves, men, women, boys, and girls, belonging to the\n  orphans of George Ash, deceased.       RICHARD W. BARTON, Guardian.\"\n\nThe law forbids teaching slaves to read and write. Dr. Fuller may\ndisregard the law, and give his slaves careful instruction, supplying\nthem with plenty of books, and allowing them time to read in. The law\ndenies marriage to the slaves, and pays no heed to their family ties.\nDr. Fuller may consecrate with the utmost care the marriage of his\nslaves, and sacredly protect their family relations. The law declares\nslaves to be, under all circumstances, saleable articles. Dr. Fuller may\nthink that he treats them as men, and shudder at the thought of selling\nthem. Thus may he do in his lifetime; but it is appointed unto all men\nto die; and what, in the event of his death, will become of his slaves?\n\nHe may possibly leave a will, bequeathing them, upon the condition that\nhis kind and humane treatment shall be continued, that they shall be\ntaught to read and write, that their marriages and family relations\nshall be sacredly respected, and that they shall never be subject to be\nsold; that is, on the condition that his legatees shall break the law,\nas he has done. The only result will be, that the law will declare all\nsuch conditions to be utterly void; and the legatees will own the\nslaves, entirely freed from all such conditions. The legatees will be\nunder no other restraints than those imposed by the law, public opinion,\nand their own conscience. The latter restraint only may possibly avail\nthe slaves; and their happy condition may be continued, _if_ all the\nlegatees are, like Dr. Fuller, law-defying, humane, kind-hearted, and\nabove want! But how unlikely is it that such will be the case! How much\nmore unlikely is it that such a state of things will continue! And yet,\nunless such a state of things exists, and continues to exist, Dr.\nFuller's slaves must inevitably become as degraded as the great mass of\ntheir fellows.\n\nIf he should die intestate, then his slaves, as part of his estate,\nwould have to be duly administered on and distributed among the\nheirs-at-law. The administrator, a mere trustee, could not, as we have\nseen, safely continue Dr. Fuller's plan of management; nor can it be\nsupposed that any administrator would follow it. If it became necessary\nor expedient in order to pay debts, husbands would be separated from\nwives, parents from children, and brothers from sisters. The widow (if\nany) would be entitled to a life-estate in one-third of the slaves,\nwhich one-third would be assigned to her in severalty, even though this\nmight involve a separation of families; for the common law of the Slave\nStates makes the same profession as the common law of England, that it\nfavors three things,--life, liberty, and dower! The remaining slaves,\nand the reversion of those assigned to the widow, would belong to the\nheirs, and would have to be equally divided between them, not divided by\nfamilies, or even _per capita_, but so that each heir should have an\nequally valuable slave-investment, or an equal share in the property of\nthe deceased. If the heirs should be numerous, or the slaves few, so\nthat an equal division of them could not be thus made, they would have\nto be sold, and their proceeds equally divided. Such sales must be\ncommon. The following is taken from the \"Georgia Journal:\"--\n\n  \"TO BE SOLD,--One negro-girl, about 18 months old, belonging to the\n  estate of William Chambers, deceased. _Sold for the purpose of\n  distribution._\n                                            JETHRO DEAN, } Executors.\"\n                                            SAMUEL BEALL,}\n\nHow often are heirs needy! How very seldom are they actuated by the same\nspirit or governed by the same views as their ancestor! Some of them\nmight be under age, and legally incapable of acting for themselves; and\nyet here, as in the other case, unless the widow and heirs-at-law should\nbe all of full age, ready to break the law of the State, and humane,\nkind-hearted, and above want, like Dr. Fuller, his slaves could not\nescape the common degradation of their fellows. How extremely improbable\nis it that such would be the situation of the widow and all the heirs!\nHow much more improbable is it that such a state of things would\ncontinue! How much more likely is it that we should find some of the\nheirs disliking an investment in slaves, or wishing to be disembarrassed\nof their care, or desirous to reduce their stock of negroes, and\naccordingly selling their portion of Dr. Fuller's slaves at auction! In\nthe \"Charleston (S.C.) Mercury\" of Sept. 1, 1847, we find the\nfollowing:--\n\n  \"FOR SALE,--A young and healthy negro-woman, about 24 years of age,\n  with her two children, a boy between 5 and 6 years, and an infant, 6\n  months old. _Sold for no fault but to change the property._ Apply at\n  this office.\"\n\nThis is from the \"New Orleans Commercial Bulletin\" of August 27, 1847:--\n\n  \"DESIRABLE VIRGINIA HOUSE-SERVANT.--By Beard, Calhoun, & Co.\n  Saturday, 28th inst. at 12 o'clock, will be sold at auction, at\n  Banks's Arcade, the Griffe servant, Lucy, 19 years; a trusty\n  house-girl, of fine character, washer, ironer, and American cook,\n  and sews remarkably well. _Sold for no fault, as her owner is\n  leaving the city._ Fully guarantied against the vices and maladies\n  prescribed by law.--Terms cash. Act of sale before J. R. Beard,\n  notary public, at the expense of purchaser.\"\n\nThe \"National Intelligencer\" of August 1, 1848, contains the\nfollowing:--\n\n  \"VALUABLE SERVANT AT PRIVATE SALE.--We have for sale a valuable\n  servant-girl, aged about 17 years. She is an excellent\n  house-servant. _Sold for no fault; the owner about removing to the\n  country._                               ED. C. & G. F. DYER,\n                                Auctioneers and Commission Merchants.\"\n\nThe same paper of January 20, 1844, contains the following:--\n\n  \"FOR SALE,--Two likely mulatto women; one middle-aged, an excellent\n  cook, washer, and ironer, and a good seamstress; the other young,\n  and a good seamstress and house-servant; and both capable of doing\n  any work required in a family. _They are sold on account of the\n  owner not having sufficient employment._--Apply to Mr. Henry\n  Trunnel, Georgetown.\"\n\nIn the same paper, Nov. 2, 1844, we find this:--\n\n  \"A NEGRO-BOY FOR SALE OR HIRE.--A boy, 16 years old, well-grown and\n  active, is for sale, but not to a trader. He has been employed in\n  attending to horses, driving a carriage, working in a garden, &c.\n  _and will be sold only because the owner has too many servants_. He\n  may be had on trial.--Apply at J. B. Holmead's Auction Rooms.\"\n\nThe boy is not to be sold to a trader; but there can be no security that\nthe purchaser will not thus sell him.\n\nThe \"Spirit of Liberty\" contains a notice, from \"Scott's Intelligence\nOffice,\" of the sale of three negro girls, aged 10, 19, and 16 years\nrespectively, and a boy 14 years old. The notice states, \"All the above\nservants are sold for no faults, and are just from the country,\nconsigned to me for sale by their owners, who recommend them very\nhighly; _they wish to reduce their stock of negroes is the cause of\ntheir being in the market for sale_.\"\n\nPerhaps some one or more of Dr. Fuller's heirs may be indebted. What, in\nsuch case, will prevent a creditor from levying on an undivided share of\nDr. Fuller's happy slaves? Perhaps the debtor may wish to convey his\nproperty to trustees for the benefit of his creditors. We take the\nfollowing advertisement from the \"National Anti-Slavery Standard,\" April\n15, 1847:--\n\n  \"TRUSTEE'S SALE.--Plantation and negroes in Washington County,\n  Mississippi; and Yazoo city town lot and buildings. On Monday, the\n  first of February, 1847, I will proceed to sell, by virtue of a\n  certain deed of trust, executed 10th May, 1845, by Thomas J. Reed,\n  to me, as trustee, and duly recorded in the proper county, and at\n  the special instance and request of the creditors named in said\n  deed, at public sale, to the highest bidder, for cash, on the\n  premises, the following described lands, situated, lying, and being\n  in the county of Washington, and State of Mississippi, and described\n  as follows, to wit:--\n\n  \"Section No. 3, &c. &c.\n\n  \"Also _one undivided half of the following named negroes, slaves for\n  life_, held jointly with the heirs of Baine, viz. Sophia, aged 45;\n  Nancy, 35; Queen, 40; Jane, 19; Rachel, 11; Priscella; Jenny, 60;\n  Maria, 30; Lydia, 30; Amanda, 22; Edna, 30; Vina, 36; Betsy, 35;\n  Ellen, 9; Peyton, 8; Bob, 4; Louis, 15; Chub, 8; Horace, 6; Louisa,\n  1; Jim, jr. 4; Mary, 4-1/2; Harriet, 6; Dick, 9; George, 5; Billy,\n  50; John Brown, 36; Alexander, 40; Louis Johnson, 62; Hatton, 35;\n  Jim, sen. 42; Frank, 50; John, jr. or Little John, 16; John\n  Mitchell, 47; Louis Davis, 40; Warren, 40; Ben, 36; Oliver, 40;\n  Louis, jr. or Charles Louis, 5; Lawson, 35; Sam, 19; Harvey, 21;\n  Fleming, 6; Amy, 4; Bonaparte, 3; Catherine (Queen's child), 2.\n\n  \"And further, all the right, title, and interest of said Reed in and\n  to the following named slaves, to wit, Henny and her three children,\n  Dick, Jane, and Peter; together with all the stock of horses,\n  cattle, mules, hogs, and farming implements appertaining to said\n  tracts of land, which is believed to be an entire estate in fee.\n\n  \"The above sale will be for cash, and I will convey to the purchaser\n  only such title as is vested in me by said deed of trust.\n                                                           W. S. MOTT.\n  \"No postponement on account of the weather.\"\n\n\nOther cases might doubtless be put; but these are sufficient to enable\nus to test the question of right and wrong. And no labored argument is\nnecessary. Dr. Fuller admits (what we have already proved) that\nslaveholding is most generally wrong, because it is accompanied by the\nmental and moral degradation of the slaves. But, by voluntarily\nretaining the ownership of his slaves, he renders just such a\ndegradation almost inevitable even for them. Without the slightest\nnecessity for so doing, and solely because he wishes so to do, he\nrenders almost certain the hopeless degradation of his fellow-man. Such\nconduct cannot be right, even though (as doubtless in his case) pursued\nfrom right motives. No one has the right unnecessarily to impede our\nspiritual or mental culture, even in the slightest degree,--much less\nunnecessarily to expose us, almost certainly, to hopeless degradation.\nNo more have we the right, by holding our fellows in slavery, to render\nalmost inevitable the death of their souls.\n\nSlaveholding, then, is _always_ wrong, because it either deliberately\nmurders the souls of its victims, or else renders such spiritual death\nalmost inevitable. Nor is slaveholding ever made right by the fact that\nthe slaves will not consent to be emancipated; for no man can rightfully\nconsent to his own degradation. What _man_ would consent to become even\nthe favored slave of Dr. Fuller?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION AND ITS INTERPRETATION.\n\n  The Constitution is not what it ought to be, not what we wish it to\n  be; not what is consistent with sound morals, but simply what its\n  words meant in 1789,--nothing more, nothing less.\n\n\nThe Constitution of the United States was drawn up by a Convention, of\nwhich Washington was president. The people, assembled in their State\nConventions, adopted the draft, because it aptly expressed the kind of\nunion they wished to have, because it fully and exactly expressed their\nmeaning. In order, therefore, to ascertain the character of our\npolitical union with the Slave States, we have only to ascertain the\ntrue meaning of the words of the Constitution, or their plain, obvious,\nand common meaning, at the time the Constitution was adopted. Every\nwriter who wishes to be understood uses his words in their usual\nsignification. Every one supposes that we mean just what our words\ncommonly mean now. When we read Chaucer, or Shakspeare, or Dr. Johnson,\nwe understand him to mean just what his words commonly meant at the time\nhe wrote, unless such meaning is repelled or qualified by the context,\nin which case we adopt this new or qualified meaning. In like manner,\nthe people of the United States are to be understood to mean, by the\nwords of the Constitution, just what those words commonly meant when the\nConstitution was adopted, unless such meaning is repelled or qualified\nby the context; in which case, a regard for truth obliges us to adopt\nthis new or qualified meaning.\n\nThis simple, true, and universally practised rule is thus laid down by\nJudge Story (Comm. on Const. Abr. Sec. 210):--\n\n  \"Every word employed in the Constitution is to be expounded in its\n  plain, obvious, and common sense, unless the context furnishes some\n  ground to control, qualify, or enlarge it. Constitutions are not\n  designed for metaphysical or logical subtleties, for niceties of\n  expression, for critical propriety, for elaborate shades of meaning,\n  or for the exercise of philosophical acuteness or juridical\n  research. They are instruments of a practical nature, founded on the\n  common business of human life, adapted to common wants, designed for\n  common use, and fitted for common understandings. The people make\n  them; the people adopt them; the people must be supposed to read\n  them, with the help of common sense; and cannot be presumed to admit\n  in them any recondite meaning, or any extraordinary gloss.\"--Sec.\n  212: \"Where technical words are used, the technical meaning is to be\n  applied to them, unless it is repelled by the context. But the same\n  word often possesses a technical and a common sense. In such a case,\n  the latter is to be preferred, unless some attendant circumstance\n  points clearly to the former.\"\n\nThe Constitution was also framed and adopted with reference to the\nactual political, social, and local condition of the people. It grew out\nof their wants and wishes. The steps which finally led to its adoption\ngrew out of one of the many defects in the articles of confederation.\nConsequently, to arrive at the true meaning of the Constitution, we must\nbear in mind the political, social, and local condition of the people at\nthe time of its adoption, and, among many other similar facts, the very\ngeneral existence of domestic slavery.[V]\n\nKeeping in view these, the very simplest rules of interpretation, we\nwill show what the Constitution is according to the common meaning of\nits terms; what its framers intended to make it; what, in point of fact,\nit has been considered to be in the practice of the government; and,\nfinally, what it has been adjudged to mean by that body which it has\nitself pointed out as the final arbiter of its meaning. And, if all\nthese unite in giving the Constitution but one character, we, as\nreasonable men, seeking the truth, cannot deny that such is its true\ncharacter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE COMMON MEANING OF ITS TERMS.\n\n  The people made it, the people adopted it, the people must be\n  supposed to read it with the help of common sense, and cannot be\n  presumed to admit in it any hidden or extraordinary meaning.\n\n\nAt the time of the adoption of the Constitution, slavery existed in all\nthe States except Massachusetts. How far, if at all, does this\ninstrument support or countenance the institution?\n\n  Art. 1, sec. 2: \"Representatives and direct taxes shall be\n  apportioned among the several States which may be included within\n  this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be\n  determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including\n  those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians\n  not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons.\"\n\nBy this section, persons are divided into those who are free and those\nwho are slaves; for to the whole number of _free_ persons are to be\nadded three-fifths of _all other_ persons, that is, persons not free, or\n_slaves_. If we adopt the plain, obvious, and common meaning of the\nwords as their true meaning, this conclusion is incontrovertible.\n\nIt is sometimes urged, that by \"free person\" is meant \"citizen.\" But the\nexpression cannot be taken in any such technical sense. Under the\nexpression \"free persons\" are included those bound to service for a term\nof years, and therefore from it are excluded those bound to service for\nlife, or slaves.\n\nThis article, therefore, recognizes slavery as explicitly as if the word\n_slave_ itself had been used, and gives to the free persons in a Slave\nState, solely because they are slaveholders, a larger representation,\nand consequently greater political power, than the same number of free\npersons in a Free State. A BOUNTY ON SLAVEHOLDING!\n\n  Art. 1, sec. 9: \"The _migration or importation_ of such persons as\n  any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall\n  not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand\n  eight hundred and eight; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such\n  _importation_, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.\"\n\nIt is clear that this section recognizes a difference between the\nmeaning of _migration_ and _importation_, since, if both words mean the\nsame thing, no reason whatever can be assigned why a tax is not\npermitted in both cases. This difference, whatever it is, must afford a\ngood reason why persons imported may be taxed, and persons migrating\nnot. The true meaning of the section seems obvious. A person who\nmigrates does so of his own accord: he cannot be said to be migrated by\nany other person. He is wholly a free agent. A person who is imported\ndoes not import himself, but is imported by some other person. He is\npassive. The importer is the free agent; the person imported is not a\nfree agent. Thus the slave-laws of Virginia of 1748[W] and 1753[X]\nbegin--\"All _persons_ who have been or shall be _imported_,\" &c. &c.\n\"_shall be_ accounted and be _slaves_.\" Whenever we hear an importation\nspoken of, we instantly infer an importer, an _owner_, and _property_\nimported. This distinction between the meaning of the two words is,\nthen, real. It affords a good reason for the restriction on the right to\ntax. Therefore, we say, it is the true distinction. On our construction,\nCongress had power to lay a tax on persons imported as property or\nslaves, but had no right to tax free persons migrating.\n\nBy this clause, therefore, Congress was prevented, during twenty years,\nfrom prohibiting the foreign slave-trade with any State that pleased to\nallow it. But, by Art. 1, sec. 8, Congress had the general power \"to\nregulate commerce with foreign nations.\" Consequently, _the slave-trade\nwas excepted from the operation of the general power, with a view to\nplace the slave-trade, during twenty years, solely under the control of\nthe Slave States_. It could not be wholly stopped, so long as one State\nwished to continue it. It is a clear compromise in favor of slavery.\nTrue, the compromise was a temporary one; but it will be noticed, that\nCongress, even after 1808, was not obliged to prohibit the trade; and,\nin point of fact, until 1819 the laws of Congress authorized the States\nto sell into slavery, for their own benefit, negroes imported contrary\nto the laws of the United States! (Act Congr. 1807, c. 77, Sec. 4, 6; 1818,\nc. 86, Sec. 5 and 7; 10 Wheat. Rep. 321, 322.) So unmixed should be our\nsatisfaction at the oft-repeated boast, that ours was the first nation\nto prohibit the African slave-trade!\n\n  Art. 4, sec. 2: \"No person held to service or labor in one State,\n  under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence\n  of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or\n  labor; but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such\n  service or labor may be due.\"\n\nThe time of holding not being limited, the expression here used must\ninclude not only persons held to service or labor for a term of years,\nbut also those held to service or labor for life. Consequently, it\nincludes those who are free persons within the meaning of Art. 1, sec.\n2, and slaves or persons held to service or labor for life.\n\nThat the expression \"person held to service or labor\" was a correct\ndefinition of the condition of a slave, at the time the Constitution was\nadopted, is evident. The sixth article of the North-western ordinance\nreads thus: \"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in\nthe said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof\nthe party shall have been duly convicted; provided always, that, any\nperson escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully\nclaimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be\nlawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor\nor service as aforesaid.\" In other words, the expression \"a person from\nwhom labor or service is lawfully claimed\" so correctly described the\ncondition of a slave, that Congress deemed it necessary to except such\npersons from the operation of an article relating only to slaves. In\nless than three months after the passage of this ordinance, this clause\nin the Constitution was drafted. It needs no argument to show, that the\nexpression in the Constitution means the same as that in the ordinance.\n\"A person from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of\nthe original States\" means the same as \"a person held to service or\nlabor in one State under the laws thereof.\" If the former correctly\ndescribed the condition of a slave, the latter did also.\n\nWe can, however, see that the expression does properly describe the\nlegal condition of a slave. A slave, though an article of property, has\nalways and in every State been recognized as a person, by being held\ncriminally responsible for his acts. Thus the preamble to the Act of\nSouth Carolina (May 10, 1740; 1 Grimke's Laws, 165), which provides for\nthe trial of _slaves_, recites that \"natural justice forbids that any\n_person_, of what condition soever, should be condemned unheard;\" and\nthe Act of Georgia of 1770 (Prince's Dig. 777) provides for the trial of\n\"slaves and _other persons_.\" The Act of Virginia (1748, sec. 15; 5 Hen.\nStat. 547) and North Carolina (1741, sec. 29; Iredell, Stat. 62-66) call\nrunaway slaves _persons_ in so many words. Similar laws might be cited,\nif deemed necessary. A slave is also held to labor and service for life\nby law. Labor and service are the lot of every slave. \"To slave\" means\n\"to toil.\" It is sometimes denied, but nevertheless it is true, that the\nlaw recognizes that labor and service are legally due from the slave to\nhis master. Thus the Act of North Carolina (1741, sec. 27), before\nquoted, makes it a criminal offence to tempt or persuade a slave to\nleave his master's \"service.\" \"Service\" is recognized as being legally\ndue from a slave in Virginia (Act 1691, 3 Hen. Stat. 86, 87). The\nProvincial Assembly of South Carolina (Act 1740, sec. 44) provided\nthat,--\n\n  \"If any owner of slaves, or other person who shall have the care,\n  management, or overseeing of any slaves, shall work, or put any such\n  slave or slaves to labor, more than fifteen hours in twenty-four\n  hours, from the twenty-fifth day of March to the twenty-fifth day of\n  September, or more than fourteen hours in twenty-four hours, from\n  the twenty-fifth day of September to the twenty-fifth day of March,\n  every such person shall forfeit any sum not exceeding twenty pounds,\n  nor under five pounds, current money for every time he, she, or they\n  shall offend herein, at the discretion of the justice before whom\n  the complaint shall be made.\"\n\nThe Provincial Assembly of Georgia (Act 1770, May 10, sec. 41) provided\nthat,--\n\n  \"If any person shall, on the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday,\n  employ any slave in any work or labor (works of absolute necessity\n  and the necessary occasions of the family only excepted), every\n  person so offending shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten shillings\n  for every slave he, she, or they shall so cause to work or labor.\"\n\nA similar law was passed in South Carolina (Act 1740, sec. 22). These\nand similar laws, by limiting the hours of daily work and labor, or by\nproviding that work and labor shall not be demanded of a slave on\nSunday, recognize that on other days, and within certain hours, a master\nmay legally demand them. That which may be legally demanded is legally\ndue. Therefore, work and labor, or service, are legally due from the\nslave to his master. To this labor and service the slave is \"held\" by\nthe law. If he refuses to work, his master may coerce him. If he runs\naway, his master may pursue and retake him legally. He is \"held for\nlife,\" or until emancipated according to law. Consequently, the\nexpression in the Constitution correctly describes the condition of a\nslave. Indeed, it more correctly describes this condition than \"chattel\npersonal\" would, because it is the almost universal practice to treat a\nslave in many important particulars, such as dower, &c. like real\nproperty; and, in some States, slaves are declared by statute to be\nreal estate.\n\nBy this section, therefore, it is provided that no person held as a\nslave in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall,\nin consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from his\nslavery, but shall be delivered up on claim of his owner. The laws of\none State, whether they support slavery or any other institution, have\nno power in another State. Consequently, if a slave escapes into a Free\nState, he becomes free. This is the general rule of law. In virtue of\nit, thousands of slaves are now free on the soil of Canada. In virtue of\nit, a fugitive slave from South Carolina would be free in this State,\nwere it not for this section in the Constitution. But this section\ndeclares that he shall not thereby become free, but shall be delivered\nup. Again, _the Constitution makes an exception from a general rule of\nlaw in favor of slavery_. It gives to slaveholders, and slave-laws, a\npower which the general rule of law does not give. It enables a South\nCarolina slaveholder to drag from the soil of Massachusetts a person\nwhom the general rule of law pronounces free, solely because South\nCarolina laws declare the contrary. It makes the whole Union a vast\nhunting-ground for slaves! There is not a single spot from the Atlantic\nto the Pacific, from the St. John's to the Rio del Norte, or\n\"wheresoe'er may be the fleeting boundary of this republic,\" on which a\nfugitive slave may rest, and his owner may not, in virtue of this\nclause, claim and retake him as his slave!\n\n  Art. 1, sec. 8: \"Congress shall have power ... to provide for\n  calling forth the militia ... _to suppress insurrections_.\"\n\n  Art. 4, sec. 4: \"The United States shall guarantee to every State in\n  this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each\n  of them against invasion; and, on application of the legislature or\n  of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against\n  _domestic violence_.\"\n\n_All_ insurrections and _all_ cases of domestic violence are here\nprovided for. To constitute an insurrection within the meaning of the\nConstitution, there must be a rising against those laws which are\nrecognized as such by the Constitution; and, to make out a case of\ndomestic violence, the violence must be exerted against that right or\npower which is recognized by the Constitution as lawful. But, by Art. 4,\nsec. 2, the Constitution admits that some persons are legally slaves;\nelse the clause itself must be entirely inoperative. Consequently, if\nthese persons rise in rebellion, or commit acts of violence contrary to\nthe laws which hold them in slavery, their rising constitutes an\ninsurrection; such acts are acts of violence within the meaning of the\nConstitution, and consequently must be suppressed by the national power.\nAnd what insurrections were more likely to happen and more to be dreaded\nthan slave-insurrections, and therefore more likely to have been\nprovided for?\n\nSlave-owners are not the only slaveholders. All persons who voluntarily\nassist or pledge themselves to assist in holding persons in slavery are\nslaveholders. _In sober truth, then, we are a nation of slaveholders!_\nfor we have bound our whole national strength to the slave-owners, to\naid them, if necessary, in holding their slaves in subjection!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION AS ITS FRAMERS INTENDED TO MAKE IT.\n\n  \"Yes!--it cannot be denied--the slaveholding lords of the South\n  prescribed, as a condition of their assent to the Constitution,\n  three special provisions to secure the perpetuity of their dominion\n  over their slaves.\"--_John Quincy Adams._\n\n\nThe question, What kind of a Constitution did its framers intend to\nmake? is purely an historical one; and it must be obvious to all, that\nany thing like a complete statement of the evidence on this point cannot\nbe given within the limits of this pamphlet.\n\nOn the 17th of September, 1787, the Philadelphia Convention adopted the\nplan of the present Constitution. The draft thus made was submitted to\nthe people, assembled in State Conventions, \"for their assent and\nratification.\" President Madison has preserved a record of the debates\nin the Philadelphia Convention; and we have also published accounts of\nthe debates in several of the State Conventions. We draw our evidence\nmainly from these sources.\n\n\nAPPORTIONMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 2.)\n\nOn the 18th of April, 1783, the Continental Congress passed a resolve,\nrecommending the States to amend the Articles of Confederation in such\nmanner that the national expenses should be defrayed out of a common\ntreasury, \"which shall be supplied by the several States, in proportion\nto the whole number of white or other free inhabitants, of every age,\nsex, and condition, including those bound to servitude for a term of\nyears, and three-fifths of all other persons not comprehended in the\nforegoing description, except Indians, not paying taxes, in each State.\"\nThis amendment was adopted by eleven out of the thirteen States.\n\nA single glance is sufficient to satisfy any one, that, under the\nexpression in this resolve, \"all other persons,\" slaves were intended;\nand an equally cursory glance suffices to show, that Art. 1, sec. 2, of\nthe Constitution is derived, almost copied, from this resolve. Did not\nthe framers of the Constitution, in adopting the same expression (Art.\n1, sec. 2), mean the same thing as the Continental Congress?\n\nIn the Massachusetts Convention, Art. 1, sec. 2, of the Constitution\nhaving been read, Rufus King, one of its framers, rose to explain it:--\n\n  \"This paragraph states, that the number of free persons shall be\n  determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including\n  those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians\n  not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. _These persons are the\n  slaves._ By this rule is representation and taxation to be\n  apportioned, and it was adopted because it was the language of all\n  America....\n\n  Five negro-children of South Carolina are to pay as much tax as the\n  three governors of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.\"\n\nIn the New York Convention, Alexander Hamilton, another of the framers,\nremarked:--\n\n  \"The first thing objected to is that clause which allows a\n  representation for three-fifths of the negroes....\n\n  \"The regulation complained of was one result of the spirit of\n  accommodation which governed the Convention; and, _without this\n  indulgence, no union could possibly have been formed_.\"\n\nIn the Pennsylvania Convention, James Wilson, another of the framers,\nsaid, referring to the resolve of the Continental Congress passed in\n1783:--\n\n  \"It was not carried into effect, but it was adopted by no fewer than\n  eleven out of thirteen States; and it cannot but be matter of\n  surprise to hear gentlemen, who agreed to this very mode of\n  expression at that time, come forward, and state it as an objection\n  on the present occasion. It was natural, sir, for the late\n  Convention to adopt the mode after it had been agreed to by eleven\n  States, and to use the expression which they found had been received\n  as unexceptionable before.\"\n\nIn a speech before the legislature of Maryland, Luther Martin, also a\ndelegate to the Philadelphia Convention, offers the following clear and\nunmistakable testimony:--\n\n  \"With respect to that part of the second section of the first\n  article, it was urged that no principle could justify taking slaves\n  into computation in apportioning the number of representatives a\n  State should have in the government;--that _it involved the\n  absurdity of increasing the power of a State in making laws for\n  freemen, in proportion as that State violated the rights of\n  freedom_;--that it might be proper to take slaves into\n  consideration, when taxes were to be apportioned, because it had a\n  tendency to discourage slavery; but to take them into account in\n  giving representation tended to encourage the slave-trade, and to\n  make it the interest of the States to continue that infamous\n  traffic.\"\n\nIn the North Carolina Convention, Wm. R. Davie, a member of the\nConvention who framed the Constitution, said:--\n\n  \"The Eastern States had great jealousies on this subject. They\n  insisted that their cows and horses were equally entitled to\n  representation; that the one was property as well as the other. It\n  became our duty, on the other hand, to acquire as much weight as\n  possible in the legislation of the Union; and, as the Northern\n  States were more populous in whites, this only could be done by\n  insisting that a certain proportion of our _slaves_ should make a\n  part of the computed population.\"\n\nIn the South Carolina Convention, General Chas. C. Pinckney, another of\nthe framers of the Constitution, said:--\n\n  \"We were at a loss for some time for a rule to ascertain the\n  proportionate wealth of the States. At last we thought that the\n  productive labor of the inhabitants was the best rule for\n  ascertaining their wealth. In conformity to this rule, joined to a\n  spirit of concession, we determined that representatives should be\n  apportioned among the several States, by adding to the whole number\n  of free persons, three-fifths of the _slaves_.\"\n\n\nPERMISSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 9.)\n\nIn the Massachusetts Convention, Mr. Dawes, speaking in relation to Art.\n1, sec. 2, said that--\n\n  \"Gentlemen would do well to connect the passage in dispute with\n  another article in the Constitution, that permits Congress, in the\n  year 1808, wholly to prohibit the importation of _slaves_, and in\n  the meantime to impose a duty of ten dollars a head on such blacks\n  as should be imported before that period.\"\n\nMany persons spoke in the Convention on this section; and, among others,\nJudge Dana rejoiced that a door was opened by it for the annihilation of\nthe slave-trade.\n\nIn the Pennsylvania Convention, Mr. Wilson said:--\n\n  \"Under the present confederation, the States may admit the\n  _importation of slaves as long as they please_; but by this article,\n  after the year 1808, the Congress will have power to prohibit such\n  importation, notwithstanding the disposition of any State to the\n  contrary.... It is with much satisfaction I view this power in the\n  general government, whereby they may lay an interdiction on this\n  reproachful trade. But an immediate advantage is also obtained; for\n  a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten\n  dollars for each person; and this, sir, operates as a partial\n  prohibition. It was all that could be obtained: I am sorry it was no\n  more.\"\n\nIn Maryland, Luther Martin, in the speech before referred to, says,\nspeaking of this section:--\n\n  \"The design of this clause is to _prevent the general government\n  from prohibiting the importation of slaves_; but the same reasons\n  which caused them to strike out the word 'national,' and not admit\n  the word 'stamps,' influenced them here to guard against the word\n  'slaves.' They anxiously sought to avoid the admission of\n  expressions which might be odious in the ears of Americans, although\n  they were willing to admit into their system those things which the\n  expressions signified.\"\n\nMr. Martin thus gives the well-known history of the compromise involved\nin this clause:--\n\n  \"This clause was the subject of a great diversity of sentiment in\n  the Convention. As the system was reported by the committee of\n  detail, the provision was general, that such importation should not\n  be prohibited, without confining it to any particular period. This\n  was rejected by eight States; Georgia, South Carolina, and, I think,\n  North Carolina, voting for it.\n\n  \"We were then told by the delegates of the two first of those\n  States, that their States would never agree to a system which put it\n  in the power of the general government to prevent the importation of\n  slaves; and that they, as delegates from those States, must withhold\n  their assent from such a system.\n\n  \"A committee of one member from each State was chosen by ballot to\n  take this part of the system under their consideration, and to\n  endeavor to agree upon some report which should reconcile those\n  States. To this committee also was referred the following\n  proposition, which had been reported by the committee of detail, to\n  wit: 'No Navigation Act shall be passed without the assent of\n  two-thirds of the members present in each house;'--a proposition\n  which the staple and commercial States were solicitous to retain,\n  lest their commerce should be placed too much under the power of the\n  Eastern States; but which these last States were as anxious to\n  reject. This committee, of which also I had the honor to be a\n  member, met, and took under their consideration the subjects\n  committed to them. _I found the Eastern States, notwithstanding\n  their aversion to slavery, were very willing to indulge the Southern\n  States, at least with a temporary liberty to prosecute the\n  slave-trade, provided the Southern States would in their turn\n  gratify them, by laying no restriction on Navigation Acts_; and,\n  after a very little time, the committee, by a great majority, agreed\n  on a report, by which the general government was to be prohibited\n  from preventing the importation of slaves for a limited time, and\n  the restricted clause relative to Navigation Acts was to be omitted.\n\n  \"This report was adopted by a majority of the Convention, but not\n  without considerable opposition.\"\n\nIn the Virginia Convention, Mr. Madison said:--\n\n  \"Mr. Chairman, I should conceive this clause to be impolitic, if it\n  were one of those things which could be excluded without\n  encountering greater evils. The Southern States would not have\n  entered into the Union of America, without the temporary permission\n  of that trade. And if they were excluded from the Union, the\n  consequences might be dreadful to them and to us. We are not in a\n  worse situation than before. That traffic is prohibited by our laws,\n  and we may continue the prohibition. The Union in general is not in\n  a worse situation. Under the articles of confederation, it might be\n  continued for ever; but, by this clause, an end may be put to it\n  after twenty years. There is, therefore, an amelioration of our\n  circumstances. A tax may be laid in the meantime.\"\n\nIn the North Carolina Convention, Mr. Spaight, one of the framers of the\nConstitution, said--\n\n  \"That there was a contest between the Northern and Southern States;\n  that the Southern States, whose principal support depended on the\n  labor of slaves, would not consent to the desire of the Northern\n  States, to exclude the importation of slaves absolutely; that South\n  Carolina and Georgia insisted on this clause, as they were now in\n  want of hands to cultivate their lands; that in the course of twenty\n  years they would be fully supplied; that the trade would be\n  abolished then, and that in the meantime some tax or duty might be\n  laid on.\"\n\nIn the South Carolina Convention, Hon. Rawlins Lowndes said:--\n\n  \"In the first place, what cause was there for jealousy of our\n  importing negroes? Why confine us to twenty years, or rather why\n  limit us at all? For his part, he thought this trade could be\n  justified on the principles of religion, humanity, and justice; for\n  certainly to translate a set of human beings from a bad country to a\n  better was fulfilling every part of these principles. But they don't\n  like our slaves, because they have none themselves.\"\n\nGen. Charles C. Pinckney said:--\n\n  \"_By this settlement we have secured an unlimited importation of\n  negroes for twenty years_; nor is it declared that the importation\n  shall be then stopped: it may be continued; we have a security that\n  the general government can never emancipate them.\"\n\n\nRESTORATION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES. (Const. Art. 4, sec. 2.)\n\nIn the Philadelphia Convention, Aug. 28, 1787, Art. 14 was taken up for\nconsideration. This article read, \"The citizens of each State shall be\nentitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several\nStates.\" Gen. Pinckney was not satisfied with it. He seemed to wish some\nprovision should be included in favor of property in slaves.\n\nArt. 15 was as follows:--\n\n  \"Any person charged with treason, felony, or high misdemeanor, in\n  any State, who shall flee from justice, and shall be found in any\n  other State, shall, on demand of the executive power of the State\n  from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the State having\n  jurisdiction of the offence.\"\n\nThis article being then taken up, the words \"high misdemeanor\" were\nstruck out, and the words \"other crime\" inserted, in order to comprehend\nall proper cases; it being doubtful whether \"high misdemeanor\" had not a\ntechnical meaning too limited.\n\nMr. Butler and Mr. Pinckney moved to require \"_fugitive slaves and\nservants to be delivered up like criminals_.\"\n\nMr. Wilson: This would oblige the executive of the State to do it at the\npublic expense.\n\nMr. Sherman saw no more propriety in the public seizing and surrendering\na slave or servant than a horse.\n\nMr. Butler withdrew his proposition, in order that some particular\nprovision might be made, apart from this article.\n\nArticle 15, as amended, was then agreed to, _nem. con._--Mad. Papers,\npp. 1447-8.\n\nThe next day, Aug. 29, Mr. Butler, to accomplish his purpose, moved to\ninsert, after Art. 15,--\n\n  \"If any person, bound to service or labor in any of the United\n  States, shall escape into another State, he or she shall not be\n  discharged from such service or labor, in consequence of any\n  regulations subsisting in the State to which they escape, but shall\n  be delivered up to the person justly claiming their service or\n  labor.\"\n\nWhich was agreed to, _nem. con._\n\nAfter the phraseology had been somewhat altered, on Saturday, Sept. 15,\n1787, in this clause (then Const. Art. 4, sec. 2) the term \"legally\" was\nstruck out, and the words \"under the laws thereof\" inserted after the\nword \"State,\" in compliance with the wish of some one who thought the\nterm _legal_ equivocal, and favoring the idea that _slavery_ was legal\nin a moral view.\n\nIn the Virginia Convention, Mr. Madison said:--\n\n  \"Another clause secures us that property which we now possess. At\n  present, if any slave elopes to any of those States where slaves are\n  free, he becomes emancipated, by their laws; for the laws of the\n  States are uncharitable (!) to one another in this respect. But in\n  this Constitution, 'No person held to service or labor in one State,\n  under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence\n  of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or\n  labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such\n  service or labor may be due.' _This clause was expressly inserted to\n  enable owners of slaves to reclaim them._ This is a better security\n  than any that now exists. No power is given to the general\n  government to interpose with respect to the property in slaves now\n  held by the States.\"\n\nIn the North Carolina Convention, Mr. Iredell begged leave to explain\nthe reason of this clause:--\n\n  \"In some of the Northern States, they have emancipated all their\n  slaves. If any of our slaves,\" said he, \"go there and remain there a\n  certain time, they would, by the present laws, be entitled to their\n  freedom, so that their masters could not get them again. This would\n  be extremely prejudicial to the inhabitants of the Southern States;\n  and, _to prevent it, this clause is inserted in the Constitution_.\n  Though the word _slave_ be not mentioned, this is the meaning of it.\n  The Northern delegates, owing to their particular scruples on the\n  subject of slavery, did not choose the word _slave_ to be\n  mentioned.\"\n\nGen. Pinckney, says Mr. Madison, was not satisfied with Art. 14, and\n\"seemed to wish some provision should be included in favor of property\nin slaves.\" He thus, in the South Carolina Convention, expresses his\nsatisfaction at this article of the Constitution:--\n\n  \"_We have obtained a right to recover our slaves, in whatever part\n  of America they may take refuge, which is a right we had not\n  before._ In short, considering all circumstances, we have made the\n  best terms for the security of this species of property it was in\n  our power to make. We would have made better if we could; but, on\n  the whole, I do not think them bad.\"(!)\n\n\nSUPPRESSION OF SLAVE INSURRECTIONS. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 8; Art. 4, sec.\n4.)\n\nLuther Martin, in the speech before alluded to, used the following\nlanguage:--\n\n  \"It was further urged, that, by this system of government, every\n  State is to be protected both from foreign invasion and from\n  domestic insurrections: from this consideration, it was of the\n  utmost importance it should have a power to restrain the importation\n  of slaves, since, in proportion as the number of slaves are\n  increased in any State, in the same proportion the State is weakened\n  and exposed to foreign invasion or domestic insurrection, and by so\n  much less will it be able to protect itself against either, and\n  therefore will by so much the more want aid from, and be a burden\n  to, the Union.\"\n\nIn the Virginia Convention, Mr. George Nicholas said:--\n\n  \"Another worthy member says there is no power in the States to quell\n  an insurrection of slaves. Have they it now? If they have, does the\n  Constitution take it away? If it does, it must be in one of the\n  three clauses which have been mentioned by the worthy member. The\n  first clause gives the general government power to call them out\n  when necessary. Does this take it away from the States? No; but it\n  gives an additional security; for, besides the power in the State\n  governments to use their own militia, _it will be the duty of the\n  general government to aid them with the strength of the Union, when\n  called for_. No part of this Constitution can show that this power\n  is taken away.\"\n\nMr. Madison, respecting these clauses, says:--\n\n  \"On application of the legislature or executive, as the case may be,\n  the militia of the other States are to be called to suppress\n  domestic insurrections. Does this bar the States from calling forth\n  their own militia? No; but _it gives them a supplementary security\n  to suppress insurrections and domestic violence_.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE PRACTICE OF THE GOVERNMENT.\n\n  Uniform practice under a law is one of the highest proofs of the\n  meaning of that law.\n\n\nAPPORTIONMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 2.)\n\nThe Constitution (Art. 1, sec. 2, par. 3) provides that the enumeration\nof the people of the United States (upon which the apportionment of\nrepresentatives and direct taxes was to be made) \"shall be made within\nthree years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United\nStates, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as\nthey shall by law direct.\"\n\nOn the 1st of March, 1790, George Washington, who had been president of\nthe Convention which framed the Constitution, approved \"an Act providing\nfor the enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States.\" The first\nCongress ever assembled, and the first President ever elected, under the\nConstitution, under the sanction of their respective oaths \"to support\nthe Constitution,\" by this Act expressed their deliberate judgment as to\nthe true meaning of the people of the United States in adopting this\nsection of the Constitution. What, in their judgment, was such meaning?\n\nThese extracts from the Act will suffice (Act 1790, chap. 29):--\n\n  Sec. 1: \"Be it enacted, &c. That the marshals of the several\n  districts of the United States shall be, and they are hereby,\n  authorized and required to cause the number of the inhabitants\n  within their respective districts to be taken, omitting, in such\n  enumeration, Indians not taxed, and distinguishing free persons,\n  including those bound to service for a term of years, from all\n  others; distinguishing also the sexes and colors of free persons,\n  and the free males of sixteen years and upwards from those under\n  that age: for effecting which purpose, the marshals shall have power\n  to appoint as many assistants within their respective districts as\n  to them shall appear necessary, assigning to each assistant a\n  certain division of his district,\" &c.\n\nThese assistants were obliged to transmit to the marshals, returns in\nmanner following:--\n\n  \"The number of persons within my division, consisting of ----,\n  appears in a schedule hereunto annexed, subscribed by me, this\n  ----day of ---- 179 .\n\n                               A. B. Assistant to the Marshal of ----\"\n\n+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+\n|Names of |Free white|Free white |Free white|_All other|_Slaves._|\n|heads of | males of |males under| females, |   free   |         |\n|families.| sixteen  |  sixteen  |including | persons._|         |\n|         |years and |   years.  | heads of |          |         |\n|         | upwards, |           | families.|          |         |\n|         |including |           |          |          |         |\n|         | heads of |           |          |          |         |\n|         |families. |           |          |          |         |\n+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+\n|         |          |           |          |          |         |\n|         |          |           |          |          |         |\n|         |          |           |          |          |         |\n|         |          |           |          |          |         |\n|         |          |           |          |          |         |\n+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+\n\nThat is, the enumeration directed to be made, and upon the basis of\nwhich the constitutional apportionment of representatives and direct\ntaxes was to be made, distinguished only between _free persons_ and\n_slaves_. Congress and the President, under the sanction of their oaths,\nunited in the expression of their deliberate judgment, that the people\nof the United States, by the expression (Art. 1, sec. 2) \"three-fifths\nof all other persons,\" intended \"three-fifths of the slaves,\" because,\nin passing this Act, they declare that all other persons not free within\nthe meaning of this section are slaves.\n\nThe second Congress, at its first session, passed \"An Act for\napportioning representatives among the several States, according to the\nfirst enumeration\" (Stat. 1792, c. 23). The language of the statute is\nas follows:--\n\n  Sec. 1: \"Be it enacted, &c. That from and after the third day of\n  March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, the House of\n  Representatives shall be composed of members elected agreeably to a\n  ratio of one member for every thirty-three thousand persons in each\n  State, computed according to the rule prescribed by the\n  Constitution, that is to say, within the State of New Hampshire,\n  four,\" &c. &c.\n\nThat is, the second Congress, upon an enumeration distinguishing only\nfreemen from slaves, undertake to apportion representatives among the\nStates according to the rule laid down in the Constitution, viz. by\nadding to the whole number of free persons \"three-fifths of the slaves.\"\n\nThis interpretation, by the first and second Congress, has never been\nvaried from. In every census which has since been taken, the only\ndistinction sanctioned has been between freemen and slaves; and, on\nevery occasion of apportioning representatives, according the\nrepresentative or federal number, such number has been invariably\ndetermined by adding to the whole number of free persons, three-fifths\nof the slaves. _If this, the pro-slavery, interpretation of this section\nof the Constitution is not right, then, since March 3, 1793, there has\nnot been a single House of Representatives constitutionally elected, or\na single statute or resolve constitutionally passed!_ Who is ready to\nmake this admission?\n\n\nPERMISSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 9.)\n\nOn the 13th of May 1789, in Congress,--\n\n  \"Mr. Parker (of Va.) moved to insert a clause in the bill, imposing\n  a duty on the importation of slaves of ten dollars each person. He\n  _was sorry that the Constitution prevented Congress from prohibiting\n  the importation altogether_; he thought it a defect in that\n  instrument that it allowed of such actions; it was contrary to the\n  revolution principles, and ought not to be permitted; but, as he\n  could not do all the good he desired, he was willing to do what lay\n  in his power.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n  \"Mr. Sherman (of Ct.) approved of the object of the motion; but he\n  did not think this bill was proper to embrace the subject. He could\n  not reconcile himself to the insertion of human beings, as an\n  article of duty, among goods, wares, and merchandise. He hoped it\n  would be withdrawn for the present, and taken up hereafter as an\n  independent subject.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  \"Mr. Schureman (of N. J.) hoped the gentleman would withdraw his\n  motion, because the present was not the time or place for\n  introducing the business; he thought it had better be brought\n  forward in the House, as a distinct proposition.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  \"Mr. Madison (of Va.): I cannot concur with gentlemen who think the\n  present an improper time or place to enter into a discussion of the\n  proposed motion. If it is taken up in a separate view, we shall do\n  the same thing, at a greater expense of time....\n\n  \"I conceive the Constitution, in this particular, was formed in\n  order that the government, whilst it was restrained from laying a\n  total prohibition, might be able to give some testimony of the sense\n  of America with respect to the African trade. We have liberty to\n  impose a tax or duty upon the importation of such persons as any of\n  the States now existing shall think proper to admit; and this\n  liberty was granted, I presume, upon two considerations: the first\n  was, that, until the time arrived when they might abolish the\n  importation of slaves, they might have an opportunity of evidencing\n  their sentiments on the policy and humanity of such a trade; the\n  other was, that they might be taxed in due proportion with other\n  articles imported; for, if the possessor will consider them as\n  property, of course they are of value, and ought to be paid for.\"\n\nAfter a very considerable discussion, in which this section of the\nConstitution was referred to by various members, and the\nconstitutionality of Mr. Parker's motion admitted, with the advice of\nMr. Madison his colleague, Mr. Parker consented to withdraw his motion.\n\nIn 1794, \"An Act to prohibit the carrying on the slave-trade from the\nUnited States to any foreign place or country\" was passed (Stat. 1794,\nc. 11). In 1800, an Act in addition to the last was passed (Stat. 1800,\nc. 51). That both these laws were framed with reference to this section\nof the Constitution is apparent, because the latter Act expressly\nrefers to it. Sec. 6 reads thus, \"That nothing in this Act contained\nshall be construed to authorize the bringing into either of the United\nStates any person or persons, the importation of whom is, by the\nexisting laws of such State, prohibited.\" In 1803 (Stat. 1803, c. 63)\nwas passed \"An Act to prevent the importation of certain persons into\ncertain States, where, by the laws thereof, their admission is\nprohibited.\"\n\n  Sec. 1: \"Be it enacted, &c. That, from and after the first day of\n  April next, no master or captain of any ship or vessel, or any other\n  person, shall import or bring, or cause to be imported or brought,\n  any negro, mulatto, or other person of color, not being a native, a\n  citizen, or registered seaman of the United States, or seamen,\n  natives of countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope, into any port or\n  place of the United States, which port or place shall be situated in\n  any State which by law has prohibited, or shall prohibit, the\n  admission or importation of such negro, mulatto, or other person of\n  color,\" &c. &c.\n\nThis Act also is most manifestly framed upon this section of the\nConstitution. It renders illegal the importation of any negro, mulatto,\nor person of color, into States prohibiting such importation, unless\nsuch negro, &c. is a native, citizen, or registered seaman of the United\nStates, or native of countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope; that is, it\nrenders illegal the importation of African negroes into any State whose\nlaws prohibit such importation. And, as no African negro has yet been\nimported as a free laborer, this Act was directed against the African\nslave-trade.\n\nAnd, not to multiply proof, the importation of persons is not to be\nprohibited by Congress prior to 1808. On the 2d day of March, 1807,\nPresident Jefferson approved (Stat. 1807, c. 77) \"An Act to prohibit the\nimportation of _slaves_ into any port or place within the jurisdiction\nof the United States, from and after the _first day of January_, in the\nyear of our Lord _one thousand eight hundred and eight_.\" That is, at\nthe very earliest day allowed by Const. Art. 1, sec. 9, for the passage\nby Congress of an Act prohibiting the importation of persons, a law is\npassed totally prohibiting the _importation of slaves_.\n\n\nRESTORATION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES. (Const. Art. 4, sec. 2.)\n\nOn the 12th day of February, 1793 (Stat. 1793, chap. 7), there was\napproved \"An Act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping\nfrom the service of their masters.\" This is the law which, for over half\na century, has prescribed the modes in which a runaway slave may be\nretaken. It is what is now called \"the infamous law of '93.\" Thousands\nof runaway slaves have owed their return to their happy condition to the\nbeneficent operation of this law, obviously framed, as it is, with an\neye to this constitutional provision.\n\nSec. 3 provides that,--\n\n  \"When a person held to labor in any of the United States, or in\n  either of the territories on the north-west or south of the river\n  Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other of the\n  said States or territory, the person to whom such labor or service\n  may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or\n  arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take him or her before any\n  judge of the circuit or district courts of the United States,\n  residing or being within the State, or before any magistrate of a\n  county, city, or town corporate, wherein such seizure or arrest\n  shall be made; and, upon proof to the satisfaction of such judge or\n  magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit, taken before and\n  certified by a magistrate of any such State or territory, that the\n  person so seized or arrested doth, under the laws of the State or\n  territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor to the\n  person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such judge or\n  magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent\n  or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for removing the said\n  fugitive from labor to the State or territory from which he or she\n  fled.\"\n\n\nSUPPRESSION OF SLAVE INSURRECTIONS. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 8; Art. 4, sec.\n4.)\n\n\"An Act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of\nthe Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions,\" was approved\nMay 2, 1792 (Act Const. 1792, chap. 28). Section first provides that,\n\"_In case of an insurrection in any State_ against the government\nthereof, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, on\napplication of the legislature of such State, or of the executive (when\nthe legislature cannot be convened), to call forth such number of the\nmilitia of any other State or States as may be applied for, or as he may\njudge sufficient to suppress such insurrection.\" Precisely the same\nlanguage is made use of in Stat. 1795, c. 101. By Act approved March 3,\n1807 (Stat. 1807, c. 94), the President is authorized \"in _all_ cases of\ninsurrection,\" \"when it is lawful for him to call forth the militia for\nthe purpose of suppressing the same,\" \"to employ for the same purpose\nsuch part of the land or naval force of the United States as shall be\njudged necessary.\"\n\nThat these laws have been held to include an insurrection of slaves is\nindisputable. On receipt of the intelligence of Nat. Turner's\ninsurrection in Southampton, Va., Col. House, then commanding at\nFortress Monroe, set out with three companies of United States troops,\nfor the purpose of suppressing the revolt. He was reinforced by a\ndetachment from the United States ships Warren and Natchez, amounting in\nall to about three hundred men. With _our_ troops and _our_ officers we\nhave actually aided the slaveholder in holding his fellow-man in\nslavery! We have actually done what our fathers engaged in the\nConstitution that we should do, namely, aid with the national strength\nin keeping the slaves in subjection!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION ACCORDING TO THE EXPOSITION OF ITS FINAL INTERPRETER.\n\n  \"The judicial department of the United States is, in the last\n  resort, the final expositor of the Constitution as to all questions\n  of a judicial nature. Were there no power to interpret, pronounce,\n  and execute the law, the government would either perish through its\n  own imbecility, as was the case with the articles of confederation,\n  or other powers must be assumed by the legislative body, to the\n  destruction of liberty.\"--_Chancellor Kent._\n\n\nThe people of the United States, in adopting the Constitution, made\n_one_ standard, _one_ fundamental law, and _only one_. They gave to the\ngovernment of the United States certain powers. They restricted it as to\nothers. They placed certain prohibitions on the States. The Constitution\nwas to be the one fundamental law of the land, to which all, as well\nStates as people, should submit. Art. 6, sec. 2, provides that the\n\"Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in\npursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under\nthe authority of the United States, shall be _the supreme law of the\nland_; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing\nin the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary\nnotwithstanding.\"\n\nWho now is to tell us what this one standard is, to which all must\nsubmit, and which is thus to override all State Constitutions and all\nState laws? Is it the province of each individual to do it? Then we may\nhave at this moment seventeen million different interpretations, and\nhence as many different Constitutions, each of which, however, is the\nsupreme law of the land! Are the executive or judicial departments of\nthe States the proper expounders? Then, at this moment, we may have\nonly thirty different interpretations, twenty-nine of which must be\nwrong, because the supreme law can be but one.\n\nIn order, therefore, that the end of the Constitution may be\naccomplished, that it may really be the supreme law of the land, it must\nhave provided a way in which its only true meaning may be ascertained\nand definitively settled. Unless it has provided a final interpreter of\nits meaning, it is the merest folly to style it the supreme law of the\nland, or to call on us to obey its requirement. Is the Constitution thus\ndeficient? Does it demand uniformity, and at the same time deny the use\nof those means which are absolutely necessary to produce such\nuniformity? Does it present a variable, ever-changing standard of duty,\nand yet demand complete uniformity in practice?\n\nThere are three departments in the Government, namely, the Executive,\nthe Legislative, and the Judicial. The first two of these are each, to\nsome extent, supreme in its own sphere; and its acts are incapable of\nrevision elsewhere. \"Thus, in measures exclusively of a political,\nlegislative, or executive character, it is plain, that, as the supreme\nauthority as to these questions belongs to the legislative and executive\ndepartments, they cannot be re-examined elsewhere. Thus, Congress having\nthe power to declare war, to levy taxes, to appropriate money, to\nregulate intercourse and commerce with foreign nations, their mode of\nexecuting these powers can never become the subject of re-examination in\nany other tribunal. So, the power to make treaties being confided to the\nPresident and Senate, when a treaty is properly ratified, it becomes the\nlaw of the land, and no other tribunal can gainsay its stipulations. Yet\ncases may readily be imagined, in which a tax may be laid, or a treaty\nmade, upon motions and grounds wholly beside the intention of the\nConstitution. The remedy, however, in such cases is solely by an appeal\nto the people at the elections, or by the salutary power of amendment\nprovided by the Constitution itself.\n\n\"But, where the question is of a different nature, and capable of\njudicial inquiry and decision, there it admits of a very different\nconsideration. The decision then made, whether in favor or against the\nconstitutionality of the Act, by the State or by national authority, by\nthe legislature or by the executive, being capable in its own nature of\nbeing brought to the test of the Constitution, is subject to judicial\nrevision. It is in such cases, as we conceive, that there is a final and\ncommon arbiter provided by the Constitution itself, to whose decisions\nall others are subordinate; and that arbiter is the supreme judicial\nauthority of the courts of the Union\" (Story, Comm. Const. sec. 374,\n375); for the Constitution declares, Art. 3, sec. 2, that \"the judicial\npower shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this\nConstitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which\nshall be made, under their authority,\" &c. And Art. 3, sec. 1: \"The\njudicial power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme\ncourt, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time\nordain and establish.\"\n\nThese constitutional provisions are clear. The Constitution and laws and\ntreaties of the United States are declared to be the supreme law of the\nland. To expound what the law is, is a judicial act. The judicial power\nextends to all cases arising under the Constitution, laws, and treaties\nof the United States. It therefore extends to the exposition of the\nConstitution, laws, and treaties, when the case before the court\nproperly calls for such exposition. This judicial power, and\nconsequently this power of exposition, it is declared, shall be vested\nin one supreme court, &c. Most obviously, the exposition given by this\none supreme court cannot be overruled by any other constitutional power;\nelse the court is not supreme, else the Constitution is nullified. The\ndecision of the supreme court is the decision of the _only\nconstitutionally authorized expounder of the meaning of the\nConstitution_; and such exposition, to be supreme, must be final.\n\nWhat, then, has this final interpreter declared the meaning of these\nclauses of the Constitution to be?\n\n\nAPPORTIONMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 2.)\n\nOn the 5th of June, 1794 (Stat. 1794, c. 45), was approved an Act of\nCongress, \"laying duties upon carriages for the conveyance of persons.\"\nThe duty was uniform throughout the States. One Hylton, in Virginia,\nrefused to pay the duty; alleging that the Act was unconstitutional,\nbecause the tax was a direct tax within the meaning of the Constitution,\nand therefore should have been apportioned among the States according to\ntheir federal numbers. He was sued by the United States, and finally the\ncase came before the supreme court of the United States for decision.\nThe following extracts are taken from the opinion of Justice Paterson\n(Hylton _versus_ the United States, 3 Dallas's Reports, p. 177; 1796):--\n\n  \"I never entertained a doubt that the principal, I will not say the\n  only, objects that the framers of the Constitution contemplated, as\n  falling within the rule of apportionment, were a capitation-tax and\n  a tax on land. Local considerations, and the particular\n  circumstances and relative situation of the States, naturally lead\n  to this view of the subject. _The provision was made in favor of the\n  Southern States._ They possessed a large number of _slaves_; they\n  had extensive tracts of territory, thinly settled, and not very\n  productive. A majority of the States had but few _slaves_; and\n  several of them, a limited territory, well-settled, and in a high\n  state of cultivation. The Southern States, if no provision had been\n  introduced in the Constitution, would have been wholly at the mercy\n  of the other States. _Congress, in such case, might tax slaves at\n  discretion or arbitrarily_, and land in every part of the Union.\n  After the same rate or measure, so much a head in the first\n  instance, and so much an acre in the second. _To guard them against\n  imposition in these particulars was the reason of introducing the\n  clause in the Constitution_ which directs that representatives and\n  direct taxes shall be apportioned among the States, according to\n  their respective numbers.\"\n\n  Page 178: \"The rule of apportionment is of this nature: it is\n  radically wrong; it cannot be supported by any solid reasoning. Why\n  should slaves, who are a species of property, be represented more\n  than any other property? The rule, therefore, ought not to be\n  extended by construction.\"\n\n\nPERMISSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 9.)\n\nIn the great case of Gibbons _vs._ Ogden, 9 Wheaton's Reports, pp. 206\nand 207 (1824), Chief Justice Marshall, delivering the opinion of the\nsupreme court, makes use of the following language:--\n\n  \"The Act passed in 1803 (Act Const. 1803, c. 63), prohibiting the\n  importation of slaves into any State which shall itself prohibit\n  their importation, implies, it is said, an admission that the States\n  possess the power to exclude or admit them; from which it is\n  inferred, that they possess the same power with respect to other\n  articles.\n\n  \"If this inference were correct; if this power were exercised, not\n  under any particular clause in the Constitution, but in virtue of a\n  general right over the subject of commerce to exist as long as the\n  Constitution itself, it might now be exercised. Any State might now\n  import African slaves into its own territory. But it is obvious that\n  the power of the States over this subject, previous to the year\n  1808, constitutes an exception to the power of Congress to regulate\n  commerce; and the exception is expressed in such words as to\n  manifest clearly the intention to continue the pre-existing right of\n  the States to admit or exclude for a limited period. The words are,\n  'The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States\n  now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by\n  the Congress prior to 1808.' The whole object of the exception is to\n  preserve the power to those States which might be disposed to\n  exercise it, and its language seems to the court to convey this idea\n  unequivocally.\"\n\nSee also pp. 216, 217.\n\n\nRESTORATION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES. (Const. Art. 4, sec. 2.)\n\nThe following extracts are taken from the opinion of the supreme court\nin the well-known case, Prigg _vs._ the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (16\nPet. Rep. 609, &c.). Judge Story delivered the opinion:--\n\n  \"Historically, it is well known, that the object of this clause was\n  to secure to the citizens of the slaveholding States the complete\n  right and title of ownership in their slaves, as property, in every\n  State in the Union into which they might escape from the State where\n  they were held in servitude. The full recognition of this right and\n  title was indispensable to the security of this species of property\n  in all the slaveholding States; and, indeed, was so vital to the\n  preservation of their domestic interests and institutions, that it\n  cannot be doubted that it constituted a fundamental article, without\n  the adoption of which the Union could not have been formed. Its true\n  design was to guard against the doctrines and principles prevalent\n  in the non-slaveholding States, by preventing them from\n  intermeddling with, or obstructing, or abolishing, the rights of the\n  owners of slaves.\"\n\n  Page 612: \"If the Constitution had not contained this clause, every\n  non-slaveholding State in the Union would have been at liberty to\n  have declared free all runaway slaves coming within its limits, and\n  to have given them entire immunity and protection against the claims\n  of their masters;--a course which would have created the most bitter\n  animosities, and engendered perpetual strife, between the different\n  States. The clause was, therefore, of the last importance to the\n  safety and security of the Southern States, and could not have been\n  surrendered by them without endangering their whole property in\n  slaves. The clause was accordingly adopted into the Constitution by\n  the unanimous consent of the framers of it;--a proof at once of its\n  intrinsic and practical necessity.\"\n\n  Page 613: \"Upon this ground, we have not the slightest hesitation in\n  holding, that, under and in virtue of the Constitution, the owner of\n  a slave is clothed with entire authority, in every State in the\n  Union, to seize and recapture his slave, whenever he can do it\n  without any breach of the peace or any illegal violence. In this\n  sense, and to this extent, this clause of the Constitution may\n  properly be said to execute itself, and to require no aid from\n  legislation, state or national.\"\n\n  Page 625: \"Upon these grounds, we are of opinion, that the Act of\n  Pennsylvania upon which this indictment is founded is\n  unconstitutional and void. It purports to punish, as a public\n  offence against that State, the very act of seizing and removing a\n  slave by his master, which the Constitution of the United States was\n  designed to justify and uphold.\"\n\n\nSUPPRESSION OF SLAVE INSURRECTIONS. (Const. Art. 1, sec. 8; Art. 4, sec.\n4.)\n\nWe are not aware of any decision of the supreme court upon the meaning\nof these clauses; but it seems difficult to conceive, that they would\nhold that the word \"insurrections\" did not include all insurrections.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSuch is the Constitution according to the plain, obvious, and common\nmeaning of its terms; such it was intended to be made by its framers;\nsuch has been the interpretation constantly followed in the practice of\nthe government, from the time of its adoption until now; and such it is\naccording to the decision of the final interpreter of its meaning. As\nreasonable men, seeking the truth, we cannot say that there is the\nslightest doubt whatever on the subject. THE CONSTITUTION VERY\nMATERIALLY SUPPORTS SLAVERY!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nNO UNION WITH SLAVEHOLDERS.\n\n  \"We will extend to the slaveholder all the courtesy he will allow.\n  If he is hungry, we will feed him; if he is in want, both hands\n  shall be stretched out for his aid. We will give him full credit for\n  all the good that he does, and our deep sympathy in all the\n  temptations under whose strength he falls. But to help him in his\n  sin, to remain partners with him in the slave-trade, is more than he\n  has a right to ask.\"--_Wendell Phillips._\n\n\nNo wrong action can be rightfully done. No wrong can be rightfully\nsupported. We can neither rightfully hold slaves nor support others in\nslaveholding, because, as we have seen, slaveholding is under all\ncircumstances wrong. Some of the provisions of the Constitution, as we\nhave seen, were expressly designed for the purpose of supporting\nslavery, and for over half a century have very materially supported it.\nConsequently, these provisions cannot be rightfully obeyed or supported.\nIt is wrong to offer a bounty on slaveholding,--to give the oppressor\npower and influence, in proportion as he tramples on the rights of his\nfellow-man; it is wrong to return, or aid in returning, a fugitive\nslave; it is wrong to aid in keeping the slave in his fetters. These\nthings are wrong, and not all the Constitutions and laws of the universe\ncan make them right. We cannot, therefore, rightfully obey the\npro-slavery clauses of the Constitution.\n\nIf we cannot rightfully obey them ourselves, we cannot rightfully,\nvoluntarily support others in obeying them. If it is wrong for me to\nreturn a fugitive slave, it is wrong for me voluntarily to aid or\nsupport another man in doing the act. If it is wrong for me to commit\nmurder, it is no less wrong for me to hand the pistol to the assassin.\nWhatever it is wrong for us to do ourselves, it is wrong for us\nvoluntarily to aid or support others in doing. Consequently, it is wrong\nfor us voluntarily to aid or support others in obeying the pro-slavery\nrequirements of the Constitution.\n\nIf we cannot rightfully obey them, it is wrong for us to promise such\nobedience. If it is wrong for us voluntarily to support others in their\nobedience, it is wrong for us to promise any such support. If it is\nwrong for us to return a fugitive slave, it is wrong for us to promise\nto return one. If it is wrong for us voluntarily to aid the\nslave-hunter, it is wrong for us to promise such aid. Whatever it is\nwrong for us to do or aid others in doing, it is wrong for us to promise\nto do or aid others in doing. Consequently, it is wrong for us to\npromise to support these constitutional provisions. We cannot,\ntherefore, accept any office, either state or national, which renders it\nnecessary for us to support these clauses, or to promise to support\nthem. We cannot, therefore, rightfully hold any executive or judicial\noffice, either state or national, or become a member of any State\nlegislature or of Congress; for all these officers are obliged solemnly\nto swear or affirm that they will \"support the Constitution;\" and to\nsupport the Constitution is to support all of its clauses, as well those\nwhich favor slavery as those which do not. If we take this oath, meaning\nto keep it, we do wrong. If we take it, meaning not to keep it, we add\nto our wrong, perjury; for we mentally break our oath at the very\ninstant it passes our lips.\n\nSome good men seek to avoid the difficulty by saying, \"When I swear to\nsupport the Constitution, I mean I will support the good clauses in it,\nand disobey the bad, and submit to the penalty for such disobedience.\"\nBut such a course is not a compliance with the terms of the oath. You\nhave sworn \"to support the Constitution;\" that is, the whole\nConstitution,--all its clauses,--the bad as sacredly as the good. Your\noath is not in the alternative, \"I will support the clause requiring the\nreturn of fugitive slaves, or pay five hundred dollars for every slave I\naid in escaping;\" but simply, without any qualification, \"I will\nsupport the side of the oppressor.\" If you aid the fugitive slave to\nescape from his master, you do not support the latter in retaking his\nproperty, merely by paying the legal penalty for not giving such\nsupport. You would not support a bad law, and yet you say your oath to\nsupport it is not broken, because you submit to the penalty for not\nsupporting it. The thief does not support the law of private property,\nmerely by submitting to the legal punishment of his crime. To support is\nto be active: to submit is to be passive. You swear to be active, and\nyou do not comply with your oath by being merely passive. You have sworn\nactively to support the recapture of slaves. You break your oath, if you\nrefuse to do this, or do any thing less or different from this.\n\nOthers think to find a good excuse for taking the oath, by adopting\nanother alternative, equally unauthorized. \"We will support the\nConstitution,\" say they, \"until we are called on to act under any of its\nbad clauses; and then we will resign our office, and refuse obedience.\"\nDoubtless, honor requires you to resign, if you cannot comply with the\nterms of your oath; but what right have you to adopt or imagine an\nalternative in your oath where the law has made none,--where the officer\nadministering it will admit of none? Who does not see the wide\ndifference between an honest oath to support the return of fugitive\nslaves, and an oath to support such return, but with a firm resolve on\nyour part to refuse such support when called on for it, and to resign?\nWhat right have you to take an oath which you have previously resolved\nnot to keep, when called on to comply with? You admit that a bad clause\ncannot be rightfully supported, else why do you not support it? You\nadmit that the oath obliges you to support the bad clauses of the\nConstitution as well as the good; else why do you resign, if refusal to\nsupport the bad clauses is consistent with your oath? You openly avow,\ntherefore, that, at the very moment you swear to support a clause, you\ndetermine never to support it. You swear, and determine not to keep your\noath! Such a course seems to us inconsistent with the plainest rules of\nhonesty. We have no right to promise to do wrong, even though we have\nresolved to do right when the time for action shall arrive.\n\nOthers say, \"We swear to support the Constitution as we understand it,\nand we consider it an anti-slavery instrument.\" In other words, you\nswear to support an interpretation which is contrary to the plain,\nobvious, and common meaning of the instrument; contrary to the\ninterpretation put upon it by its framers; contrary to that followed by\nall the executive and legislative departments of the government, from\nits first establishment until now; and contrary to that which has been\nadjudged to be its true interpretation by the final arbiter of its\nmeaning. Of course, you intend to support the true meaning of the\nConstitution. Do you really believe that the people of the United States\ndid not mean by their words what those words then commonly meant? Do you\nreally doubt the historical fact of the humiliating compromise between\nthe delegates from the Southern and Eastern States in the Philadelphia\nConvention, by which the latter undertook to barter the moral sense of\ntheir constituents for what was supposed to be their interest? Do you\nreally believe that the people have suffered their servants to go on in\nignorance of the true meaning for sixty years? In fact, do you venture\nto affirm, or do you in perfect sincerity and truthfulness believe, that\nyour interpretation has ever at any time been considered right by the\npeople of the United States, or by any considerable number of them? You\ndeceive yourself with words! What is the Constitution? Not the meaning\nwhich you or I, or any third person, may please to put upon it; but that\nmeaning, and that meaning only, which consists with its being, what it\ndeclares itself to be, the supreme law of the land. Until, therefore,\nyou can show that the Constitution may properly receive as many\ndifferent interpretations as there are oaths to support it, and still be\nin fact the supreme law, the one, single, definite rule for all, States\nas well as people, you have no right to say, \"I will support the\npro-slavery clauses as I understand them.\" To support them in any other\nsense than that which is affixed to them, as the supreme law of the\nland, is merely to evade the true meaning of your oath.\n\nOthers say, \"We took the oath before we had any of our present scruples.\nWe would not take the oath now; but, nevertheless, we shall continue in\noffice, and disregard our oath.\" This excuse seems to us very\nobjectionable. How can you reap the honorary or pecuniary advantages of\nyour office, and honestly refuse compliance with your part of the\nbargain? When you took office, you were really told, that, if you would\nswear to support the return of fugitive slaves, &c. you should enjoy\nthese honors and these profits. The conscientious man, who, in striving\nto better himself, not his condition, discovers afterwards that he\ncannot rightfully aid, or promise to aid, the slaveholder in retaking\nhis slaves, will not think of claiming the reward which was offered to\nhim solely because he swore to give such aid. He will make haste to\nresign honors and rewards which he feels can be retained only at the\nprice of his own degradation.\n\nIf we cannot rightfully hold any office, state or national, which\nrequires of us a promise to support the Constitution, it is wrong to\nplace, or voluntarily aid in placing, any other person in such office;\nfor, by so doing, we ask him to do wrong. If we vote for Horace Mann, by\nthis act alone we say to him, as distinctly as if the words passed our\nlips,--\"We wish to elect you as representative to Congress. If chosen,\nwe expect and ask you to qualify yourself to act as representative, by\nswearing to give slavery all constitutional support.\" Merely by voting\nfor him, we ask him to do wrong, hoping that good may come, almost\nknowing that good will come! So little faith have we in the final\ntriumph of right and justice, by pursuing only right and just ways! Of\nso little consequence do we consider it, that the earnest advocate of\nfreedom should commence his holy work by promising very materially to\nstrengthen slavery! But a short time has elapsed since we read one of\nhis most eloquent rebukes of slavery. Our heart beat quickly as we read\nhis earnest words. But if, in the midst of his address, some slaveholder\nhad turned and asked him, \"How happens it, sir, that you, who are so\nvery earnest and disinterested in behalf of the rights of the slave,\nhave been willing to swear to support this terrible wrong, to any extent\nor for any time?\" And what answer could be returned? The eloquent tongue\nwould be palsied! Surely that man who has solemnly called God to witness\nthat he will support the oppressor, cannot fail, at some time or\nanother, to feel himself to be unworthy to plead the cause of freedom.\n\nFinally, some say, \"This reasoning leads to non-resistance. You\ndisregard the fact that all human governments must contain a greater or\nless amount of evil; and consequently, if you are ever to support any\ngovernment in all its requirements, you must support evil.\" Very true is\nit that human governments and laws fall short of our relative standard\nof right, and always of absolute right. What is our duty? Clearly, as\nmoral beings, to support the right, and refuse to support the wrong; as\npeaceful citizens, to support the right, and submit to the penalty of\ndisobeying the wrong. Nothing more than this is required of us. Nothing\nless than this is our duty. We are not put into the world, blindly to\nsupport all existing governmental wrongs, until they can be\nconstitutionally abolished. We are to be true to ourselves as moral\nbeings. If we can be true to our own souls and support the government,\nwe may give such support,--not otherwise! Right and wrong are not\ncreatures of agreement and law. Neither the Philadelphia Convention that\nframed the Constitution, nor the State Conventions that adopted it, had\npower to make wrong in the slightest degree right, or alter at all the\nmoral character of slaveholding. Right is right, the Revised Statutes to\nthe contrary notwithstanding. Wrong is wrong, the Constitution to the\ncontrary notwithstanding. We say, therefore, we will obey the good\nrequirements of the Constitution, and peacefully submit to the penalty\nof disobeying the bad. This is all that government has a right to ask of\nus. Institutions were made for man, not man for them. Constitutions are\nthe work of man, and man is to be reverenced before his works. We see no\ninconsistency or impropriety in supporting the system of free-trade\nbetween the States, and refusing to support the domestic slave-trade; in\nsupporting the patent laws, and refusing to aid in returning a runaway\nslave. We are good-government men, not no-government men. All\ngovernments are partly good. All we are willing to support in part: we\nwill actively support the Constitution and laws, so far as conscience\npermits; we will peacefully submit to legal exaction for disobeying the\nrest.\n\nOur purpose is accomplished. We have shown that we are politically\nunited with the South in the support of slavery. We have shown that we\nshould constantly bear upon our lips, and in our lives, the motto, \"_No\nunion with slaveholders, whereby we are obliged to countenance or\nsupport slavery_.\" We desire to see a union among the States, but not a\nslaveholding union! A union of freemen, and Free States for the sake of\nfreedom, no one would more readily support than we. But a union like\nours, of freemen and slaveholders, of Free States and Slave States, for\nthe sake in part of securing property in slaves, is demoralizing (how\ndemoralizing has it been!) to both parties, and should receive, as it\ndoubtless at no distant day will receive, the condemnation of the wise\nand good. In the meantime, it ought not, and it will not, receive either\nour respect or our voluntary support.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[A] Mr. Clapp is said to have changed his opinions since 1838. We hope\nhe has. But he has not favored the world with any statement of what his\nchange consists in. The statement which recently appeared in the\n\"Picayune,\" even if reliable, shows that Mr. Clapp had changed his\nopinion somewhat, but not essentially, as it seems to us.\n\n[B] We quote from Mr. Jones's work just referred to. His work contains a\nsummary of all that has been done for the religious instruction of the\nnegroes from their first introduction here; an account of their actual\nmoral condition, and what he thinks should be done for their elevation.\nHis testimony is unimpeachable, and is of the very highest authority.\nOur faith in his sincerity is sometimes tried, when we read language\nlike this applied to the adult slave, p. 117: \"He marries and _settles\nin life_; his children grow up around him, and tread in his footsteps,\nas he did in the footsteps of his father before him.\"\n\nFor a loan of this book we are indebted to the kindness of our friend,\nWilliam Lloyd Garrison.\n\n[C] Sandy Jenkins tried to impress Douglass with the belief, that if he\nwould always carry a root which he gave him, _on his right side_, it\nwould render it impossible for any white man to whip him (\"Narrative,\"\np. 70). And before Wm. W. Brown made his last successful effort to\nescape, he paid the old slave fortune-teller, Frank, twenty-five cents\nfor his advice.\n\n[D] \"If they make you partakers of their temporal things (of their\nstrength and spirits, and even of their offspring), you ought to make\nthem partakers of your spiritual things.\"--_Bishop of London in 1727_\n(_Jones_, p. 20).\n\n[E] How carefully does Mr. Jones teach the slaves \"to search the\nScriptures\"! (\"Catechism,\" p. 103.)\n\n\"Q. Is not our duty, on the sabbath, to go to the house of God, to the\nmeeting for prayer, to the sabbath-school, and wherever we may worship\nGod and learn his will?--A. Yes.\n\n\"Q. What was done with the man that gathered sticks on the sabbath-day,\nnot caring for God's commandment?--A. He was stoned.\n\n\"Q. Is sabbath-breaking a great sin in the sight of God?--A. Yes. (Ib.\np. 104) He who breaks the sabbath robs God of his own; for the day is\nthe Lord's.\"\n\n[F] \"Were it now revealed to us,\" says Mr. Jones (ib. p. 180), \"that the\nmost extensive system of instruction which we could devise, requiring a\nvast amount of labor, and protracted through ages, would result in the\ntender mercy of our God in the salvation of the soul of _one poor\nAfrican_, we should feel warranted in cheerfully entering upon our work,\nwith all its costs and sacrifices; for our reward would exceed all our\ntoil and care above the computation of any finite mind.\" Badly educated,\nmisguided, we believe Mr. Jones to be; but these are the words of\nhonest, sincere conviction.\n\n[G] For a loan of this book we are indebted to our friend Parker\nPillsbury.\n\n[H] \"A Catechism of Scripture Doctrine and Practice for Families and\nSabbath Schools, designed also for the Oral Instruction of Colored\nPersons, by Charles C. Jones,\" 6th edit.; Charleston, 1845. In his\npreface, Mr. Jones says, \"The Catechism has been prepared _expressly_\nfor the religious instruction of the negroes; and it has been\nextensively tried and approved by those engaged in that good work.\" It\nis unquestionably much more used than any other. It has already passed\nthrough six editions. It really merits this position.--For a perusal of\nthis book we are indebted to the kindness of our friend Samuel Brooke,\nof Ohio.\n\n[I] \"Let us ever remember the name that Hagar gave to God, 'Thou God\nseest me,' and act as in his presence. Let us be afraid to steal or lie\nor curse, or break the Sabbath, or do any wicked thing. _God will see\nand know._\"--Jones's \"Catechism,\" p. 28.\n\n\"Ought not you to try and keep the fear of God always before your eyes?\nDo not be tempted to say, as too many wicked people do, 'Oh! nobody will\nknow it; nobody will see it.' Remember that God is always looking at\nyou. He sees all that you do: he hears every word that you say: he knows\nall that you think about: and he can in a moment strike you dead: he is\nable to destroy both soul and body in hell. Knowing these things, fear\nhim, so as not willingly to offend him.\"--_Rev. Alexander Glennie's\nSermons_, p. 32. See also to the same point, Bishop Ives's \"Catechism,\"\np. 13, 14, 42.\n\n[J] What a beautiful commentary on this teaching is afforded us by\nDouglass! (\"Narrative,\" p. 47.) Speaking of his grandmother, he\nsays,--\"She had served my old master faithfully from youth to old age.\nShe had been the source of all his wealth; she had peopled his\nplantation with slaves; she had become a great-grandmother in his\nservice. She had rocked him in infancy, attended him in childhood,\nserved him through life, and at his death wiped from his icy brow the\ncold death-sweat, and closed his eyes for ever. She was, nevertheless,\nleft a slave,--a slave for life,--a slave in the hands of strangers. And\nin their hands she saw her children, her grandchildren, and her\ngreat-grandchildren, divided, like so many sheep, without being\ngratified with the small privilege of a single word as to their or her\nown destiny. And, to cap the climax of their base ingratitude and\nfiendish barbarity, my grandmother, who was now very old, having\noutlived my old master and all his children, having seen the beginning\nand end of all of them, and her present owners finding she was of but\nlittle value, her frame already racked with the pains of old age, and\ncomplete helplessness fast stealing over her once-active limbs, they\ntook her to the woods, built her a little hut, put up a little mud\nchimney, and then made her welcome to the privilege of supporting\nherself there in perfect loneliness; thus virtually turning her out to\ndie\"! Who that has read Douglass's account of his grandmother, of which\nthis is a small extract, has not been moved both to pity for the slave,\nand loathing for slavery? Who has not asked with him, \"Will not a\nrighteous God visit for these things\"?\n\n[K] A slave may die in consequence of \"_moderate correction_,\" as that\nterm is understood in some of the Slave States.\n\nThe Constitution of Georgia, Art. 4, sec. 12, reads thus (Hotchkiss's\n\"Codification,\" p. 71, 1845):--\"Any person who shall maliciously\ndismember or deprive a slave of life shall suffer such punishment as\nwould be inflicted in case the like offence had been committed on a free\nwhite person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection of\nsuch slave, and unless such death should happen by accident in giving\nsuch slave moderate correction.\"\n\n[L] Our friend Francis Jackson procured us this book.\n\n[M] Mr. Jones thinks (\"Rel. Inst.\" p. 135), that \"the crime of\ninfanticide\" among the slaves is \"restrained in good measure ... by the\nmoral degradation of the people, that takes away the disgrace of\nbastardy.\" We remember hearing from Prof. Greenleaf the account of a\nsuccessful defence, on this ground, of a female slave in this State, who\nwas tried for committing this offence. A female slave, it was argued,\n_could_ not feel shame at the birth of an illegitimate child, and\ntherefore her affection as a mother would prevent her from committing\nthe crime. But experience has demonstrated, that a slave-mother may be\nled to take her child's life from very love itself.\n\n[N] \"The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church recently expelled a\nminister from both the ministry and the church, for marrying a sister of\nhis deceased wife.\"--_The Church as it is_, p. 76.\n\n[O] Colored persons are not competent witnesses on the trial of a white\nman. Any white man, therefore, can, with perfect impunity, commit any\nexcess whatever upon any slaves, so long as they or their companions\nalone are witnesses. So carefully does the law guard the honor of the\nfemale slave!\n\n[P] The original of this advertisement may be seen at the Anti-Slavery\noffice, Boston, 21, Cornhill, pasted on one side of a copy of the\nnewspaper called \"Spirit of Liberty\"! How appropriate a heading!\n\n[Q] For this and other advertisements from Boston papers, I am indebted\nto my friend Wendell Phillips.\n\n[R] We cut this advertisement from the \"Boston Daily Republican\" of Aug.\n30, 1849. It previously appeared in the \"Providence Journal.\"\n\n[S] A writer in the \"New Orleans Argus,\" Sept. 1830, in an article on\nthe culture of the sugar-cane, says,--\"The loss by death in bringing\nslaves from a northern climate, which our planters are under the\nnecessity of doing, is not less than twenty-five per cent\"! Our tables\nprove the same thing. Of the 40,000 slaves annually carried south, only\n29,101 are found to survive;--a greater sacrifice of life than that\ncaused by the middle passage!\n\n[T] The Act of 1741, of which this law is in part a revision, reads\nthus, sec. 45: \"Which proclamation shall be published on a _sabbath-day\nat the door of every church or chapel, or, for want of such, at the\nplace where divine service shall be performed in the said county, by the\nparish clerk or reader, immediately after divine service_; and, if any\nslave or slaves, against whom proclamation hath been thus issued, stay\nout and do not immediately return home, it shall be lawful for any\nperson or persons whatsoever to kill and destroy such slave or slaves by\nsuch ways or means as he or she shall think fit, without accusation or\nimpeachment of any crime for the same.\"--In those happy days, Father\nTaylor would not have been called on to thank God, that the man who was\non the point of strangling his brother according to law was not troubled\nby any feeling of _sentimentalism_!\n\n[U] The Rev. Dr. Furman, of North Carolina, another Baptist clergyman,\nlike Dr. Fuller wrote a defence of slavery. After his death, his legal\nrepresentative advertised for sale at auction his real estate, and \"a\nlibrary of a miscellaneous character, _chiefly theological_;\ntwenty-seven negroes, _some of them very prime_,\" &c. (\"The Church as it\nis,\" p. 73.)\n\n[V] This point, and the legality of Colonial and State Slavery, are more\nelaborated in an article called \"The Constitutionality of Slavery,\"\nprinted in the \"Massachusetts Quarterly Review;\" a purely legal,\nuninteresting examination, which needs not to be repeated here.\n\nFor a more extended proof of the constitutionality of slavery, we refer\nto Wendell Phillips's very able Review of Lysander Spooner's Essay.\n\n[W] 5 Hen. Stat. 547.\n\n[X] 6 Ibid. 356.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:\n\n\n  Text in italics is surrounded with underscores: _italics_.\n\n  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows:\n    Page 66: opinon changed to opinion\n    Page 150: righfully changed to rightfully\n\n  Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from\n    the original.\n\n  Punctuation has been corrected without note.","title":"Slavery and the Constitution","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":56060}