The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 2 of 4
by
American Anti-Slavery Society

Part 12 out of 16



a few days ago, and told him that in three weeks he would drive him from
the place. He then ordered a man whom he had with him to climb a
bread-fruit tree, and pull the fruit, which he forcibly carried away to
give to his hogs. But I must forbear: were I to state half the cases of
oppression which have occurred in Hanover since August 1st; I should
require a volume instead of a sheet. I think, however, I have said
enough to prove the bitter and rancorous spirit which at present
animates the planters. Enclosed I send a specimen of another artifice
adopted to harass and distress the negroes. They have adopted the notion
(sanctioned by the opinion of the old Planters' Jackall, Batty, and the
Attorney General), that the people are liable to pay rent for houses and
grounds during the three months' possession to which the Abolition Act
entitled them, and notices have been served on the people, demanding the
most extravagant amounts for the miserable sheds which the people
inhabited. You will perceive that in once case 21l. 6s. 9d. has been
demanded. This conscientious demand was made by John Houghton James,
Executor and Attorney for Sir Simon Clark. Another is from a Mr. Bowen,
of _Orchard_ Estate; and the third from Mr. Brockett, of _Hopewell_ and
_Content_ Estates, the property of Mr. Miles, M.P. for Bristol. Let it
be borne in mind that these shameful and exorbitant demands are not
made, as in England, on the head of the family only, but on _every
member who is able to do the least work_, and even little children have
papers demanding 2s. 4d. per week for ground, although unable to do the
least thing: one of these I also enclose.

Jamaica, ss. Notice is hereby Given, That the sum of eight shillings and
four pence, weekly, will be exacted from you and each of you
respectively, for the houses and grounds at Orchard Estate, in the
parish of Hanover, from August of the present year, until the expiration
of the three months' notice, from its period of service to quit; or to
the period of surrendering to me the peaceable possession of the
aforesaid house and provision grounds.

J. R. BOWEN.

Dated this 17th day of Sep. 1838.

TO JAMES DARLING and SARAH DARLING, of the parish of HANOVER.

Here then, my dear Sir, you may perceive something of the atrocious
proceedings in the island of Jamaica. Pray insert these documents in the
_Emancipator_. Let the Anti-slavery friends know the state of things,
and urge them to redoubled diligence. The House of Assembly will meet on
the 30th instant, and then, I fear, dreadful measures will be taken. A
letter from Mr. Harker, of the Jamaica Royal Gazette, about a fortnight
since, addressed to Mr. Abbott, shows what absolute and cruel statutes
they would wish either to act upon, or to make the models of new laws.
Every act must be watched with the most jealous scrutiny. Experience
shows that the planters possess an ingenuity truly diabolical, in
twisting and distorting the laws to suit their own selfish purpose. Our
hope is in British Christians; and we confidently hope every one of them
will feel the importance of increased diligence, lest the great, and
long prayed-for boon of freedom, should become a curse, instead of a
blessing. The papers will inform you of the odium I have drawn on myself
in defending the people's rights. That contained in the great mass, only
provokes a smile. I know that every friend in England will interpret it
inversely. I did feel Mr. ----'s letter in the Falmouth Post, but he
knows his error, and is sorry for it. I could have answered it, but did
not choose to cause a division amongst the few friends of the negro,
when they had quite enough to do to withstand the attacks of
their enemies.

FROM THE REV. J. M. PHILIPPO.

_Spanish Town, Oct. 13, 1838._

The following is one of the seven of the same tenor now in my
possession, which will, in addition to those I forwarded by last mail,
inform you of the cause of the late disinclination of the people in some
districts to labour--which, with so much effrontery, has been proclaimed
through the public Journals here:--

Charles Michael Kelly and Wife, to J.S. Benbow, Dr.

1830: July 14th to Sept. 9th.
1. To the rent of house and
ground on Castle Kelly
plantation, for eight weeks,
at 6s. 8d. per week. 3l. 13 4
2. Richard Kelly and Wife. Same.
3. Elenor Mercer. Same.
4. John Ried and Wife. Same.
5. Mary Ann Christie. Same.
6. Venus Owen (or such like name). Same.


FROM THE REV. J. HUTCHINS.

_Savanna-la-Mar, Sept. 17, 1838._

I now, according to promise in my last, send you a few out of the many
cases I am almost hourly troubled with. Some of our would-be great men
are, I am sorry to say, harassing the poor free labourers shamefully;
and should it prove, as I think in some cases it must, of serious injury
to the absentee proprietors, I shall publish the cases of grievance
brought me, together with the names of the estates, owners, attorneys,
overseers, &c., and leave all parties to form their own opinion on
the subject.

Amelia Martin, to Retrieve Estate, Dr.
1838: August 29.
To house and ground, rent at
5s. per week, from 1st August
to date 4_l._ 0 0
[A]Alliac Davis, ground
rent at
10d. per week 3 0
[A]William Davis; ditto
ditto 0 3 4
-------------
4_l._ 6 4
-------------

Thos. Tats, Esq. is Attorney, and Mr. Comry
Overseer,

[Footnote A: Boys from 9 to 11, her sons.]

* * * * *

Louisa Patter, to Retrieve Estate, Dr.
1838: Aug. 28.
To house and ground from 1st
Aug. to date 1_l._ 0 0

She states she has been sickly so long, that she has no ground in
cultivation, and cannot help herself, and has only what yams her
friends give her.

* * * * *

Susan James, to Albany Estate, Dr.
1838: Aug. 28.
To house and ground rent at
5s. per week, from 1st August,
to date 1l. 0 0
Thos. Hewett, ground rent 0 13 4
Elizabeth James, ditto 0 13 4
Mary Dunn, ditto 0 10 0
Letitia, ditto[A] 0 6 8
-------------
3l. 3 4
-------------

[Footnote A: These are a mother and four children in
one house, and with but one ground, they tell
me.]
* * * * *

Richard Warren, to Albany Estate, Dr.
1838: Aug. 28.
To house and ground rent to
date 1l. 0 0
Wife 0 15 4
Child[B] 0 10 0
-------------
2l. 5 4
-------------

[Footnote B: The child is quite young, and in daily attendance
at one of my schools.]

* * * * *

On this property, under the same managers as Retrieve, the people state
that they are going on shamefully. "The last Sabbath but one, when we
were at service, Stephen Campbell, the book-keeper, and Edward Pulsey,
old-time constable, come round and mark all for we house, and charge for
ebery one of we family. We don't know what kind of fee dis we hab at
all; for we attorney, Mr. Tate, neber come on we property, leave all to
Mr. Comeoy. We peak to him for make bargain, him say him can't make law,
and him no make bargain till him heare what law come out in packet. Him
say dem who make bargain are fools; beside him no call up a parcel of
niggers to hold service wid me; should only get laughed at. So we know
not what for do. You are for we minister, and for we only friend; and if
you did not advise we to go on work till things settle down, we no lift
another hoe. We would left the property." Unless an arrangement is soon
entered into, I shall advise them to do so.

James Greenheld, to New Galloway Estate, Dr.
To one week's rent of house, garden, and
ground, and to 5 ditto for his wife, Margaret
Greenfield, at 5s. per week. L1 10 0

J.G. states, "I come for massa. When we make bargain with Mr. McNeal, it
was a maccaroni (1s. 8d.) a day, and for we house and ground. Me is able
and willing for work, so let my wife stop home; so him charge me de same
sum for my wife, as for me own house and ground. And den last week me
sick and get no money, and they charge me over again, (as above) one
week me sick. Me no able for say what to call dat massa, me sure."

I leave with you to make your own comments, and to do what you please
with the above. Although my chapel is L700 in debt, and my schools, one
of 180 and one of 160 scholars, are heavy, very heavy on me, I cannot do
other than advise my people to save every mite, buy an acre of land, and
by that means be independent, and job about wherever they may be wanted.

FROM THE REV. T. BURCHELL.

_Montego Bay, October_ 2, 1838.

The reason why I have not written to you so long, is the intensely
anxious time we have had. I feel, however, that it is high time now to
address you; for, if our friends in England relax their efforts, my
conviction is, that freedom will be more in name than in reality, in
this slave-holding Island. There is nothing to be feared, if the noble
band of friends who have so long and so successfully struggled, will but
continue their assistance a short time longer. The planters have made a
desperate struggle, and so, I have no doubt, will the House of Assembly,
against the emancipated negroes. My firm conviction has been, and still
is, that the planters have endeavored, by the offer of the most paltry
wages, to reduce the condition of the laborer, and make him as badly off
as he was when an apprentice or a slave, that he may curse the day that
made him free.

Though unable to conduct the usual services on Sunday the 5th August, at
the close I addressed the congregation, urging upon them the necessity
of commencing their work on the following day, whether arrangements were
made between themselves and their masters or not; as by so doing they
would put it out of the power of their opponents to say anything evil of
them. They assembled, and on Monday the 6th thousands turned out to
work, and continued to labor, unless prevented by the Manager, until
arrangements were made.

You will remember, that prior to the 1st of August, a white man who
hired out a gang of apprentices to an estate was paid at the rate of 1s.
6d. sterling per diem for each able laborer. The apprentice received the
same when he worked for the estate on his own days, Friday and Saturday;
and whenever they were valued for the purpose of purchasing the
remaining time of their apprenticeship, the planter upon oath stated
that their services were worth at least 1s. 6. per diem to the estate,
and the apprentice had to redeem himself at that rate.

After the 1st of August, the planters discovered, that, whilst the
properties would well afford to continue the lavish and extravagant
expenditure in managing the estates, "it would be certain ruin to the
properties, if the labourer was paid more than 71/2d. per diem. for the
1st class of labourers, 6d. the 2nd class, and 41/2d. for the 3rd
class:" and why? I know not why, unless it was because the long
oppressed negro was to put the money into his own pocket, and not his
white oppressors. This seems to have made all the difference. The above
wages were accordingly offered, and rejected with scorn; the people
feeling the greatest indignation at the atrocious attempt of their old
oppressors to grind them down now they are free, and keep them in a
state of degradation. The greatest confusion and disorder ensued; the
labourers indignant at the conduct of their masters, and the planters
enraged against the people, for presuming to think and act for
themselves. As a matter of course, the fury of the planters was directed
against half a dozen Baptist missionaries, and as many more friends and
stipendiary Magistrates; and I can assure you that the Jamaica press
equalled its most vituperative days, and came forth worthy of itself.
The Despatch, or the Old Jamaica Courant, so well known in 1832 for
advocating the burning of chapels, and the hanging of missionaries; was
quite in the shade. The pious Polypheme, the Bishop's paper, with the
Jamaica Standard of infamy and falsehood, published in this town, took
the lead, and a pretty standard it is. Let foreigners judge of Jamaica
by the Jamaica Standard of August last, and they must suppose it is an
island of savages, or a little hell. The press teemed with abuse of the
most savage nature against us, and published the most barefaced lies.
That, however, you who know the generality of the Jamaica Press, will
say is nothing new or strange; well, it is not, nor do we regard any
statements they make; for no one believes what they publish, and it is a
source of gratification to us that we have never forfeited our character
or principles in the estimation of the reflecting, the philanthropist,
or the Christian public, by meriting their approbation.

In the mulct of this seemingly general conspiracy to defraud the laborer
of his wages by exorbitant rents, &c. Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor,
proceeds from district to district, giving advice to both of the
contending parties, and striving to promote a mutual understanding. His
testimony to the designs of the planters given to their faces, and not
denied, is very important; we give therefore one of his meetings, as the
find it reported in the Jamaica papers. Here is a rather familiar
conversation among some of the chief men of that island--where can we
expect to find more authoritative testimony?

SIR LIONEL SMITH'S VISIT TO DUNSINANE.

His Excellency, Sir Lionel Smith, visited Dunsinane on Thursday last,
agreeably to arrangements previously entered into, for the purpose of
addressing the late apprenticed population in that neighborhood, on the
propriety of resuming the cultivation of the soil. About two miles from
Dunsinane, his Excellency was met by a cavalcade composed of the late
apprentices, who were preceded by Messrs. Bourne, Hamilton, and Kent,
late Special Justices. On the arrival of his Excellency at Dunsinane, he
was met by the Hon. Joseph Gordon, Custos, the Lord Bishop attended by
his Secretary, and the Rev. Alexander Campbell; the Hon. Hector Mitchel,
Mayor of Kingston, and a large number of highly respectable planters,
proprietors, and attorneys. His Excellency, on being seated in the
dwelling, said, that from information which he had received from other
parishes, and facts gathered from personal observation, he believed that
the same bone of contention existed there as elsewhere--a source of
discontent brought about by the planters serving the people with notices
to quit their houses and grounds. He did not question their right to do
so, or the legality of such a proceeding, but he questioned the prudence
of the step. The great change from slavery to unrestricted freedom
surely deserved some consideration. Things cannot so soon be quiet and
calm. Depend upon it, nothing will be done by force. Much may be by
conciliation and prudence. Do away with every emblem of slavery; throw
off the Kilmarnock cap, and adopt in its stead, like rational men,
Britannia's cap of liberty. He (Sir Lionel) doubted not the right of the
planters to rent their houses and grounds; in order to be more certain
on that head, he had procured the opinion of the Attorney General; but
the exercise of the right by the planter, and getting the people to
work, were very different matters. Much difficulty must be felt in
getting rid of slavery. Even in the little island of Antigua, it had
taken six months to get matters into a quiet state; but here, in a large
country like Jamaica, could it be expected to be done in a day, and was
it because it was not done, that the planters were to be opposed to him?
You are all in arms against me (said his Excellency,) but all I ask of
you is to exercise patience, and all will be right. I have done, and am
doing all in my power for the good of my country. If you have served the
people with notices to quit, with a view to compel them to work, or
thinking to force them to work for a certain rate of wages, you have
done wrong. Coercive measures will never succeed. In Vere, which I
lately visited, the planters have agreed to give the people 1s. 8d. per
day, and to let them have their houses and grounds for three months free
of charge. His Excellency, on seeing some symptoms of disapprobation
manifested, said, Well, if you cannot afford to pay so much, pay what
you can afford; but above all, use conciliatory measures, and I have not
a doubt on my mind but that the people will go to their work. Seeing so
many planters present, he should be happy if they would come to an
arrangement among themselves, before he addressed the people outside.

Mr. WELLWOOD HYSLOP remarked, that Vere and other rich sugar parishes
might be able to pay high rates of wages, because the land yielded
profitable crops, but in this district it was impossible to follow the
example of those parishes. He thought that two bits a day might do very
well, but that was as much as could be afforded.

His EXCELLENCY said that in Manchester, where he believed he had more
enemies than in any other parish, he had advised them to work by the
piece, and it had been found to answer well.

Mr. HINTON EAST said that he would submit a measure which he thought
would be approved of. He proposed that the people should be paid 5s. for
four days' labor; that if they cleaned more than 130 trees per day,
either themselves or by bringing out their wives and children, they
should be paid extra wages in the same proportion.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON said that he could not afford to pay the rates named
by his Excellency. It was entirely out of the question; that a good deal
depended upon the state the fields are in--that his people, for
instance, could, with much ease, if they chose, clean 170 trees by
half-past three o'clock.

Mr. MASON, of St. George's, said he was willing to pay his people 1s.
8d. per day, if they would but work; but the fact was that they refused
to do so, on account of the stories that had been told them by Special
Justice Fishbourne; willingly too would I have given them their houses
and grounds for three months, free of charge, had they shown a desire to
labor; but what was the lamentable fact? the people would not work,
because Mr. Fishbourne had influenced them not to do so, and he (Mr.
Mason) had been a loser of one thousand pounds in consequence. He had
been compelled in self-defence to issue summonses against two of his
people. He had purchased his property--it was his all--he had sacrificed
twenty of the best years of his life as a planter, he had a wife and
family to support, and what was the prospect before him and them? He
admitted having served notices on his people to quit their houses--in
truth he did not now care whether they were or were not located on the
property--he was willing to pay fair, nay, high wages, but the demand
was exorbitant. He had a servant, a trustworthy white man, who laboured
from day-dawn to sunset for 2s. 1d. per day, and he was quite satisfied.
All the mischief in his district had been owing to the poisonous stories
poured into the ears of the people by Special Justice Fishbourne. If he
were removed, the parish might probably assume a healthy state; if
allowed to remain, no improvement could possibly take place.

His EXCELLENCY said that the Assembly had passed a law preventing the
special magistrates from going on the estates; they could not, however,
prevent the people from going to them, and taking their advice if they
wished it. He had understood that the people had gone to the special
magistrates, informing them that the planters demanded 3s. 4d. per week
rent for the houses and grounds, and that they had been advised, if such
were the case, that they ought to be paid higher wages. He understood
that to be a fact.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON said that the people would, he had no doubt, have
worked, but for the pernicious advice of Mr. Fishbourne. He had heard
that the people had been told that the Governor did not wish them to
work, and that he would be vexed with them if they did.

Sir LIONEL replied that he was aware that white men were going about the
country disguised as policemen, pretending to have his (Sir Lionel's)
authority, telling the people not to work. He knew well their intention
and design, he understood the trick. You are anxious (said his
Excellency) to produce a panic, to reduce the value of property, to
create dismay, in order that you may speculate, by reducing the present
value of property; but you will be disappointed, notwithstanding a press
sends forth daily abuse against me, and black-guard and contemptible
remarks against my acts. I assure you I am up to your tricks.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON would be glad if his Excellency would speak
individually. There was a paper called the West Indian, and another the
Colonial Freeman. He wished to know whether his Excellency meant either
of those papers. [Some slight interruption here took place, several
gentlemen speaking at the same time.]

His EXCELLENCY said he had not come to discuss politics, but to
endeavour to get the people to work, and it would be well for them to
turn their attention to that subject.

Mr. SIMPSON said he had a gang who had jobbed by the acre, and had done
well, but it was unfortunate in other respects to observe the
disinclination shown by the laborers to work. He wished them to know
that they must work, and trusted that his Excellency would endeavour to
force them to labor.

Sir LIONEL--I can't compel them to do as you would wish, nor have I the
power of forcing them to labor. The people will not suffer themselves to
be driven by means of the cart-whip. It is the policy of every man to
make the best bargain he can. I can say nothing to the people about
houses and grounds, and price of wages. I can only ask them to work.

Mr. WILES said that the planters were anxious to come to amicable
arrangements with the people, but they were unreasonable in their
demands. The planters could not consent to be injured--they must profit
by their properties.

Mr. MASON said, that the only bone of contention was the subject of
rent. His people were outside waiting to be satisfied on that head. He
hesitated not to say, that the proprietors were entitled to rent in
every instance where the laborer was unwilling to labor, and unless that
subject was at once settled, it would involve both parties in endless
disagreement. He was not one of those persons alluded to by his
Excellency, who circulated misrepresentations for private benefit, nor
was he aware that any one in the parish in which he lived had done so.
All that he desired was the good of the country, with which his
interests were identified.

Sir LIONEL--I could not possibly be personal towards any gentleman
present, for I have not the honour of knowing most of you. My
observations were not confined to any particular parish, but to the
Island of Jamaica, in which the occurrences named have taken place.

Dr. RAPKY, of St. George's--If your Excellency will only do away with a
curtain magistrate, things will go on smoothly in the parish of St.
George. This gentleman has told the people that they are entitled to the
lands occupied by them, in consequence of which the parish is now in an
unsettled state.

Sir LIONEL--Who is the magistrate!

Dr. RAPKY--Mr. Fishbourne.

Sir LIONEL--I am afraid I cannot please you. The question of possession
of lands and houses has for the present been settled by the opinion of
the Attorney-General, but it is still an undetermined question at law.
There are many persons in the island who are of opinion that the
legislature had not so intended; he (Sir Lionel) was at a loss to know
what they meant; seeing, however, some members of the assembly present,
perhaps they would be disposed to give some information.

Mr. S.J. DALLAS said, that it was the intention of the legislature that
rent should be paid. He thought it fair that 1s. 8d. per day should be
offered the people to work five days in the week, they returning one
day's labor for the houses and grounds.

Mr. SPECIAL JUSTICE HAMILTON said that complaints had been made to him,
that in many instances where the husband and wife lived in the same
house, rent had been demanded of both. The laborers had, in consequence,
been thrown into a state of consternation and alarm, which accounted for
the unsettled state of several properties--a serious bone of contention
had in consequence been produced. He held a notice in his hand demanding
of a laborer the enormous sum of 10s. per week for house and ground. He
had seen other notices in which 6s, 8d. and 5s. had been demanded for
the same. He did not consider that the parties issuing those notices had
acted with prudence.

Mr. HYSLOP explained--He admitted the charge, but said that the sum was
never intended to be exacted.

Sir LIONEL said he was aware of what was going on; he had heard of it.
"It was a policy which ought no longer to be pursued."

We have given the foregoing documents, full and ungarbled, that our
readers might fairly judge for themselves. We have not picked here a
sentence and there a sentence, but let the Governor, the Assembly, the
Missionaries, and the press tell their whole story. Let them be read,
compared, and weighed.

We might indefinitely prolong our extracts from the West India papers to
show, not only in regard to the important island of Jamaica, but
Barbados and several other colonies, that the former masters are alone
guilty of the non-working of the emancipated, so far as they refuse to
work. But we think we have already produced proof enough to establish
the following points:--

1. That there was a strong predisposition on the part of the Jamaica
planters to defraud their labourers of their wages. They hoped that by
yielding, before they were driven quite to the last extremity, by the
tide of public sentiment in England, they should escape from all
philanthropic interference and surveillance, and be able to bring the
faces of their unyoked peasantry to the grindstone of inadequate wages.

2. That the emancipated were not only peaceful in their new freedom, but
ready to grant an amnesty of all post abuses, and enter cheerfully into
the employ of their former masters for reasonable wages. That in cases
where disagreement has arisen as to the rate of daily or weekly wages,
the labourers have been ready to engage in task work, to be paid by the
piece, and have laboured so efficiently and profitably--proving a strong
disposition for industry and the acquisition of property.

3. That in the face of this good disposition of the laborers, the
planters have, in many cases, refused to give adequate wages.

4. That in still more numerous cases, including many in which the wages
have been apparently liberal, enormous extortion has been practiced upon
the laborer, in the form of rent demanded for his hovel and provision
patch--L20 per annum being demanded for a shanty not worth half that
money, and rent being frequently demanded from _every member_ of a
family more than should have been taken from the whole.

5. That the negroes are able to look out for their own interest, and
have very distinct ideas of their own about the value of money and the
worth of their labour, as well as the best methods of bringing their
employers to reasonable terms. On this point we might have made a still
stronger case by quoting from the Despatch and Standard, which assert
numerous instances in which the labourers have refused to work for wages
recommended to them by the Governor, Special Magistrates, or
Missionaries, though they offered to work for 3s. 4d., 5s., or a dollar
a day. They are shown to be rare bargain-makers and not easily trapped.

6. That the attorneys and managers have deliberately endeavoured to
raise a panic, whereby property might be depreciated to their own
advantage; showing clearly thereby, that they consider Jamaica property,
even with the laborers, irreclaimably free, a desirable investment.

7. That in spite of all their efforts, the great body of the laborers
continue industrious, doing more work in the same time than in slavery.
_The testimony to his very important point, of the Governor and House of
Assembly, is perfectly conclusive_, as we have already said. A house
that represents the very men who, in 1832, burnt the missionary chapels,
and defied the British Parliament with the threat, that in case it
proceeded to legislate Abolition, Jamaica would attach herself to the
United States, now HOPES for the agricultural prosperity of the island!
Indeed no one in Jamaica expresses a doubt on this subject, who does not
obviously do so _for the sake of buying land to better advantage_! Were
the colony a shade _worse_ off than before Emancipation, either in fact
or in the opinion of its landholders, or of any considerable portion of
persons acquainted with it, the inevitable consequence would be a
depreciation of _real estate_. But what is the fact? said Rev. John
Clark, a Jamaica Baptist Missionary, who has visited this country since
the first of August, in a letter published in the Journal of Commerce:--

"The Island of Jamaica is not in the deplorable state set forth by your
correspondent.--Land is rising in value so rapidly, that what was
bought five years ago at 3 dollars per acre, is now selling for 15
dollars; and this in the interior of the Island, in a parish not
reckoned the most healthy, and sixteen miles distant from the nearest
town. Crops are better than in the days of slavery--extra labour is
easily obtained where kindness and justice are exercised towards the
people. The hopes of proprietors are great, and larger sums are being
offered for estates than were offered previous to August, 1834, when
estates, and negroes upon them, were disposed of together."

Again, as in Jamaica commerce rests wholly upon agriculture, _its_
institutions can only flourish in a flourishing condition of the
latter.--What then are we to infer from an imposing prospectus which
appears in the island papers, commencing thus:--

"Kingston, October 26, 1838

Jamaica Marine, Fire, and Life Assurance Company.

Capital L100,000,

In 5000 shares of L20 each.

It has been long a matter of astonishment that, in a community so
essentially mercantile as Jamaica, no Company should have been
formed for the purpose of effecting Insurance on Life and Property;
although it cannot be doubted for an instant, that not only would
such an establishment be highly useful to all classes of the
community, but that it must yield a handsome return to such persons
as may be inclined to invest their money in it," &c.

Farther down in the prospectus we are told--"It may here be stated,
that the scheme for the formation of this Company has been mentioned to
some of the principal Merchants and _Gentlemen of the Country_, and has
met with decidedly favourable notice: and it is expected that the
shares, a large number of which have been already taken, will be rapidly
disposed of."

The same paper, the Morning Journal, from which we make this extract,
informs us: Nov. 2d--

"The shares subscribed for yesterday, in the Marine Fire and Life
Insurance Company, we understand, amount to the almost unprecedented
number of One Thousand Six Hundred, with a number of applicants whose
names have not been added to the list."

The Morning Journal of October 20th in remarking upon this project
says:--

"Jamaica is now happily a free country; she contains within herself the
means of becoming prosperous. Let her sons develope those resources
which Lord Belmore with so much truth declared never would be developed
_until slavery had ceased_. She has her Banks.--Give her, in addition,
her Loan Society, her Marine, Fire, and life Assurance Company, and some
others that will shortly be proposed, and capital will flow in from
other countries--property will acquire a value in the market, that will
increase with the increase of wealth, and she will yet be a flourishing
island, and her inhabitants a happy and contented people."

Now men desperately in debt _might_ invite in foreign capital for
temporary relief, but, since the _compensation_, this is understood not
to be the case with the Jamaica planters; and if they are rushing into
speculation, it must be because they have strong _hope_ of the safety
and prosperity of their country--in other words, because they confide in
the system of free labor. This one prospectus, coupled with its prompt
success, is sufficient to prove the falsehood of all the stories so
industriously retailed among us from the Standard and the Despatch. But
speculators and large capitalists are not the only men who confide in
the success of the "great experiment."

The following editorial notice in the Morning Journal of a recent date
speaks volumes:--

SAVINGS BANK.

"We were asked not many days ago how the Savings Bank in this City was
getting on. We answered well, very well indeed. By a notification
published in our paper of Saturday, it will be seen that L1600 has been
placed in the hands of the Receiver-General. By the establishment of
these Banks, a great deal of the money now locked up, and which yields
no return whatever to the possessors, and is liable to be stolen, will
be brought into circulation. This circumstance of itself ought to
operate as a powerful inducement to those parishes in which no Banks are
yet established to be up and doing. We have got some _five_ or _six_ of
them fairly underweigh, as Jack would say, and hope the remainder will
speedily trip their anchors and follow."

We believe banks were not known in the West Indies before the 1st of
August 1834. Says the Spanishtown Telegraph of May 1st, 1837, "_Banks,
Steam-Companies, Rail-Roads, Charity Schools_, etc., seem all to have
remained dormant until the time arrived when Jamaica was to be
_enveloped in smoke_! No man thought of hazarding his capital in an
extensive banking establishment until Jamaica's ruin, by the
introduction of freedom, had been accomplished!" And it was not till
after the 1st of August, 1838, that Jamaica had either savings banks or
savings. These institutions for the industrious classes came only with
their manhood. But why came they at all, if Emancipated industry is, or
is likely to be, unsuccessful?--In Barbados we notice the same
forwardness in founding monied institutions. A Bank is there proposed,
with a capital of L200,000. More than this, the all absorbing subject in
all the West India papers at the present moment is that of the
_currency_. Why such anxiety to provide the means of paying for labor
which is to become valueless? Why such keenness for a good circulating
medium if they are to have nothing to sell? The complaints about the old
fashioned coinage we venture to assort have since the first of August
occupied five times as much space in the colonial papers, we might
probably say in each and every one of them, as those of the non-working
of the freemen. The inference is irresistible. _The white colonists take
it for granted that industry is to thrive_.

It may be proper to remark that the late refusal of the Jamaica
legislature to fulfil its appropriate functions has no connection with
the working of freedom, any further than it may have been a struggle to
get rid in some measure of the surveillance of the mother country in
order to coerce the labourer so far as possible by vagrant laws, &c. The
immediate pretext was the passing of a law by the imperial Parliament
for the regulation of prisons, which the House of Assembly declared a
violation of that principle of their charter which forbids the
mother-country to lay a tax on them without their consent, in as much as
it authorized a crown officer to impose a fine, in a certain case, of
L20. A large majority considered this an infringement of their
prerogatives, and among them were some members who have nobly stood up
for the slave in times of danger. The remarks of Mr. Osborn especially,
on this subject, (he is the full blooded, slave-born, African man to
whom we have already referred) are worthy of consideration in several
points of view. Although he had always been a staunch advocate of the
home government on the floor of the Assembly are now contended for the
rights of the Jamaica legislature with arguments which to us republicans
are certainly quite forcible. In a speech of some length, which appears
very creditable to him throughout, he said--

"Government could not be acting fair towards them to assume that the
mass of the people of this island would remain in the state of political
indifference to which poverty and slavery had reduced them. They were
now free, every man to rise as rapidly as he could; and the day was not
very distant when it would be demonstrated by the change of
representatives that would be seen in that house. It did appear to him,
that under the pretext of extending the privileges of freemen to the
mass of the people of this country, the government was about to deprive
them of those privileges, by curtailing the power of the representative
Assembly of those very people. He could not bring himself to admit, with
any regard for truth, that the late apprentices could now be oppressed;
they were quite alive to their own interests, and were now capable of
taking care of themselves. So long as labor was marketable, so long they
could resist oppression, while on the other hand, the proprietor, for
his own interest's sake, would be compelled to deal fairly with them."

Though it is evidently all important that the same public opinion which
has wrested the whip from the master should continue to watch his
proceedings as an employer of freemen, there is much truth in the speech
of this black representative and alderman of Kingston. The brutalized
and reckless attorneys and managers, _may_ possibly succeed in driving
the negroes from the estates by exorbitant rent and low wages. They
_may_ succeed in their effort to buy in property at half its value. But
when they have effected that, they will be totally dependent for the
profits of their ill-gotten gains upon the _free laboring people_. They
may produce what they call idleness now, and a great deal of vexation
and suffering. But land is plenty, and the laborers, if thrust from the
estates, will take it up, and become still more independent. Reasonable
wages they will be able to command, and for such they are willing to
labor. The few thousand whites of Jamaica will never be able to
establish slavery, or any thing like it, over its 300,000 blacks.

Already they are fain to swallow their prejudice against color. Mr.
Jordon, member for Kingston and "free nigger," was listened to with
respect. Nay more, his argument was copied into the "Protest" which the
legislature proudly flung back in the face of Parliament, along with the
abolition of the apprenticeship, in return for Lord Glenelg's Bill. Let
all in the United States read and ponder it who assert that "the two
races cannot live together on term of equality."

Legislative independence of Jamaica has ever been the pride of her
English conquerors. They have received with joy the colored fellow
colonists into an equal participation of their valued liberty, and they
were prepared to rejoice at the extension of the constitution to the
emancipated blacks. But the British Government, by a great fault, if not
a crime, has, at the moment when all should have been free, torn from
the lately ascendant class, the privileges which were their birthright,
another class, now the equals of the former, the rights they had long
and fortunately struggled for, and from the emancipated blacks the
rights which they fondly expected to enjoy with their personal freedom.
The boon of earlier freedom will not compensate this most numerous part
of our population for the injustice and wrong done to the whole
Jamaica people.

The documents already adduced are confined almost exclusively to
Jamaica. We will refer briefly to one of the other colonies. The next in
importance is

BARBADOS

Here has been played nearly the same game in regard to wages, and with
the same results. We are now furnished with advices from the island down
to the 19th of December 1838. At the latter date the panic making papers
had tapered down their complainings to a very faint whisper, and withal
expressing more hope than fears. As the fruit of what they had already
done we are told by one of them, _the Barbadian_, that the unfavourable
news carried home by the packets after the emancipation had served to
raise the price of sugar in England, which object being accomplished, it
is hoped that they will intermit the manufacture of such news. The first
and most important document, and indeed of itself sufficient to save the
trouble of giving more, is the comparison of crime during two and a half
months of freedom, and the corresponding two and a half months of
slavery or apprenticeship last year, submitted to the legislature at the
opening of its session in the latter part of October. Here it is. We
hope it will be held up before every slave holder.

From the Barbadian of Dec. 1.

Barbados.--Comparative Table, exhibiting the number of Complaints
preferred against the Apprentice population of this Colony, in the
months of August, September and to the 15th of October, 1838; together
with the Complaints charged against Free Labourers of the same Colony,
during the months of August, September and to the 15th of October, 1838.
The former compiled from the Monthly Journals of the Special Justice of
the Peace and the latter from the Returns of the Local Magistracy
transmitted to his excellency the Governor

APPRENTICESHIP.

Total of Complaints vs. Apprentices from the
1st to 31st August 1837. 1708
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 1464
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 574

Grand Total 3746

Total number of Apprentices punished from the
1st to 31st August 1608
Ditto from 1st to 31st September 1321
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 561

Grand Total 3490

Total compromised, admonished and dismissed
from 1st to 31st August 105
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 113
Ditto from 1st to 15th October 38

Total 256

Deficiency in compromised cases in 1837 comparatively
with those of 1838 158

Grand Total 414

FREEDOM.

Total of Complaints vs. Labourers from the
1st to the 31st August 1838 582
Ditto from the 1st to the 30th September 386
Ditto from the 1st to the 15th October 103

Total 1071

Comparative Surplus of Complaints in 1838 2675

Grand Total 3746

Total of Laborers punished from the 1st to
the 31st August, 1838, 334
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 270
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 53

Total 657

Comparative surplus of punishment in 1837 2833

Grand total 3490

Total compromised, admonished and dismissed
from the 1st to the 31st August 248
Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 116
Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 50

Grand Total 414


NOTE.

It may be proper to remark that the accompanying General Abstract
for August, September, and to the 15th October, 1837, does not
include complaints preferred and heard before the Local Magistrates
during those months for such offences--viz. for misdemeanors, petty
debts, assaults and petty thefts--as were not cognizable by the
Special Justices; so that estimating these offences--the number of
which does not appear in the Abstract for 1837--at a similar number
as that enumerated in the Abstract for 1838, the actual relative
difference of punishments between the two and a half months in 1837
and these in 1838, would thus appear:


Surplus of Apprentices punished in 1837, as
above 2833

Offences in August, September, and to the
15th, October, 1837 heard before the General
Justices of the Peace, and estimated as follows:

Petty thefts 75
Assaults 143
Misdemeanors 98
Petty Debts 19--835

Actual surplus of punishment in 1837, 3168


From the Journal of Commerce.

_Letter from W.R. Hays, Esq. Barbados, W.I. to Rev. H.G. Ludlow, of New
Haven_.

BARBADOS, Dec. 26, 1838.

I gave you in my last, some account of the manner in which the first
day of emancipation came and went in this island. We very soon
afterwards received similar accounts from all the neighboring
islands. In all of them the day was celebrated as an occasion "of
devout thanksgiving and praise to God, for the happy termination of
slavery." In all of them, the change took place in a manner highly
creditable to the emancipated, and intensely gratifying to the
friends of liberty. The quiet, good order, and solemnity of the day,
were every where remarkable. Indeed, is it not a fact worth
remembering, that whereas in former years, a single day's relaxation
from labor was met by the slaves with shouting and revelry, and
merry-making, yet now, when the last link of slavery was broken
forever, sobriety and decorum were especially the order of the day.
The perfect order and subordination to the laws, which marked the
first day of August, are yet unbroken. We have now nearly five
months' experience of entire emancipation; and I venture to say,
that a period of more profound peace never existed in the West
Indies. There have been disputes about wages, as in New England and
in other free countries; but no concert, no combination even, here;
and the only attempt at a combination was among the planters, to
keep down wages--and that but for a short time only. I will not
enter particularly into the questions, whether or not the people
will continue to work for wages, whether they will remain quiet,--or
on the other hand, whether the Island will be suffered to become
desolate, and the freed slaves relapse into barbarism, &c. These
things have been speculated about, and gloomy predictions have had
their day; the time has now come for the proof. People do not buy
land and houses, and rent property for long terms of years, in
countries where life is insecure, or where labor cannot be had, and
the tendency of things is to ruin and decay. In short, men, in their
senses, do not embark on board a sinking ship. Confidence is the
very soul of prosperity; of the existence of this confidence in this
Island, the immense operations in real estate, since the first of
August, are abundant proof. There are multitudes of instances in
which estates have sold for $20,000 _more_ than was asked for them
six months ago; and yet at the time they were considered very
high. A proprietor who was persuaded a few weeks since to part with
his estate for a very large sum of money, went and bought _it back
again_ at an _advance_ of $9600. A great many long leases of
property have been entered into. An estate called "Edgecombe,"
mentioned by Thome and Kimball, has been rented for 21 years at
$7500 per annum. Another called the "hope" has been rented for 10
years at L2000 sterling, equal to $9600 per annum. Another, after
being rented at a high price, was relet, by the lessee, who became
entirely absolved from the contract, and took $16,000 for his
bargain. If required, I could give you a host of similar cases, with
the names of the parties. But it seems unnecessary. The mere impulse
given to the value of property in this island by emancipation, is a
thing as notorious _here_, as the _fact_ of emancipation.

But, are not crimes more frequent than before? I have now before me
a Barbados newspaper, printed two weeks since, in which the fact is
stated, that in _all_ the county prisons, among a population of
80,000, only _two_ prisoners were confined for any cause whatever!

"But," says a believer in the necessity of Colonization, "how will
you _get rid_ of the negroes?" I answer by adverting to the
spectacle which is now witnessed in _all_ the Islands of the former
proprietors of slaves, now _employers_ of _free_ laborers, using
every endeavor to _prevent_ emigration. Trinidad, Demerara, and
Berbice, _want_ laborers. The former has passed a law to pay the
passage money of any laborer who comes to the Island, leaving him
free to choose him employment. Demerara and Berbize have sent
Emigration agents to this and other islands, to induce the laborers
to join those colonies, offering high wages, good treatment, &c. On
the other hand, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, and all the old and
populous islands, individually and collectively, by legislative
resolves, legal enactments, &c. &c.--loudly protest that they have
_not a man to spare_! What is still better, the old island
proprietors are on every hand building new houses for the peasantry,
and with great forethought adding to their comfort; knowing that
they will thereby secure their contentment on their native soil. As
a pleasing instance of the good understanding which now exists
between proprietors and laborers, I will mention, that great numbers
of the former were in town on the 24th, buying up pork, hams, rice,
&c. as presents for their people on the ensuing Christmas; a day
which has this year passed by amid scenes of quiet Sabbath
devotions, a striking contrast to the tumult and drunkenness of
former times. I cannot close this subject, without beating my
testimony to the correctness of the statements made by our
countrymen, Thome and Kimball. They were highly esteemed here by all
classes, and had free access to every source of valuable
information. If they have not done justice to the subject of their
book, it is because the manifold blessings of a deliverance from
slavery are beyond the powers of language to represent. When I
attempt, as I have done in this letter, to enumerate a few of the, I
know not where to begin, or where to end. One must _see_, in order
to know and feel how unspeakable a boon these islands have
received,--a boon, which is by no means confined to the emancipated
slaves; but, like the dew and rains of heaven, it fell upon all the
inhabitants of the land, bond and free, rich and poor, together.

It is a common thing here, when you hear one speak of the benefits
of emancipation--the remark--that it ought to have taken place long
ago. Some say fifty years ago, some twenty, and some, that at any
rate it ought to have taken place all at once, without any
apprenticeship. The noon-day sun is not clearer than the fact, that
no preparation was required on the part of the slaves. It was the
dictate of an accusing conscience, that foretold of bloodshed, and
burning, and devastation. Can it be supposed to be an accidental
circumstance, that peace and good-will have _uniformly_, in _all_
the colonies, followed the steps of emancipation. Is it not rather
the broad seal of attestation to that heaven born principle, "It is
safe to do right." Dear brother, if you or any other friend to down
trodden humanity, have any lingering fear that the blaze of light
which is now going forth from the islands will ever be quenched,
even for a moment, dismiss that fear. The light, instead of growing
dim, will continue to brighten. Your prayers for the safe and happy
introduction of freedom, upon a soil long trodden by the foot of
slavery, may be turned into praises--for the event has come to pass.
When shall we be able to rejoice in such a consummation in our
beloved America? How I long to see a deputation of slaveholders
making the tour of these islands. It would only be necessary for
them to use their eyes and ears. Argument would be quite out of
place. Even an appeal to principle--to compassion--to the fear of
God--would not be needed. Self-interest alone would decide them in
favor of immediate emancipation.

Ever yours,

W.R. HAYES.

DEMERARA.

SPEECH OF THE GOVERNOR, ON OPENING THE SESSION OF THE COURT OF POLICY,
SEPT. 17, 1838.

From the Guiana Royal Gazette.

"I should fail in my duty to the public, and perhaps no respond to
the expectations of yourselves, Gentlemen of the Colonial Section of
this Honorable Court, did I not say a few words on the state of the
Colony, at this our first meeting after the memorable first
of August.

We are now approaching the close of the second month since that
date--a sufficient time to enable us to judge of the good
disposition of the new race of Freemen, but not perhaps of the
prosperity of the Colony. It is a proud thing for the
Colonist--Proprietors and Employers--that nothing has occurred to
indicate a want of good feeling in the great body of the laborers.
It is creditable to them, satisfactory to their employers, and
confounding to those who anticipated a contrary state of affairs.

That partial changes of location should have taken place, cannot
surprise any reasonable mind--that men who have all their lives been
subject to compulsory labor should, on having this labor left to
their discretion, be disposed at first to relax, and, in some
instances, totally abstain from it, was equally to be expected. But
we have no reason to despond, nor to imagine that, because such has
occurred in some districts, it will continue.

It is sufficient that the ignorant have been undeceived in their
exaggerated notions of their rights as Freemen: it was the first
step towards resumption of labor in every part of the Colony. The
patient forbearance of the Employers has produced great changes. If
some Estates have been disappointed in the amount of labor
performed, others again, and I have reason to believe a great
number, are doing well. It is well known that the Peasantry have not
taken to a wandering life: they are not lost to the cultivated parts
of the Colony: for the reports hitherto received from the
Superintendents of Rivers and Creeks make no mention of an augmented
population in the distant parts of their respective districts.

I hear of few commitments, except in this town, where, of course,
many of the idle have flocked from the country. On the East Coast,
there has been only one case brought before the High Sheriff's Court
since the 1st of August. In the last Circuit, not one!

With these facts before us, we may, I trust, anticipate the
continued prosperity of the Colony; and though it be possible there
may be a diminution in the exports of the staple commodities in this
and the succeeding quarter, yet we must take into consideration that
the season had been unfavorable, in some districts, previous to the
1st August, therefore a larger proportion of the crops remained
uncut; and we may ask, whether a continuance of compulsory labor
would have produced a more favorable result? Our united efforts
will, I trust, not be wanting to base individual prosperity on the
welfare of all."

The Governor of Demerara is HENRY LIGHT, Esq., a gentlemen who seems
strongly inclined to court the old slavery party and determined to shew
his want of affinity to the abolitionists. In another speech delivered
on a similar occasion, he says:

"Many of the new freemen may still be said to be in their infancy of
freedom, and like children are wayward. On _many of the estates_ they
have repaid the kindness and forbearance of their masters; on others
they have continued to take advantage of (what? the kindness and
forbearance of their masters? No.) their new condition, are idle or
irregular in their work. The good sense of the mass gives me reason to
hope that idleness will be the exception, not the rule."

The Barbadian of NOV. 28, remarks, that of six districts in Demerara
whose condition had been reported, _five_ were working favorably. In the
sixth the laborers were standing out for higher wages.

TRINIDAD.

In the _Jamaica Morning Journal_ of Oct. 2d and 15th, we find the
following paragraphs in relation to this colony:

"Trinidad.--The reports from the various districts as to the conduct of
our laboring population, are as various and opposite, the Standard says,
to each other as it is possible for them to be. There are many of the
Estates on which the laborers had at first gone on steadily to work
which now have scarcely a hand upon them, whilst upon others they muster
a greater force than they could before command. We hear also that the
people have already in many instances exhibited that propensity common
to the habits of common life, which we call squatting, and to which we
have always looked forward as one of the evils likely to accompany their
emancipation, and calling for the earliest and most serious attention of
our Legislature. We must confess, however, that it is a subject not easy
to deal with safely and effectually."

TRINIDAD,--The Standard says: "The state of the cultivation at present
is said to be as far advanced as could have been anticipated under the
new circumstances in which the Island stands. The weather throughout the
month has been more than usually favorable to weeding, whilst there has
also been sufficient rain to bring out the plants; and many planters
having, before the 1st of Augus, pushed on their weeding by free labor
and (paid) extra tasks, the derangement in their customary labor which
has been experienced since that period, does not leave them much below
an average progress."

"Of the laborers, although they are far from being settled, we believe
we may say, that they are not working badly; indeed, compared with those
of the sister colonies, they are both more industrious and more disposed
to be on good terms with their late masters. Some few estates continue
short of their usual compliment of hands; but many of the laborers who
had left the proprietors, have returned to them, whilst many others have
changed their locality either to join their relations, or to return to
their haunts of former days. So far as we can learn, nothing like
insubordination or combination exists. We are also happy to say, that on
some estates, the laborers have turned their attention to their
provision grounds. There is one point, however, which few seem to
comprehend, which is, that although free, they cannot work one day and
be idle the next, _ad libitum_."

Later accounts mention that some thousands more of laborers were wanted
to take off the crop, and that a committee of immigration had been
appointed to obtain them. [See Amos Townsend's letter on the last page.]
So it seems the free laborers are so good they want more of them. The
same is notoriously true of Demerara, and Berbice. Instead of a
colonization spirit to get rid of the free blacks, the quarrel among the
colonies is, which shall get the most. It is no wonder that the poor
negroes in Trinidad should betake themselves to squatting. The island is
thinly peopled and the administration or justice is horribly corrupt,
under the governorship and judgeship of Sir George Hill, the well known
defaulter as Vice Treasurer of Ireland, on whose appointment Mr.
O'Connell remarked that "delinquents might excuse themselves by
referring to the case of their judge."

GRENADA.

"GRENADA--The Gazette expresses its gratification at being able to
record, that the accounts which have been received from several parts of
the country, are of a satisfactory nature. On many of the properties the
peasantry have, during the week, evinced a disposition to resume their
several accustomed avocations, at the rates, and on the terms proposed
by the directors of the respective estates, to which they were formerly
belonging; and very little desire to change their residence has been
manifested. One of our correspondents writes, that 'already, by a
conciliatory method, and holding out the stimulus of extra pay, in
proportion to the quantity of work performed beyond that allowed to
them, he had, 'succeeded in obtaining, for three days, double the former
average of work, rendered by the labors during the days of slavery; and
this, too, by four o'clock, at which hour it seems, they are now wishful
of ceasing to work, and to enable them to do so, they work continuously
from the time they return from their breakfast.'"

"It is one decided opinion, the paper named says, that in a very short
time the cultivation of the cane still be generally resumed, and all
things continue to progress to the mutual satisfaction of both employer
and laborer. We shall feel indebted to our friends for such information,
as it may be in their power to afford us on this important subject, as
it will tend to their advantage equally with that of their laborers,
from the same being made public. We would wish also that permission be
given as to mention the names of the properties on which matters have
assumed a favorable aspect."

_Jamaica Morning Journal of Oct. 2_.

GRENADA.--According to the _Free Press_, it would appear that 'the
proprietors and managers of several estates in Duquesne Valley, and
elsewhere, their patience being worn out, and seeing the cultivation of
their estates going to ruin, determined to put the law into operation,
by compelling, after allowing twenty-three or twenty-four days of
idleness, the people either to work or to leave the estates. They
resisted; the aid of the magistrates and of the constabulary force was
called in, but without effect, and actual violence was, we learn, used
towards those who came to enforce the law. Advices were immediately sent
down to the Executive, despatched by a gentleman of the Troop, who
reached town about half past five o'clock on Saturday morning last. We
believe a Privy Council was summoned, and during the day, Capt. Clarke
of the 1st West-India Regiment, and Government Secretary, Lieut. Mould
of the Royal Engineers, and Lieut. Costabodie of the 70th, together with
twenty men of the 70th, and 20 of the 1st West India, embarked, to be
conveyed by water to the scene of insubordination.'

"'We have not learnt the reception this force met with, from the
laborers, but the results of the visit paid them were, that yesterday,
there were at work, on four estates, none: on eleven others, 287 in all,
and on another all except three, who are in the hands of the
magistrates. On one of the above properties, the great gang was, on
Friday last, represented in the cane-piece by one old woman!'"

"'The presence of the soldiers has had, it will be seen, some effect,
yet still the prospects are far from encouraging; a system of stock
plundering, &c. is prevalent to a fearful degree, some gentlemen and the
industrious laborers having had their fowls, &c. entirely carried off by
the worthless criminals; it is consolatory, however, to be able to quote
the following written, to us by a gentleman: "Although there are a good
many people on the different estates, still obstinate and resisting
either to work or to leave the properties, yet I hope that if the
military are posted at Samaritan for some time longer, they will come
round, several of the very obstinate having done so already." Two
negroes were sent down to goal on Monday last, to have their trial for
assaulting the magistrates.'"

"'Such are the facts, as far as we have been able to ascertain them,
which have attended a rebellious demonstration among a portion of the
laboring population, calculated to excite well-founded apprehension in
the whole community. Had earlier preventive measures been adopted, this
open manifestation of a spirit of resistance to, and defiance of the
law, might have been avoided. On this point, we have, in contempt of the
time-serving reflections it has drawn upon us, freely and fearlessly
expressed our opinion, and we shall now only remark, that matters having
come to the pass we have stated, the Executive has adopted the only
effective means to bring affairs again to a healthy state; fortunate is
it for the colony, that this has been done, and we trust that the
effects will be most beneficial.'"

TOBAGO.

The following testifies well for the ability of the emancipated to take
care of themselves.

"'Tobago.--The Gazette of this Island informs us that up to the period
of its going to press, the accounts from the country, as to the
disinclination of the laborers to turn out to work are much the same as
we have given of last week. Early this morning parties of them were seen
passing through town in various directions, accompanied by their
children, and carrying along with them their ground provisions, stock,
&c. indicating a change of location. Whilst on many estates where
peremptory demands have been made that work be resumed, or the laborers
should leave the estate, downright refusal to do either the one or the
other has been the reply; and that reply has been accompanied by threat
and menace of personal violence against any attempts to turn them out of
their houses and grounds. In the transition of the laborers from a state
of bondage to freedom, much that in their manners and deportment would
have brought them summarily under the coercion of the stipendiary
magistrate, formerly, may now be practised with impunity; and the fear
is lest that nice discrimination betwixt restraints just terminated and
rights newly acquired, will not be clouded for some time, even in the
minds of the authorities, before whom laborers are likely to be brought
for their transgression. Thus, although it may appear like an alarming
confederacy, the system of sending delegates, or head men, around the
estates, which the laborers have adopted, as advisers, or agents, to
promote general unanimity; it must be borne in mind that this is
perfectly justifiable; and it is only where actual violence has been
threatened by those delegates against those who choose to work at under
wages, that the authorities can merely assure them of their protection
from violence.'--_Morning Jour., Oct. 2._"

The _Barbadian_ of November 21, says, "An agricultural report has been
lately made of the windward district of the Island, which is favorable
as to the general working of the negroes." The same paper of November
28, says, "It is satisfactory to learn that _many_ laborers in Tobago
are engaging more readily in agricultural operations."

ST. VINCENT.

"Saint Vincent.--Our intelligence this week, observes the Gazette of
25th August, from the country districts, is considerably more favorable
than for the previous fortnight. In most of the leeward quarter, the
people have, more or less, returned to work, with the exception of very
few estates, which we decline naming, as we trust that on these also
they will resume their labor in a few days. The same may be said
generally of the properties in St. George's parish; and in the more
extensive district of Charlotte, there is every prospect that the same
example will be followed next week particularly in the Caraib country,
where a few laborers on some properties have been at work during the
present week, and the explanation and advice given them by Mr. Special
Justice Ross has been attended with the best effect, and we doubt not
will so continue. In the Biabou quarter the laborers have resumed work
in greater numbers than in other parts of the parish, and the exceptions
in this, as in ether districts, we hope will continue but a short time."

The Barbadian of November 21, speaks of a "megass house" set on fire in
this island which the peasantry refused to extinguish, and adds that but
half work is performed by the laborer in that parish. "Those of the
adjoining parish," its says, "are said to be working satisfactorily." In
a subsequent paper we notice a report from the Chief of Police to the
Lieutenant Governor, which speaks favorably of the general working of
the negroes, as far as he had been able to ascertain by inquiry into a
district comprising one-third of the laborers.

The New York Commercial Advertiser of February 25, has a communication
from Amos Townsend, Esq., Cashier of the New Haven Bank; dated New
Haven, February 21, 1839, from which we make the following extract. He
says he obtained his information from one of the most extensive shipping
houses in that city connected with the West India trade.

"A Mr. Jackson, a planter from St. Vincents, has been in this city
within a few day, and says that the emancipation of the slaves on
that island works extremely well; and that his plantation produces
more and yields a larger profit than it has ever done before. The
emancipated slaves now do in eight hours what was before considered
a two-days' task, and he pays the laborers a dollar a day.

Mr. Jackson further states that he, and Mr. Nelson, of Trinidad,
with another gentleman from the same islands, have been to
Washington, and conferred with Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay, _to
endeavour to concert some plan to get colored laborers from this
country to emigrate to these islands, as there is a great want of
hands._ They offer one dollar a day for able bodied hands. The
gentlemen at Washington were pleased with the idea of thus disposing
of the free blacks at the South, and would encourage their efforts
to induce that class of the colored people to emigrate. Mr. Calhoun
remarked that it was the most feasible plan of colonizing the free
blacks that had ever been suggested.

This is the amount of my information, and comes in so direct a
channel as leaves no room to doubt its correctness. What our
southern champions will now say to this direct testimony from their
brother planters of the West Indies, of the practicability and
safety of immediate emancipation, remains to be seen. Truly yours."
AMOS TOWNSEND, JUN.

ST. LUCIA.

Saint Lucia.--The Palladium states that affairs are becoming worse every
day with the planters. Their properties are left without labourers to
work them; their buildings broken into, stores and produce stolen,
ground provisions destroyed, stock robbed, and they themselves insulted
and laughed at.

On Saturday night, the Commissary of Police arrived in town from the
third and fourth districts, with some twenty or thirty prisoners, who
had been convicted before the Chief Justice of having assaulted the
police in the execution of their duty, and sent to gaol.

"It has been deemed necessary to call for military aid with a view of
humbling the high and extravagant ideas entertained by the
ex-apprentices upon the independence of their present condition;
thirty-six men of the first West India regiment, and twelve of the
seventy-fourth have been accordingly despatched; the detachment embarked
yesterday on board Mr. Muter's schooner, the Louisa, to land at
Soufriere, and march into the interior."

In both the above cases where the military was called out, the
provocation was given by the white. And in both cases it was afterwards
granted to be needless. Indeed, in the quelling of one of these
factitious rebellions, the prisoners taken were two white men, and one
of them a manager.

* * * * *




THE
CHATTEL PRINCIPLE

THE ABHORRENCE OF
JESUS CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES;
OR
NO REFUGE FOR AMERICAN SLAVERY

IN

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

NEW YORK
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.
NO. 143 NASSAU STREET.
1839

_Please read and circulate._

The

NEW TESTAMENT AGAINST SLAVERY.

* * * * *

"THE SON OF MAN IS COME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST."

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? In 1776 THOMAS JEFFERSON,
supported by a noble band of patriots and surrounded by the American
people, opened his lips in the authoritative declaration: "We hold these
truths to be SELF-EVIDENT, _that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, LIBERTY and the pursuit of happiness._" And from the
inmost heart of the multitudes around, and in a strong and clear voice,
broke forth the unanimous and decisive answer: Amen--such truths we do
indeed hold to be self-evident. And animated and sustained by a
declaration, so inspiring and sublime, they rushed to arms, and as the
result of agonizing efforts and dreadful sufferings, achieved under God
the independence of their country. The great truth, whence they derived
light and strength to assert and defend their rights, they made the
foundation of their republic. And in the midst of _this republic_, must
we prove, that He, who was the Truth, did not contradict "the truths"
which He Himself, as their Creator, had made self-evident to mankind?

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? What, according to those
laws which make it what it is, is American slavery? In the Statute-Book
of South Carolina thus it is written:[A] "Slaves shall be deemed, sold,
taken, reputed and adjudged in law to be _chattels personal_ in the
hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors,
administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions and purposes
whatever." The very root of American slavery consists in the assumption,
that _law has reduced men to chattels_. But this assumption is, and must
be, a gross falsehood. Men and cattle are separated from each other by
the Creator, immutably, eternally, and by an impassable gulf. To
confound or identify men and cattle must be to _lie_ most wantonly,
impudently, and maliciously. And must we prove, that Jesus Christ is not
in favor of palpable, monstrous falsehood?

[Footnote A: Stroud's Slave Laws, p. 23.]

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? How can a system, built
upon a stout and impudent denial of self-evident truth--a system of
treating men like cattle--operate? Thomas Jefferson shall answer. Hear
him.[B] "The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual
exercise of the most boisterous passions; the most unremitting despotism
on the one part, and degrading submission on the other. The parent
storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the
same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives loose to his worst
passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, can
not but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man must be a
prodigy, who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such
circumstances." Such is the practical operation of a system, which puts
men and cattle into the same family and treats them alike. And must we
prove, that Jesus Christ is not in favor of a school where the worst
vices in their most hateful forms are systematically and efficiently
taught and practiced?

[Footnote B: Notes on Virginia.]

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? What, in 1818, did the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian church affirm respecting its nature
and operation?[C] "Slavery creates a paradox in the moral system--it
exhibits rational, accountable, and immortal beings, in such
circumstances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral action. It
exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether they shall
receive religious instruction; whether they shall know and worship the
true God; whether they shall enjoy the ordinances of the gospel; whether
they shall perform the duties and cherish the endearments of husbands
and wives, parents and children, neighbors and friends; whether they
shall preserve their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of
justice and humanity. Such are some of the consequences of slavery;
consequences not imaginary, but which connect themselves with its very
existence. The evils to which the slave is _always_ exposed, _often take
place_ in their very worst degree and form; and where all of them do not
take place, still the slave is deprived of his natural rights, degraded
as a human being, and exposed to the danger of passing into the hands of
a master who may inflict upon him all the hardships and injuries which
inhumanity and avarice may suggest." Must we prove, that Jesus Christ is
not in favor of such things?

[Footnote C: Minutes of the General Assembly for 1818, p. 29.]

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? It is already widely felt
and openly acknowledged at the South, that they can not support slavery
without sustaining the opposition of universal christendom. And Thomas
Jefferson declared, that "he trembled for his country when he reflected,
that God is just; that his justice can not sleep forever; that
considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a revolution of the
wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events;
that it may become practicable by supernatural influences! The Almighty
has no attribute which can take sides with us in such a contest."[A] And
must we prove, that Jesus Christ is not in favor of what universal
christendom is impelled to abhor, denounce, and oppose;--is not in favor
of what every attribute of Almighty God is armed against?

[Footnote A: Notes on Virginia]

"YE HAVE DESPISED THE POOR."

It is no man of straw, with whom in making out such proof we are called
to contend. Would to God we had no other antagonist! Would to God that
our labor of love could be regarded as a work of supererogation! But we
may well be ashamed and grieved; to find it necessary to "stop the
mouths" of grave and learned ecclesiastics, who from the heights of Zion
have undertaken to defend the institution of slavery. We speak not now
of those, who amidst the monuments of oppression are engaged in the
sacred vocation; who as ministers of the Gospel can "prophesy smooth
things" to such as pollute the altar of Jehovah with human sacrifices;
nay, who themselves bind the victim and kindle the sacrifice. That
_they_ should put their Savior to the torture, to wring from his lips
something in favor of slavery, is not to be wondered at. They consent to
the murder of the children; can they respect the rights of the Father?
But what shall we say of theological professors at the North--professors
of sacred literature at our oldest divinity schools--who stand up to
defend, both by argument and authority, southern slavery! And from the
Bible! Who, Balaam-like, try a thousand expedients to force from the
mouth of Jehovah a sentence which they know the heart of Jehovah abhors!
Surely we have here something more mischievous and formidable than a man
of straw. More than two years ago, and just before the meeting of the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian church, appeared an article in the
Biblical Repertory,[A] understood to be from the pen of the Professor of
Sacred Literature at Princeton, in which an effort is made to show, that
slavery, whatever may be said of _any abuses_ of it, is _not a violation
of the precepts of the Gospel_. This article, we are informed, was
industriously and extensively distributed among the members of the
General Assembly--a body of men, who by a frightful majority seemed
already too much disposed to wink at the horrors of slavery. The effect
of the Princeton Apology on the southern mind, we have high authority
for saying, has been most decisive and injurious. It has contributed
greatly to turn the public eye off from the sin--from the inherent and
necessary _evils of slavery_ to incidental evils, which the _abuse_ of
it might be expected to occasion. And how few can be brought to admit,
that whatever abuses may prevail nobody knows where or how, any such
thing is chargeable upon them! Thus our Princeton prophet has done what
he could to lay the southern conscience asleep upon ingenious
perversions of the sacred volume!

[Footnote A: For April, 1836. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church met in the following May, at Pittsburgh, where, in pamphlet form,
this article was distributed. The following appeared upon the
title page:

PITTSBURGH:
1836.
_For gratuitous distribution_.
]

About a year after this, an effort in the same direction was jointly
made by Dr. Fisk and Prof. Stuart. In a letter to a Methodist clergyman,
Mr. Merritt, published in Zion's Herald, Dr. Fisk gives utterance to
such things as the following:--"But that you and the public may see and
_feel_, that you have the ablest and those who are among the honestest
men of this age, arrayed against you, be pleased to notice the following
letter from Prof. Stuart." I wrote to him, knowing as I did his integrity
of purpose, his unflinching regard for truth, as well as his deserved
reputation as a scholar and biblical critic, proposing the following
questions:--

1. Does the New Testament directly or indirectly teach, that slavery
existed in the primitive church?

2. In 1 Tim. vi. 2, And they that have believing masters, &c., what is
the relation expressed or implied between "they" (servants) and
"_believing masters_?" And what are your reasons for the construction of
the passage?

3. What was the character of ancient and eastern slavery?--Especially
what (legal) power did this relation give the master over the slave?

PROFESSOR STUART'S REPLY.

ANDOVER, 10th April, 1837.

REV. AND DEAR SIR,--Yours is before me. A sickness of three months'
standing (typhus fever,) in which I have just escaped death, and
which still confines me to my house, renders it impossible for me to
answer your letter at large.

1. The precepts of the New Testament respecting the demeanor of
slaves and of their masters, beyond all question, recognize the
existence of slavery. The masters are in part "believing masters,"
so that a precept to them, how they are to behave as _masters_,
recognizes that the relation may still exist, _salva fide et salva
ecclesia_, ("without violating the Christian faith or the church.")
Otherwise, Paul had nothing to do but to cut the band asunder at
once. He could not lawfully and properly temporize with a _malum in
se_, ("that which is in itself sin.")

If any one doubts, let him take the case of Paul's sending Onesimus
back to Philemon, with an apology for his running away, and sending
him back to be his servant for life. The relation did exist, may
exist. The _abuse_ of it is the essential and fundamental wrong. Not
that the theory of slavery is in itself right. No; "Love thy
neighbor as thyself," "Do unto others that which ye would that
others should do unto you," decide against this. But the relation
once constituted and continued, is not such a _malum in se_ as calls
for immediate and violent disruption at all hazards. So Paul did
not counsel.

2. 1 Tim. vi. 2, expresses the sentiment, that slaves, who are
Christians and have Christian masters, are not, on that account, and
because _as Christians they are brethren_, to forego the reverence
due to them as masters. That is, the relation of master and slave is
not, as a matter of course, abrogated between all Christians. Nay,
servants should in such a case, a _fortiori_, do their duty
cheerfully. This sentiment lies on the very face of the case. What
the master's duty in such a case may be in respect to _liberation_,
is another question, and one which the apostle does not here
treat of.

3. Every one knows, who is acquainted with Greek or Latin
antiquities, that slavery among heathen nations has ever been more
unqualified and at looser ends than among Christian nations. Slaves
were _property_ in Greece and Rome. That decides all questions about
their _relation_. Their treatment depended, as it does now, on the
temper of their masters. The power of the master over the slave was,
for a long time, that of _life and death_. Horrible cruelties at
length mitigated it. In the apostle's day, it was at least as great
as among us.

After all the spouting and vehemence on this subject, which have
been exhibited, the _good old Book_ remains the same. Paul's conduct
and advice are still safe guides. Paul knew well that Christianity
would ultimately destroy slavery, as it certainly will. He knew too,
that it would destroy monarchy and aristocracy from the earth; for
it is fundamentally a doctrine of _true liberty and equality_. Yet
Paul did not expect slavery or anarchy to be ousted in a day; and
gave precepts to Christians respecting their demeanor _ad interim_.

With sincere and paternal regard,

Your friend and brother,

M. STUART.

* * * * *

--This, sir, is doctrine that will stand, because it is _Bible
doctrine_. The abolitionists, then, are on a wrong course. They have
traveled out of the record; and if they would succeed, they must
take a different position, and approach the subject in a different
manner. Respectfully yours,

W. FISK

"SO THEY WRAP [SNARL] IT UP."

What are we taught here? That in the ecclesiastical organizations which
grew up under the hands of the apostles, slavery was admitted as a
relation, that did not violate the Christian faith; that the relation
may now in like manner exist; that "the abuse of it is the essential and
fundamental wrong;" and, of course, that American Christians may hold
their own brethren in slavery without incurring guilt or inflicting
injury. Thus according to Prof. Stuart, Jesus Christ has not a word to
say against "the peculiar institutions" of the South. If our brethren
there do not "abuse" the privilege of exacting unpaid labor, they may
multiply their slaves to their hearts' content, without exposing
themselves to the frown of the Savior or laying their Christian
character open to the least suspicion. Could any trafficker in human
flesh ask for greater latitude? And to such doctrines, Dr. Fisk eagerly
aid earnestly subscribes. He goes further. He urges it on the attention
of his brethren, as containing important truth, which they ought to
embrace. According to him, it is "_Bible doctrine_," showing, that "the
abolitionists are on a wrong course," and must, "if they would succeed,
take a different position."

We now refer to such distinguished names, to show, that in attempting to
prove that Jeans Christ is not in favor of American slavery, we contend
with something else than a man of straw. The ungrateful task, which a
particular examination of Prof. Stuart's letter lays upon us, we hope
fairly to dispose of in due season.--Enough has now been said, to make
it clear and certain, that American slavery has its apologists and
advocates in the northern pulpit; advocates and apologists, who fall
behind few if any of their brethren in the reputation they have
acquired, the stations they occupy, and the general influence they are
supposed to exert.

Is it so? Did slavery exist in Judea, and among the Jews, in its worst
form, during the Savior's incarnation? If the Jews held slaves, they
must have done so in open and flagrant violation of the letter and the
spirit of the Mosaic Dispensation. Whoever has any doubts of this may
well resolve his doubts in the light of the Argument entitled "The Bible
against Slavery." If, after a careful and thorough examination of that
article, he can believe that slaveholding prevailed during the ministry
of Jesus Christ among the Jews and in accordance with the authority of
Moses, he would do the reading public an important service to record the
grounds of his belief--especially in a fair and full refutation of that
Argument. Till that is done, we hold ourselves excused from attempting
to prove what we now repeat, that if the Jews during our Savior's
incarnation held slaves, they must have done so in open and flagrant
violation of the letter and the spirit of the Mosaic Dispensation. Could
Christ and the Apostles every where among their countrymen come in
contact with slaveholding, being as it was a gross violation of that law
which their office and their profession required them to honor and
enforce, without exposing and condemning it.

In its worst forms, we are told, slavery prevailed over the whole world,
not excepting Judea. As, according to such ecclesiastics as Stuart,
Hodge, and Fisk, slavery in itself is not bad at all, the term "_worst_"
could be applied only to "_abuses_" of this innocent relation. Slavery
accordingly existed among the Jews, disfigured and disgraced by the
"worst abuses" to which it is liable. These abuses in the ancient world,
Prof. Stuart describes as "horrible cruelties." And in our own country,
such abuses have grown so rank, as to lead a distinguished
eye-witness--no less a philosopher and statesman than Thomas
Jefferson--to say, that they had armed against us every attribute of the
Almighty. With these things the Savior every where came in contact,
among the people to whose improvement and salvation he devoted his
living powers, and yet not a word, not a syllable, in exposure and
condemnation of such "horrible cruelties," escaped his lips! He
saw--among the "covenant people" of Jehovah he saw, the babe plucked
from the bosom of its mother; the wife torn from the embrace of her
husband; the daughter driven to the market by the scourge of her own
father;--he saw the word of God sealed up from those who, of all men,
were especially entitled to its enlightening, quickening
influence;--nay, he saw men beaten for kneeling before the throne of
heavenly mercy;--such things he saw without a word of admonition or
reproof! No sympathy with them who suffered wrong--no indignation at
them who inflicted wrong, moved his heart!

From the alledged silence of the Savior, when in contact with slavery
among the Jews, our divines infer, that it is quite consistent with
Christianity. And they affirm, that he saw it in its worst forms; that
is, he witnessed what Prof. Stuart ventures to call "horrible
cruelties." But what right have these interpreters of the sacred volume
to regard any form of slavery which the Savior found, as "worst," or
even bad? According to their inference--which they would thrust gag-wise
into the mouths of abolitionists--his silence should seal up their lips.
They ought to hold their tongues. They have no right to call any form of
slavery bad--an abuse; much less, horribly cruel! Their inference is
broad enough to protect the most brutal driver amidst his deadliest
inflictions!

"THINK NOT THAT I AM COME TO DESTROY THE LAW OR THE PROPHETS; I AM NOT
COME TO DESTROY, BUT TO FULFILL."

And did the Head of the new dispensation, then, fall so far behind the
prophets of the old in a hearty and effective regard for suffering
humanity? The forms of oppression which they witnessed, excited their
compassion and aroused their indignation. In terms the most pointed and
powerful, they exposed, denounced, threatened. They could not endure the
creatures, who "used their neighbors' service without wages, and gave
him not for his work;"[A] who imposed "heavy burdens"[B] upon their
fellows, and loaded them with "the bands of wickedness;" who, "hiding
themselves from their own flesh," disowned their own mothers' children.
Professions of piety, joined with the oppression of the poor, they held
up to universal scorn and execration, as the dregs of hypocrisy. They
warned the creature of such professions, that he could escape the wrath
of Jehovah only by heartfelt repentance. And yet, according to the
ecclesiastics with whom we have to do, the Lord of these prophets passed
by in silence just such enormities as he commanded them to expose and
denounce! Every where, he came in contact with slavery in its worst
forms--"horrible cruelties" forced themselves upon his notice; but not a
word of rebuke or warning did he utter. He saw "a boy given for a
harlot, and a girl sold for wine, that they might drink,"[C] without the
slightest feeling of displeasure, or any mark of disapprobation! To such
disgusting and horrible conclusions, do the arguings which, from the
haunts of sacred literature, are inflictcd on our churches, lead us!
According to them, Jesus Christ, instead of shining as the light of the
world, extinguished the torches which his own prophets had kindled, and
plunged mankind into the palpable darkness of a starless midnight! O
Savior, in pity to thy suffering people, let thy temple be no longer
used as a "den of thieves!"

[Footnote A: Jeremiah xxii. 13.]

[Footnote B: Isaiah lviii. 6,7.]

[Footnote C: Joel iii. 3.]

"THOU THOUGHTEST THAT I WAS ALTOGETHER SUCH AN ONE AS THYSELF."

In passing by the worst forms of slavery, with which he every where came
in contact among the Jews, the Savior must have been inconsistent with
himself. He was commissioned to preach glad tidings to the poor; to heal
the broken-hearted; to preach deliverance to the captives; to set at
liberty them that are bruised; to preach the year of Jubilee. In
accordance with this commission, he bound himself, from the earliest
date of his incarnation, to the poor, by the strongest ties; himself
"had not where to lay his head;" he exposed himself to misrepresentation
and abuse for his affectionate intercourse with the outcasts of society;
he stood up as the advocate of the widow, denouncing and dooming the
heartless ecclesiastics, who had made her bereavement a source of gain;
and in describing the scenes of the final judgment, he selected the very
personification of poverty, disease, and oppression, as the test by
which our regard for him should be determined. To the poor and wretched;
to the degraded and despised, his arms were ever open. They had his
tenderest sympathies. They had his warmest love. His heart's blood he
poured out upon the ground for the human family, reduced to the deepest
degradation, and exposed to the heaviest inflictions, as the slaves of
the grand usurper. And yet, according to our ecclesiastics, that class
of sufferers who had been reduced immeasurably below every other shape
and form of degradation and distress; who had been most rudely thrust
out of the family of Adam, and forced to herd with swine; who, without
the slightest offense, had been made the foot-stool of the worst
criminals; whose "tears were their meat night and day," while, under
nameless insults and killing injuries, they were continually crying, O
Lord, O Lord:--this class of sufferers, and this alone, our biblical
expositors, occupying the high places of sacred literature, would make
us believe the compassionate Savior coldly overlooked. Not an emotion of
pity; not a look of sympathy; not a word of consolation, did his
gracious heart prompt him to bestow upon them! He denounces damnation
upon the devourer of the widow's house. But the monster, whose trade it
is to make widows and devour them and their babes, he can calmly endure!
O Savior, when wilt thou stop the mouths of such blasphemers!

IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENETH.

It seems, that though, according to our Princeton professor, "the
subject" of slavery "is hardly alluded to by Christ in any of his
personal instructions[A]," he had a way of "treating it." What was that?
Why, "he taught the true nature, DIGNITY, EQUALITY, and destiny of men,"
and "inculcated the principles of justice and love."[B] And according to
Professor Stuart, the maxims which our Savior furnished, "decide
against" "the theory of slavery." All, then, that these ecclesiastical
apologists for slavery can make of the Savior's alledged silence is,
that he did not, in his personal instructions, "_apply his own principles
to this particular form of wickedness_." For wicked that must be, which
the maxims of the Savior decide against, and which our Princeton
professor assures us the principles of the gospel, duly acted on, would
speedily extinguish[C]. How remarkable it is, that a teacher should
"hardly allude to a subject in any of his personal instructions," and
yet inculcate principles which have a direct and vital bearing upon
it!--should so conduct, as to justify the inference, that "slaveholding
is not a crime[D]," and at the same time lend his authority for its
"speedy extinction!"

[Footnote A: Pittsburgh pamphlet, (already alluded to,)p.9.]

[Footnote B: Pittsburgh pamphlet, p.9.]

[Footnote C: The same, p.34.]

[Footnote D: The same, p.13.]

Higher authority than sustains _self-evident truths_ there can not be.
As forms of reason, they are rays from the face of Jehovah. Not only are
their presence and power self-manifested, but they also shed a strong
and clear light around them. In this light, other truths are visible.
Luminaries themselves, it is their office to enlighten. To their
authority, in every department of thought, the sane mind bows promptly,
gratefully, fully. And by their authority, he explains, proves, and
disposes of whatever engages his attention and engrosses his powers as a
reasonable and reasoning creature. For what, when thus employed and when
most successful, is the utmost he can accomplish? Why, to make the
conclusions which he would establish and commend, _clear in the light of
reason_;--in other words, to evince that _they are reasonable_. He
expects, that those with whom he has to do, will acknowledge the
authority of principle--will see whatever is exhibited in the light of
reason. If they require him to go further, and, in order to convince
them, to do something more that show that the doctrines he maintains,
and the methods he proposes, are accordant with reason--are illustrated
and supported by "self-evident truths"--they are plainly "beside
themselves." They have lost the use of reason. They are not to be argued
with. They belong to the mad-house.

"COME NOW, LET US REASON TOGETHER, SAITH THE LORD."

Are we to honor the Bible, which Prof. Stuart quaintly calls "the good
old book," by turning away from "self-evident truths" to receive its
instructions? Can these truths be contradicted or denied there? Do we
search for something there to obscure their clearness, or break their
force, or reduce their authority? Do we long to find something there, in
the form of premises or conclusions, of arguing or of inference, in
broad statements or blind hints, creed-wise or fact-wise, which may set
us free from the light and power of first principles? And what if we
were to discover what we were thus in search of?--something directly or
indirectly, expressly or impliedly prejudicial to the principles, which
reason, placing us under the authority of, makes self-evident? In what
estimation, in that case, should we be constrained to hold the Bible?
Could we longer honor it, as the book of God? _The book of God opposed
to the authority of_ REASON! Why, before what tribunal do we dispose of
the claims of the sacred volume to divine authority? The tribunal of
reason. _This every one acknowledges the moment he begins to reason on
the subject_. And what must reason do with a book, which reduced the
authority of its own principles--broke the force of self-evident truths?
Is he not, by way of eminence, the apostle of infidelity, who, as a
minister of the gospel or a professor of sacred literature, exerts
himself, with whatever arts of ingenuity or show of piety, to exalt the
Bible at the expense of reason? Let such arts succeed and such piety
prevail, and Jesus Christ is "crucified afresh and put to an
open shame."

What saith the Princeton professor? Why, in spite of "general
principles," and "clear as we may think the arguments against DESPOTISM,
there have been thousands of ENLIGHTENED _and good men_, who _honestly_
believe it to be of all forms of government the best and most acceptable
to God."[A] Now, these "good men" must have been thus warmly in favor of
despotism, in consequence of, or in opposition to, their being
"enlightened." In other words, the light, which in such abundance they
enjoyed, conducted them to the position in favor of despotism, where the
Princeton professor so heartily shook hands with them, or they must have
forced their way there in despite of its hallowed influence. Either in
accordance with, or in resistance to the light, they became what he
found them--the advocates of despotism. If in resistance to the
light--and he says they were "enlightened men"--what, so far as the
subject with which alone he and we are now concerned, becomes of their
"honesty" and "goodness?" Good and honest resisters of the light, which
was freely poured around them! Of such, what says Professor Stuart's
"good old Book?" Their authority, where "general principles" command the
least respect, must be small indeed. But if in accordance with the
light, they have become the advocates of despotism, then is despotism
"the best form of government and most acceptable to God." It is
sustained by the authority of reason, by the word of Jehovah, by the
will of Heaven! If this be the doctrine which prevails at certain
theological seminaries, it must be easy to account for the spirit which
they breathe, and the general influence which they exert. Why did not
the Princeton professor place this "general principle" as a shield,
heaven-wrought and reason-approved, over that cherished form of
despotism which prevails among the churches of the South, and leave the
"peculiar institutions" he is so forward to defend, under its
protection?

[Footnote A: Pittsburgh pamphlet, p.12.]

What is the "general principle" to which, whatever may become of
despotism with its "honest" admirers and "enlightened" supporters, human
governments should be universally and carefully adjusted? Clearly
this--_that as capable of, man is entitled to, self-government_. And
this is a specific form of a still more general principle, which may
well be pronounced self-evident--_that every thing should be treated
according to its nature_. The mind that can doubt of this, must be
incapable of rational conviction. Man, then,--it is the dictate of
reason, it is the voice of Jehovah--must be treated _as a man_. What is
he? What are his distinctive attributes? The Creator impressed his own
image on him. In this were found the grand peculiarities of his
character. Here shone his glory. Here REASON manifests its laws. Here
the WILL puts forth its volitions. Here is the crown of IMMORTALITY. Why
such endowments? Thus furnished--the image of Jehovah--is he not capable
of self-government? And is he not to be so treated? _Within the sphere
where the laws of reason place him_, may he not act according to his
choice--carry out his own volitions?--may he not enjoy life, exult in
freedom and pursue as he will the path of blessedness? If not, why was
he so created and endowed? Why the mysterious, awful attribute of will?
To be a source, profound as the depths of hell, of exquisite misery, of
keen anguish, of insufferable torment! Was man formed "according to the
image of Jehovah," to be crossed, thwarted, counteracted; to be forced
in upon himself; to be the sport of endless contradictions; to be driven
back and forth forever between mutually repellant forces; and all, all
"_at the discretion of another!"_[A] How can men be treated according to
his nature, as endowed with reason or will, if excluded from the powers
and privileges of self government?--if "despotism" be let loose upon
him, to "deprive him of personal liberty, oblige him to serve at the
discretion of another," and with the power of "transferring" such
"authority" over him and such claim upon him, to "another master?" If
"thousands of enlightened and good men" can so easily be found, who are
forward to support "despotism" as "of all governments the best and most
acceptable to God," we need not wonder at the testimony of universal
history, that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now." Groans and travail-pangs must continue to be the
order of the day throughout "the whole creation," till the rod of
despotism be broken, and man be treated as man--as capable of, and
entitled to, self-government.

[Footnote A: Pittsburgh pamphlet, p.12]

But what is the despotism whose horrid features our smooth professor
tries to hide beneath an array of cunningly-selected words and
nicely-adjusted sentences? It is the despotism of American
slavery--which crushes the very life of humanity out of its victims, and
transforms them to cattle! At its touch, they sink from men to things!
"Slaves," with Prof. Stuart, "were _property_ in Greece and Rome. That
decides all questions about their _relation_." Yes, truly. And slaves in
republican America are _property_; and as that easily, clearly, and
definitely settles "all questions about their _relation_," why should
the Princeton professor have put himself to the trouble of weaving a
definition equally ingenious and inadequate--at once subtle and
deceitful? Ah, why? Was he willing thus to conceal the wrongs of his
mother's children even from himself? If among the figments of his brain,
he could fashion slaves, and make them something else than property, he
knew full well that a very different pattern was in use among the
southern patriarchs. Why did he not, in plain words, and sober earnest,
and good faith, describe the thing as it was, instead of employing
honied words and courtly phrases, to set forth with all becoming
vagueness and ambiguity what might possibly be supposed to exist in the
regions of fancy.

"FOR RULERS ARE NOT A TERROR TO GOOD WORKS, BUT TO THE EVIL."

But are we, in maintaining the principle of self-government, to overlook
the unripe, or neglected, or broken powers of any of our fellow-men with
whom we may be connected?--or the strong passions, vicious propensities,
or criminal pursuit of others? Certainly not. But in providing for their
welfare, we are to exert influences and impose restraints suited to
their character. In wielding those prerogatives which the social of our
nature authorizes us to employ for their benefit, we are to regard them
as they are in truth, not things, not cattle, not articles of
merchandize, but men, our fellow-men--reflecting, from however battered
and broken a surface, reflecting with us the image of a common Father.
And the great principle of self-government is to be the basis, to which
the whole structure of discipline under which they may be placed, should
be adapted. From the nursery and village school on to the work-house and
state-prison, this principle is over and in all things to be before the
eyes, present in the thoughts, warm on the heart. Otherwise, God is
insulted, while his image is despised and abused. Yes, indeed, we
remember that in carrying out the principle of self-government,
multiplied embarrassments and obstructions grow out of wickedness on the
one hand and passion on the other. Such difficulties and obstacles we
are far enough from overlooking. But where are they to be found? Are
imbecility and wickedness, bad hearts and bad heads, confined to the
bottom of society? Alas, the weakest of the weak, and the desperately
wicked, often occupy the high places of the earth, reducing every thing
within their reach to subserviency to the foulest purposes. Nay, the
very power they have usurped, has often been the chief instrument of
turning their heads, inflaming their passions, corrupting their hearts.
All the world knows, that the possession of arbitrary power has a strong
tendency to make men shamelessly wicked and insufferably mischievous.
And this, whether the vassals over whom they domineer, be few or many.
If you can not trust man with himself, will you put his fellows under
his control?--and flee from the inconveniences incident to
self-government, to the horrors of despotism?

"THOU THAT PREACHEST A MAN SHOULD NOT STEAL, DOST THOU STEAL."

Is the slaveholder, the most absolute and shameless of all despots, to
be intrusted with the discipline of the injured men whom he himself has
reduced to cattle?--with the discipline by which they are to be prepared
to wield the powers and enjoy the privileges of freemen? Alas, of such
discipline as he can furnish, in the relation of owner to property, they
have had enough. From this sprang the vary ignorance and vice, which in
the view of many lie in the way of their immediate enfranchisement. He
it is, who has darkened their eyes and crippled their powers. And are
they to look to him for illumination and renewed vigor!--and expect
"grapes from thorns and figs from thistles!" Heaven forbid! When,
according to arrangements which had usurped the sacred name of law, he
consented to receive and use them as property, he forfeited all claims
to the esteem and confidence, not only of the helpless sufferers
themselves, but also of every philanthropist. In becoming a slaveholder,
he became the enemy of mankind. The very act was a declaration of war
upon human man nature. What less can be made of the process of turning
men to cattle? It is rank absurdity--it is the height of madness, to
propose to employ _him_ to train, for the places of freemen, those whom
he has wantonly robbed of every right--whom he has stolen from
themselves. Sooner place Burke, who used to murder for the sake of
selling bodies to the dissector, at the head of a hospital. Why, what
have our slaveholders been about these two hundred years? Have they not
been constantly and earnestly engaged in the work of education?
--training up their human cattle? And how? Thomas Jefferson shall
answer. "The whole commerce between master and slave, is a perpetual
exercise of the most boisterous passions; the most unremitting despotism
on the one part, and degrading submission on the other." Is this the way
to fit the unprepared for the duties and privileges of American
citizens? Will the evils of the dreadful process be diminished by adding
to it length? What, in 1818, was the unanimous testimony of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian church? Why, after describing a variety of
influences growing out of slavery, most fatal to mental and moral
improvement, the General Assembly assure us, that such "consequences are
not imaginary, but connect themselves WITH THE VERY EXISTENCE of
slavery. The evils to which the slave is _always_ exposed, often take
place in fact, and IN THEIR VERY WORST DEGREE AND FORM[A]; and where all
of them do not take place," "still the slave is deprived of his natural
right, degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger of passing
into the hands of a master who may inflict upon him all the hardships
and injuries, which inhumanity and avarice may suggest." Is this the
condition in which our ecclesiastics would keep the slave, at least a
little longer, to fit him to be restored to himself?

[Footnote A: The words here marked as emphasis were so distinguished by


 


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