.0 O^ 'o , » jl\ ^rf*" ' ♦ • • «' 1^ . t • < '•^^^^ a'^ ^«» 'wJ DELIVERED AT MONTPELIER, OCTOBER 15, 1S38, BEFORE THE Tttrmout ^olont|a(tion SotiCtjj* BY SILAS M'KEEN, Pastor of the Coii'rregational Church in Bradford. atONTPELIER, PRINTED BY E. P. WJVLTON — WATCHMAN OFFICE. 4828. 1 3' 3 ^ (o *o4 SERx^IOiV. Jeremiah xxxiv : 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord ; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in prO' claiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neigh' hour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine ; and I will make you to he removed into all the kingdoms of the earih. I^LAVERY is not of recent origin. It has been the crime, and the curse, of many generations. Its iron hand, probably, was first laid on men subdued in war. The conqueror, sated with blood, instead of exterminating his prisoners, led them in triumph; subjected them to bondage ; and made them subservient to his own emolument and pleasure. Others, seeing the facility with which those who hadsla-ves supported themselves, would covet their ease and luxury ; and readily engage in war, with a view to acquire slaves; or form piratical bands, as the African slave-traders now do, to seize on the unsuspecting and defenceless, even in time of peace. In some nations too, insolvent debtors were compelled by the laws to perform the part of slaves to their creditors, until their demands were fully satisfied. It v.as so among the Hebrews. As the abject state of slaves exposed them to great indignity, we find in the judicial statutesof Moses, several very humane enactments with respect to the treatment of those who were in bondage. These laws were peculiarly favourable to such poor Hebrews as had been reduced to scrvitode, for the payment of their debts. They were not to be retained in bondage at the longest more than six years. And, during their servitude, must be furnished with a comfortable •Bubsistence ; be permitted to marry; be exempted Irom labour, or the Sabbath, and all festival occasions; and be allowed to share with their masters in the benefit of all religious institutions, if a master injured a servant in the eye, or tooth, that is, according to the spirit of the law, in any of his members, that servant in consequence of such treatment was immediately set at liberty. And if in any case the master slew a servant, while correcting him, he was liable to be pun- ished himself, according to the will and sentence of the judjje. These statutes furnish no argument in favour of slavery, as it ex- ists at the present day. They did not authorize persons to make, or to hold slaves, in any way inconsistent with the principle of doing to others as they would have others do to them ; fur this, so far as the duty of man to man was concerned, was the very essence of all the requisitions of the law and teaching of the prophets. But the design of them was, to extend a shield over all who had, by any means, been reduced to bondage ; and kindly save them, from the oppression and cruelty of unfeeling masters. Hence those laws were opposed by the pride, avarice, and eensuahty of slave-holders ; and in course of time were in a great measure disregarded. Many of the poor Israelites were retained in bondage contrary both to law and justice; and by reason of oppression the land was filled with their groaning. For this oi)pres£ion, and other grievous offences, the Lord of hosts brought up an array of the Chaldeans, in the time of the prophet Jer- emiah, to invade and chastise the people of Israel. King Zedekiah and his princes, perceiving the danger of being led into captivity themselves, were bi'ought to serious reflection on their own oppres- sive conduct tov/ards their enslaved fellow citizens. And knowing that in time of war, but little dependance could be placed on those who were thus oppressed and abused, they recommended to the peo- ple that a general emancipation of all their Hebrew slaves, should be immediately declared. The people agreed ; and the thing was done. Just at this crisis, the armies of Egypt, in alhance with the Israelites, came to their assistance ; and the Chaldeans hastily withdrew. The powerful men among the Hebrews, now supposing theqiselves out of danger, regretted that they had been so hasty in the emanci- pation of their slaves ; and contrary to their own pubhck act of giv- ing them their freedom; contrary to every rule of justice; to every dictate of humanity ; constrained them all, both male and female, to return to a state of servitude. This provoked the Almighty's dis- pleasure; and in a message to the people, by his prophet Jeremiaji* he said ; " Ye were now tunied, and had done right in my sight in ])roclaiuiing liberty every man to his neighbour ; and ye had made a cuvenunl bcJore ine, in tiic house which is cuUud by my name. But ye have turned, and polluted my name; and caused every man his sei'vant, and every Uiun his handmaid, whom lie had set at liberty, at their pleasure, to return; and brought them into aubjection, to be un- to you for servants, and for handmaids. Tlierefore thus saith the Lord, Ye liave not hearkened unto me, in proclauning liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour : behold I pro- claim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." They had thought the hour of peril was past ; that they might now return with safety to their former ways of oppression and luxu- ry ; but great indeed was their mistake. Wicked nations, like wick- ed individuals, arc never secure. Their population, wealth, pride and power, are no sufncient defence. Jehovah himself is the kingo,t all tiie earth, and he can, without an eflbrt, crush the haughty mor- tal or kingdom, which refuses Bubmiosion to his authority. While this ungrateful people were rejoicing that their enemies were fled, and were returning with eagerness to their former ways of iniquity ; then it was that tliis fearful message was sent unto them ; and was concluded with the terrible declaration — " Behold I will comm; .d, saith the Lord, and cause them to return to this city ; and they shaU fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire ; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without an inhabitant." As they would not give hberty to their brethren who were unjust- ly held in bondage, the Lord would give liberty to their enemies to return upon them with the sword ; to the famine and the pestilence he would give liberty to pervade the land, and spread fear, and mise- ry, and death, among those whom the sword had spared. And the miserable remnant who should escape destruction by these, should still be constrained to cast themselves on the mercy of their victors; and be carried away to Babylon, to wear the chains of slavery there, and to cringe under the lash of proud and insolent masters. Let us for the present leave them there, toiling and sighing with their harps hung on the willows, to consider what instruction the history of their . guilt and ruin can afford to our own nation. The number of slaves in ancient Israel were few. compared vvilh the vast muUidude who ere groaning under the yoke of bondage, in this boasted land of freft- dom. The original emigrants to these United States, like the Israelites who emigrated to Canaan, had been oppressed by the government under which they had formerly lived ; and removed to a foreign land to gain the more perfect enjoyment of their liberty. They secured their object ; and for many years manifested no disposition to oppress others. For fifty-five years the first settlers of Virginia cultivated their own lands, without the assistance of slaves. And when they were introduced, it was not by the settlers themselves, but by their powerful patrons in England. And so it seems to have been with the other southern colonies. This was done in imitation of the Por- tuguese ; and the Spaniards, who had long been in the practice of carrying off slaves from the coast of Guinea, to strengthen their col- onics in the West Indies. The English colonists considered the in- troduction of slaves, a sore evil ; and warmly remonstrated against it. So early as 1 699, the southern provinces had become so much alarmed at the number of negroes landed on Uieir shores by the Brit- ish merchants, as to make it a subject of serious legislative discus- sion ; and from that time, down to the declaration of Independence, These provinces made various attempts to free themselves from the guilt and danger in which the mother country was involving them. But the royal negative invariably overruled every effort of the colo- nists ; and the African company, which had been formed m Great Britain, for the purpose of trading in slaves, was openly invited and encouraged to prosecute the business to the greatest possible extent. In 1772 the Colonial Assembly of Virginia made their last attempt to obtain from the king a hearing and a mitigation of this evil. " Wc are encouraged" say they, " to look up to the throne and implore your Majesty's paternal assistance, in averting a calamity of the most alarming nature. The importation of slaves into the colonies from the coasts of Africa, hath long been considered as a trade of great inhumanity ; and under its present encouragement, we fear, will en- danger the very existence of your Majesty's American Dominions. We are sensible that some of your Majesty's subjects of Great Brit- ain may reap emolument from this sort of traffick ; but when we con- sider that it greatly retards the settlement of the colonies with more useful inhabitants; and may, in time, have the most destructive in- fluence ; we presume to hope, that the interests of a few will b6 dis- regarded, when placed in competition witii the security and happi- ness of such numbers of your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects." They closed their remonstrance with the following request ; " We most lumibly beseecli your Majesty to remove all those restraints on j'our Majesty's governors of this colony which hihibit their assenting to such laws as might check so very pernicious a coirmerce." But this was not granted. The right of prohibiting the importation of slaves was absolutely refused thera. The current of slavery, whick had long been flowing in upon the colonies, had now become alto- gether too powerful to be stayed by any barriei's they could raise against it. The fact that the petitions of the colonies to the British king and parliament, to save them from this overwhelming evil, were wholly disregarded, was at the south, urged as one of the principal reasons for separating altogether from the mother country. In the first draft of the declaration of Independence, which was from the pen of Mr. Jefierson, among the specifications against the king of Great Britain was this : " He has waged cruel war against human nature itselfi violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty, in the persons of a distant people who never offended him ; captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobri- um of infidel powers, is the work of a christian king of Great Britain. Determined to keep an open market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legis- lative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distin- uished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them ; thus pay- ing off former crimes committed against the liberties of a people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of an- other" people. The reason why this article was not insert- ed was not a v/ant of unanimity of feehng on the subject ; but be- cause, said the late President Adams, " There was not an idea in it, which had not been hackneyed by Congress, for two years before." It is however, to be regretted that it was not adopted, as it would hare been a lastinor memorial of the views of that ausust assembly, and of those colonies gencrall}-, on tliis great nationn s subject. In the dpclaration which was adopted, they used languajre which gives to every slave unjustly held in bondage, the right of demanding his freedom. For tliey say, " We hold these truths to be self-evi- dent ; that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed : that when any form of govern- ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it ; instituting new government, laying its founda- tion on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." It is but fair to conclude from these principles, so publicly declared, that it was the opinion of the colonies generally, at that time, as well as the voice of their government, that the blacks ought to be restor- ed to their freedom. In this there is another remarkable point of coincidence between the history of our own country, in regard to slavery, and that of an- cient Israel, in the time of the prophet Jeremiah. When they were beseiged by the armies of a foreign power, and were liable to be car- ried into captivity, they proclaimed liberty to their fellow men, whom they had long unjustly held in bondage. In like manner, when the hostile fleets of Britain environed our coasts ; and her armies were inarching through the land ; our countrymen spoke loudly of tyranny and oppression, and declared that liberty is the birthright of man. While this declaration was designed to be a vindication of their own conduct, in refusing to submit to a despotick government, they were not insensible that it spread a shield over the African slave ; and, doubtless, both expected and designed that he should be benefitted by it. That this was the fact, will clearly appear from the subsequent acts of the state governments. To say nothing of what was done in New-England, the legislature of Virginia, so early as the year 1778, while we were yet in doubtful contest with Great Britain, passed a law, prohibiting under heavy penalties, the further importation of slaves ; and declaring that every slave imported thereafter, should immediately be free. And this example was followed by most of the other states, previous to the date of the Federal Constitution. Im- mediately after peace was secured, the privilege of liberating slaves, wliicli was not allowed by the British government, was embraced by many with the fond expectation that it would lessen the evil they so much deplored; and it is calculated that in Virginia alone, upwards of 10,000 individuals received their freedom in this way, within ten years from 1782 ; and according to the census of 1810, the number of free negroes in that state, amounted to more than 30,000. Previous to that time, however, manumission had been prohibited by law ; as it has been at different times, in most or all of the other slave holding states. These laws prohibiting the emancipation of slaves, were passed from a conviction, founded on experience, that the practice of liberating slaves, while no special provision was made for their sup- port, was alike injurious to the slave and the community .*•'= Wlien this was ascertained to be the case, it became the imperi- ous duty of the several legislatures and of the community to furnish the emancipated blacks with lands, where they might support them- selves by their industry ; and with suitable instruction in every thing pertaining to their best interests. But this, though strongly urged by several distinguished individuals, was never done. Of course, the freed blacks, poor, ignorant, and vicious, without any means of sup- port, without any prospect of happiness, became a burden to the community ; and furnisVied a large share, as they do still, of the con- victs yearly immured in the penitentiaries of the nation. In view of this, the case of those wlio were yet in bondage, was given up as hopeless. Their chains, which seemed to be loosening for a season, were rivetted fast ; and while humanity wept, avarice and luxury " grinned horribly a ghastly smile." And thus the evil has re- mained and increased in the land, until the number of the blacks in some sections of the country, far exceeds that of the whites ; and they are said to amount in the whole, to nearly two millions, and to be increasing now at the rate of about sixty thousand a year. Here, again, observe the coincidence between the conduct of our own countrymen, and that of the ancient Israelites. When they, through the assistance of their allies the Egyptians, had put their enemies to flight, and thought themselves out of danger, they caused those of their servants to whom they had proclaimed liberty, to return again ''For several of these facts see Veraiont Chronicle, Noa. 41 and 42. B i-9 to a state of bondage ; and were as ready as bcJbrc, to gain wealthi and ease, by means of tlieir poverty and slavish toil. And so when our people, ihroui^Ii the assistance of their allies, the French, were enabled to gain their independence, and to expel the fleets and ar- mies of Britain from our coasts, the promiseof liberty which had been held out to the slave was pj-esently forgotten, and they, like mere do- mestick animals, continued to be bought and sold ; and under the lash were urged to go on with their work. I feel constrained to pursue the comparison one step further, and say, that as the Lord gave liberty to the sword, to the famine and pestilence to pass through the land of Israel, and make it desolate ; because they refused to give liberty to their brethren unjustlyheld in bondage, so we have reason to expect it will be in our country, unless publick justice be shown, in giving liberty to that vast multi- tude of our fellow men, who, for no crime of theirs, are here subject- ed to cruel slavery. The Almighty will not always suffer with im- punity one part of the human family to sport with the lives, liberty and happiness of the other; extorting the means of their own wealth and pleasure, from the servitude and sufferings and groans of their follows. Nor is it in the nature of man, however enslaved and de- graded, to always thus tamely submit. Let things go on for a fev; years more, ss they have done, and the number of blacks in the slave Ixolding states, must vastly exceed that of the whites ; the slaves too, will know that they vastly exceed their masters in muscular strength ; and thirsting for liberty, exasperated by tyranny and oppression, they will not hesitate to make a declaration of independence similar to our own ; and in its defence, think themselves justified in spreading burning and slaughter through all that extensive section of our land. And should that Almighty Being, who has so often terribly mamtain- ed against oppressors the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor, favour their cause, it will not be in the power of this nation to arrest the progress of these terrible calamities. Something must be done, and that speedily, for this vast body of our enslaved population, or they will prove to our country like fire long confined under a mountain ; which heaving and groaning for a while, at length bursts out with a terrible explosion ; darkening the sun with its smoke, and overwhelming all the adjacent region with its burning deluge. Ev- ery one who knows what human nature is, or believes that a Being of perfect rectitude and supreme power, presides over all the affairis 11 tif men, must anticipate this tremendous catastrophe. Now, if ever, is the time to remove the cause, which is tending to produce it. Let no one say that the southern state? only, arc concerned in this 2fuilt and danger. Tiioug-h some parts of the land are more deeply involed in the evil than others, still the sin and peril are both strictly national. What part of our country is freer from the guilt of slave- ry than New-England ? And yet, while the slave trade on the Afri- can coast was tolerated, New-England men, wc have been often told, were the most active of all our citizens, in prosecuting this barbarous trafRck. They built and navigated the ships, and forged the chains, in which multitudes of the wretched blacks were carried across the ocean ; and have, in many instances, built their superb mansions, and filled their store-houses, and furnished their splendid tables and wardrobes, with the avails of this execrable trade in human bodies and souls. To show the enormity of this guilt, I would direct your attention to the African coasts, beleaguered with slave ships, from nations call- ed christian, from our own, among the rest, exciting the native chiefs by offers of intoxicating liquors, and gaudy trappings, and military munitions, to steal upon each other's villages in the dead of night ; and seize, and bind, and drag down to the mart, the youthful and vig- orous of every family. And then you may see these savages, like evening wolves, roaming, and watching for their prey ; and hear the piercing cries of the miserable victims, and witness their desperate but ineffectual, struggles ; and in the light of their blazing cabins, mark the despair and agony depicted in their countenances, as they cast their last look on the spot of their nativity, and on the mangled forms of their kindred who have fallen in their defence ; or who, for the crime of tender infancy or feeble old age, have been wantonly plunged into the consuming flames. Let a slave trader give his own account of the treatment of these wretched beings, when brought into the African market. " When the slaves which are brought from the inland countries, come to Whidah, they are put in prison together : when we treat concerning buying them, they are all brought out together in a large plain ; where, by our surgeons, they are thorougly examined, and that na- ked, both men and women, without the least distinction or modesty. Those which are approved as good, are set on one side ; in the mean^ while a burning iron, with the arms or name of the company Jie«-io 1% thy fire, with which ours arc marked on the breast. When wchave agreed with the owners of the slaves, they are returned to their pris- ons ; where, from that time forward, they are kept at our charge ; and copt us two ponce a day, each slave; which serves to subsist, them like criminals on bread and water ; so that to save charges, we Bond tlicm on board our chips, the very first opportunity .• before which, their masters strip them of all they have on their backs, so that they come on board stark naked, as well women as men. — Six or Beven hundred are sometimes put on board a vessel ; where they lie as close together as it is possible for them to be crowded."* What' must be the hardness of the wretch who could, without blushing, give such an account of his own barbarity. Now think of the sufferings of these unfortunate creatures, during their passage across the ocean. Several hundreds in the same ship, all in irons, scantily supplied with food, crowded together so closely that they have scarcely room to stir ; and by their breath, and sweat, and more offensive filth, generating, and suffering the effects of the flux, and malignant fevers, so that the living and the dead are lying mingled together ; and the monsters of the deep following the ship, are glut- ted with their frequent repast. Let me give you a few facts, taken from the African Repository, for August last. " The Intrepida, of a hundred tons burden, when captured, was found to contain 310 slaves, in a state of great wretchedness and emaciation ; 70 of them had di- ed in a passage of 46 days. Another, the Invincible, contained 446 slaves, so crowded together, that it was impossible to separate the sick from the healthy ; or the dying from the dead ; their provisions and water were of the worst kind; the filth and stench were beyond description ; and tlie dysentery, opthalmia, and scurvy, carried off 180 of these poor wretches, in less than sixty days." " One vessel lost 161, out of 421 ; another 229. out of 659 ; a third 238, out of 464." Those who survive, sink into a settled melancholy ; which now and then breaks out into lamentations, and plaintive songs, expressive of their loss of relatives, friends and country. So powerfully does this sorrow operate, that they loathe their food and their lives, and often seek opportuniiies to plunge themselves into ihe deep, to es- cape their intolerable sufferings. This, their masters call eulkiness, ^BosmaQ. British Encyclopedia, article Galnea, 13 »iid seek to drive it away by hanging, shooting, and the infliction, at tiinea, ofsiich ^trange torments, as I dare not recite in the ears of this audience. And in such scenes as these, many of tlie people, not only of Old England, but of New -England, too, were once engaged. It will perhaps be said that the African slave trade is now strictly prohibited, both by the British government and our own. Thanks to Heaven for it. May the time speedily come, when it shall he pro- hibited not only on paper, but when these enactments shall be car- ried into full execution ; and the clandestine traffick, which is still carried on to an awful extent, by the nations called christian, shall be entirely broken up. The document last referred to, states, that *' The French slave-trade, notwithstanding the eifortsof the govern- ment, appears to be undiminished. The number of Spanish vessels employed in the trade is immense. — To the Brazils, the slave-trade is carried on to a great extent, and with circumstances of the most odious barbarity. To only one port, in the Brazils, in the course of the two last years, 77,350 human beings were transported from their native country, and placed in a state of slavery." But to leave wretched Africa and the pestilential slave ships on the ocean, what is the state of the million and a half of slaves, whose lot has been cast in this boasted asylum of the oppresed, and land of freedom ? In regard to their labour and living, James Brewster, in a treatise on that subject says, " They are all placed under the im- mediate authority of taskmasters, hired by their wealthy owners for the express purpose of dealing out tlieir provisions and keeping thera at their work. Their only allowance of provisions is a peck of corn in the grain per week, which they must crack or grind on the Sab- bath, and bake in the night ; no other time being allowed. The hoe caicp forms their breakfast and their supper, dinner being out oJ' the question. The custom is, to start at the dawn of day, and pursue their labour until the mules are baited at eleven o'clock, wiien the slaves are allowed their scanty breakfast ; after wiiich they are again driven to their work, and kept to it until the curtains of night shut out thehght of day. This system of food and of labour, he remarks, is almost invariably pursued by many, from year to year ; and that man who, as an overseer, proves himself the most severe, is prefer- red ; and can procure the highest wages. It would seem to us tliat men so poorly fed could perform no labour. But a 'gentlemen ac- quainted at the south, has told me, that he believes this account to 14 'be entirely true, as it respects tlie great mass of tlie lilackg cmploj^ ed on the low lands of the Atlantick States. Criminals in prison are better served. If it be said that many of the southern planters keep their slaves as well as the northern farmers do their cattle ; let it be so. The scantiness of their living and the hardness of their labour, are but light evils ; in comparison with the fact that they are often, without any regard to their feelings, torn away from their connections and sold from one planter to another, like brute animals. Those who have lived in the most intimate relationship, as husbands and wives, parents and children, or brothers and sisters, are torn asunder ; and driven off to distant states or territories, where they can never sec or hear from each other more. Their feelings towards each other, are as affectionate as those of the white people ; and these events of daily occurrence, are as painful to them, as they would be to us. As a single specimen of this kind of sale, I will just recite to you an ar- ticle which I read not long since in one of the newspapers. At ten o'clock on Saturday morning last, in the court house yard, in this Christian city of Baltimore, under the authority of the Orphan's Court, was sold at public auction to a southern slaver, a mother and four children ; the eldest not more than six or seven years old, and the youngest at the breast. The mother, a most respectable and interest- ing looking woman, was all in tears ; and the children who were old enough to have any sense of their condition, and to know what was doing, wept with a pathos that would have melted a heart of stone. The auctioneer displayed his authority, and performed his duty, with a notable degree of indifference and insensibility. Some half a doz- en slavers were present, and bid against each other with demoniac- al avidity. They were at length knocked down to a New-Orleans Flavor, and carried off for that market. The transaction took place during the session of the court, and was done in pursuance of the laws of the state." Such scenes of anguish are common. Indeed it is the grand object now, with many of the planters, to breed ne- groes for the market. But even this is but triflng, compared with the fact, that the slaves are by design kept in the greatest ignorance, not being allowed to learn to read or write ; to be taught even in Sabbath schools ; or to receive any instruction whatever, only to toil for their masters; to obey them in all their capricioua commands ; and gratify them in alt 15 their unhallowed inclinations. In this land of gospel light they are generally groping in darkness as tJiick as rests on the remotest re- gions of Africa, or the most unfrcqnented islands of the sea. Doubt- less in pious families here and there, we shall fnid exceptions ; but 1 speak of the general mass of the slave population. Give them prop- er instruction their masters dare not, lest they should feel that they are men, that their rights have been violated ; and should seek their freedom. That we may feel that these things are not altogether sectional, but concern us a nation, let it be remembered that the state of slave- ry in the District of Columbia, subject to the immediate legislation of Congress is as deplorable as elsewhere. And there it must certainly be considered a national disgrace and sin. A gentleman in the city of Washington, not long since, wrote to his friend in Philadelphia, *' The publick will be surprised to learn that this District is made the head quarters for carrying on the domestick slave trade. — The pris- ons cannot hold them all, and there are certain low taverns in tovvdi called pens, where the slave dealers keep their purchases : and when they have a drove, they take a chain, like an ox-chain, and on each side of this, iron the slaves ; the right and left wrists together, the pairs sufficiently far apart to walk, and then eight, or ten, or twelve pairs, thus ironed, are driven oft*. Hundreds thus manacled pass the bridge or go down in the steam boats every year. In the newspa- pers of this city you may read in one column, " This chosen and hap- ■p]j seat of Republican Government ;" and in another, " Cash in the mar- ket ; and the highest price given for likely young negroes." I have vis- ited the cells of the prisons of this.place, and a single case may give you a slight idea of the cruelty and horrours of the slave trade as car- ried on in the Federal City. In one cell was a woman and three children, brought into the District and confined for sale. The price was eight hundred dollars for the whole, or either would be sold sep- arately ; the mother and tlte children parted I But this is not alL We learned she was the wife of a free man in Maryland. The hus- band had worked hard to bring up their children ; they had nine ; and as fast as they grew large enough for the market they were ta- ken from hirii and sold. Now she had arrived at an age no longer to bear children, she, and the remainder of her little ones, were taken from her kiusband, and sent to a prison in the Federal City ; one of IG the prisons eupported by the wiiole people of the United States, to Ic Bold from her husband and honrie forever."* Various resolutions have been introduced into Congreps by benev- olent individuals to deliver at least the scat of the national govern- ment from the disgrace and guiltof slavery ; but they have uniformly met with decided opposition. Well might the poor blacks inarching by the Hall of Congress, in chains, wag their heads, and sing with an indignant sneer, "Hail Columbia! Happy land." In view of these things do the friends of slavery in the halls of legislation whisper to each other, " With our tongue will we prevail ; our lips are our own, who is lord over us?" A voice infinitely mightier responds, "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will / arise, saith the Lord : I will set him in safety, from him that pufieth at him." How affecting is the thought, that while so many hundreds of thou- sands of our fellow men have, in this land of liberty, been wearing out their hves in cruel bondage, and the majority of our legislators in our general government, glorying in their independence, and fierce- ly contending for places of personal distinction and emolument, have turned a deaf ear to the cries of suffering humanity ; and a treasure of wrath in the heavens above, and another in the earth beneath have been continually accumulating and preparing to burst on our nation in one thunderino', irresistible storm ; we have done eo little, have said so little, have been so little concerned ; and have prayed no more, that the evil might be removed ; and vengeance be turned away, and our country be saved. Does any one inquire what can be done ? Some of the wisest statee- men and most distinguished philanthropists in our country have deeply studied this question ; and haye not been able to devise any plan which promises more good than that which has been adopted by the Amer- ican Colonization Society ; which is " to transport with their own consent, the free people of colour of the United States, and such as may become free with theconsentof their masters, and establish them in colonies on the coast of Africa ; and to take such measures for the government and good order of the colonists as circumstances may render expedient." This society organized at the city of Washing- ton, I think in 1816, is founded on principles so judicious and benev- olent, that it meets with the approbation of wise and good men inev- * Natioaal Gazette. ii i?rypart of the nation; and is continually increasing in the numtci' of its members and auxiliaries ; in its resources and power to ac- complish the object of its institution. I am happy to see so respect- able a number of its friends met here this evening, to consult its inter- ests. Considering how recently this society was organized, and that it has had no patronage from the national government, it may well fill our hearts with devout gratitude to God, to consider what has been accomplished. A large tract of land, exceedingly fertile, has been purchased on the coapt of Africa, in a climate altogether congenial to the constitutions of those for whom it is especially intended, and a selection of about 1200 blacks have been established there; fur- nished with provisions, with tools for clearing and cultivating the country; with ample munitions of war, to defend themselves against any assault of their barbarous neighbours; and with teachers and books to cultivate their minds and train them to the exercise of self government. The children are all gathered in schools ; the people all regard the Sabbath, and regularly assemble in their chapels on that day to listen to the faithful preaching of tlie gospel ; the government has been most wisely and efficiently administered by Mr. Ashmun, the society's agent, who, I lament to say, has lately sunk to the grave un- der the weight of his responsibility and cares ; the colonists main-* lain a profitable trade with foreigners, in the products of the coun- try ; and, admitted to the full enjoyment of rational liberty ; they feel that they are men, are immortal beings ; and are making rapid progress in all those useful arts and virtuous habits, which dignify and adorn the best of our race. The colony, we have been told, " has been greatly blessed with the influence of the Holy Spirit; and near- ly all the youth have become serious and devout professors of Chris- tianity — and that, on the whole, the civil, moral, and religious order of the settlement exceeded any thing to be found in any given district of our own country." No colony on the face of the globe, probably, was ever more signally prospered in its commencement, — none in our own country, certainly, did ever, within the same number of years, present so fair a prospect of rising to greatness among the nations of the earth. Such light, shining forth from this favoured spot of benighted Af- rica, the inhabitants of the adjacent regions, have seen with aston- ishment and grief, the misery of their own condition ; and many, C anxious to become acquainted with those arts and habits of life which are capable of raising some of their race so much above the rest, are coming into the colony, to learn their wa3's, and be instructed in their literary and religious institutions. In this way, the light of the Gospel will ere long break out and shine on every side, until ths thick clouds of ignorance and superstition which have so long brood- ed over that interesting quarter of the globe, and made it a den of every unclean and hateful thing, shall be chased away, and intelli- gencc, virtue, and happiness, shall reign in their stead. Africa has from time immemorial, been a moral desert. But the fountain of the water of hfe, just opened in Liberia, is already send- ing forth its salubrious streams, not only through the colony, but into the adjacent regions, and these streams will m.ultiply, & deepen, and extend, until all this wide spreading desert shall be watered and clothed with verdure; and tlie heaps of pollution, which have been accumulating- for ages; and the wiiole atmosphere shall be purified with salutife- rous exhalations, and the whole country shall smile like Eden ; and the song of redeeming love shall be sung in full concert, w^here the ehout of the midnight toe, and the shriek of the captives, forced away to the slave ships, and the death groans of thousands immo- lated upon the altars of devils, are now heard. It is obvious that a civihzed and Christian colony on that part of the African coast, must exert an influence directly and powerfully tending to restrain and finally break up the slave trade. In addi- tion to their moral influence, the colony can extend an arm of power, to drive away the prowling slaves from the neighboring coast. Much has indeed, been already done. Two years ago we were told that four slave factories were destroyed by the military forces of the colony ; that between Cape Mount and Trade Town, comprehend- ing a line of 140 miles, not a slaver dared to attempt his guilty traffick ; and that, by the combined influence of Sierra Leone and Liberia, the slave trade is excluded from a coast of more than 600 miles, and from a tract of land wiiich has commonly yielded fifteen or twenty thousand victims annually!* Surely these are animating statements. In view of all these things, why may we not expect that everyone will approve of tiie object and measures of this society, and cheerful- ly come up to its help? What objection has any man to offer? " Qh, *Ses the 7th Report of this-Society. 19 ?it is all a plan of the southei'n people to gettlie free blacks out of the way, that they may tyrannise over their slaves with less fear of their insurrection ; and find a better market for such asthoy wish to sell." That is an ungenerous suggestion; one which certainly did not orig- inate in that charity which thinketh no evil. But even if this were the motive with them, it need not be yours : neither would it be any good reason why you should not co-operate with them in a work of such national importance ; of such vital interest to the immediate objects of it; to their posterity, and indeed to the whole population of degraded Africa. Because some men among us may be supposed to support the interests of learning and religion, and civil govern- ment, from selfish motives ; will you withhold your support from these objects; and consequently lend your aid to the cause of ignor- !ince, irreligion, and anarchy ? " Yes, but if r:a should give our support to this society it can liardly be expected that many of the blacks would be willing to leave this country and go to Africa." Why not? Suppose you were in Af- rica, or any where else among a race of people of a complexion al- together different from your own, where every man, woman and child should, with pity or contempt, look on you as an inferior being, and you should find yourself shut out from all places of honorable d.'stinc= lion, from all the civilities and endearments of social life ; perpetual- ly loaded with infamy, and trampled upon by the toot of pride and oppression ; would you not wish to leave sucli a country and go to dwell among your own people, where you might enjoy your liberty, and receive from others all that affection and respect to which your character and conduct should entitle you? Would you not eagerly embrace such an opportunity to Iiasten back to your own country, and kindred? Well, the free black is a man ; and possesses the nat- ural feelings of humanity, in common with you. We appeal to facts, that as fast as the means have been furnished, there has been no back- wardness on the part of the blacks, aad those of the best informa- tion and character too, to accept of the charitable assistance of this society, and eniDark for the land of their fathers. At present, the call is loud for assistance. When none are willing to go, this objec- 'tion may be urged with a better grace. Will it be said, " However it may be with the free negroes, your Jiopes with respect to the slaves, are altogether visionary ; for their masters will never release them ?" If we had reason to apprehend 80 this, it ought not to liinJer us from affording assistance to those who are now in a situation to receive it. At present vve have enough to do. The objection too, is merely imaginary- Those who are best acquainted witli tiie state of things at the south, assure us, that very many of our fellow citizens there, are much awakened to a sense of their danger ; that they consider slavery an intolerable burden, and curse ; and would immediately free themselves from it by the eman- cipation of their slaved, could thoy be taken off of their hands, and restored to the rational enjoyment of liberty. Not a fewofthcui have already done nobly in this respect. The influence of their exam- ple will be felt ; the light diffused through the slave holding states, by the publications of the Colonization Society and its branches, will awa- ken many a slumbering conscience ; and the frequent prayers which are oflered to Heaven for its success, will be heard by One who holds the hearts of men in his hand ; and can soften and mould them at his pleasure. " Yes, but if they were all willing to release their slaves, it would be utterly impossible for this society to send them back to Africa. The work is altogether too great to be accompliehed by such feebla means." If the society never should be able to do all the good they wish, that is no reason why they should not do as much as they can. Because you were not sure that you could save the whole family of your neighbour from their burning habitation, would you refuse your hand to such as came within your reach ? But suppose the people generally, sliould patronize this great national object, where would be the difficulty of carrying the plan into full effect. We do not yet despair of help from the national government. With the Declara- tion of Independence hanging before them, announcing to the world *' that all men are created equal : that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which, are life, liber- i>/, and the pursuit of happiness," how can they be deaf to the cries of almost two millions of the oppressed ciiildren of Africa, who, dv/elling in the midst of us, arc deprived of all these unalienable rights? and deaf to the numerous and urgent petitions of their own constituents, that something should qe speedily done for the reUefof those who have been so cruelly injured. It surely would not be an encroach- ment on the rights of individuals, or of the states, to send away those cf the blacks who are already free, and desirous to go ; or to pur- chase of their owners those who are still retained in bondajje, an