CHAPTER VII.

Safety of immediate Emancipation.

ALTHOUGH We may have succeeded in proving that the emancipation contemplated by Abolitionists, is not "unconstitutional," yet many may conscientiously doubt whether it would be safe and wise.

A few years only have elapsed, since the use of ardent spirits was as universally countenanced by all classes of the community, as slavery now is; and when the few who contended that their use was sinful, were deemed no less fanatical than those are now who hold the same doctrine in regard to slavery.

The whole Colonization Society, with scarcely a solitary exception,* denounce immediate emancipation as dangerous, or rather as utterly ruinous, to the whites. Their objections were thus briefly summed up by the Rev. Dr. Hawks, in his speech at a Colonization meeting in New-York:

"But if the plan of Colonization be abandoned, what remains? Are the slaves fitted for freedom? No-and if they are let loose at once, they must of necessity, to procure a living, either beg or steal, or destroy and displace the whites. N. York Com. Adv. 10th Oct. 1833.

Here we have broad, unqualified assertions, without a particle of proof. We find it taken for granted, that if the slaves are at once restored to liberty, they must, from necessity, beg or steal, or destroy and displace the whites. What causes will produce this necessity, we are uninformed; why it will be impossible for liberated slaves to work for wages, is unexplained. Slavery is property in human beings. Immediate emancipation is therefore nothing more than the immediate cessation of this property. But how does this cessation of property imply that those who were the subjects of it must be "let loose?" Will they not, like other persons, be subject to the control of law, and responsible for their conduct? If incapable of providing for themselves, may

* The only exception known to the writer, is G. Smith, Esq.

they not, like children, apprentices and paupers, be com pelled to labor for their own maintenance? Immediate emancipation does not necessarily contemplate any relaxation of the restraints of government or morality; any admission to political rights, or improper exemption from compulsory labor. What then does such emancipation imply? It implies, that black men, being no longer property, will be capable of entering into the marriage state, and of exercising the rights, and enjoying the blessings of the conjugal and parental relations, it implies, that they will be entitled to the fruits of their honest industry-to the protection of the laws of the land, and to the privilege of securing a happy immortality, by learning and obeying the will of their Creator.

Now, it is almost universally supposed, that such emancipation would, as a matter of course, lead to insurrection, robbery and massacre. Yet this opinion will, on examination, be found utterly irreconcileable with the divine economy, the principles of human nature, and the testimony of experience.

It is a trite remark, that nations are punished and rewarded in this world, and individuals in the next; and both sacred and profane history will be searched in vain for an instance, in which the Supreme Ruler has permitted a nation to suffer for doing justice and loving mercy. To believe that God would permit any community to be destroyed, merely because it had ceased to do evil, is to call in question the equity of his government, or the power of his providence. Who that acknowledges the truth of Reve. lation, can doubt, that if slavery be sinful, the sooner we part with it, the more confidently may we rely on the divine favor and protection. Infidelity alone will seek safety in human counsels, when opposed to the divine will.

But the opinion we are considering, is no less at vari ance with the motives and passions of our common nature, than with the dictates of Christian faith.

What is the theory on which this opinion rests? Why, that cruelty, injustice and grievous oppression, render men quiet, docile, and inoffensive subjects; and that if deliver ed from this cruelty, injustice, and oppression, they will rob and murder their deliverers !

This theory is happily unsupported by any facts, and rests upon the simple dogma, that the slaves are not yet fitted for freedom. Now we would ask, what is meant by fitness for freedom? Ought a man to be a slave, unless he can read, write and cipher? Must he be taught accounts, before he can receive wages? Should he understand law, before he enjoys its protection? Must he be instructed in morals, before he reads his Bible? If all these are prerequisites for freedom, how and when are they to be acquired in slavery?

If one century of bondage has not produced this fitness, how many will? Are our slaves more fit now, than they were ten, twenty, fifty years ago? Let the history of slave legislation answer the inquiry. When the British government insisted that female slaves should no longer be flogged naked in the colonies, the Jamaica legislature replied, that it would be impossible to lay aside the practice "UNTIL the negro women have acquired more of the sense of shame, which distinguishes European females." Slaves, while such, will become fit for freedom as soon, but not sooner, than negro women will become modest in consequence of the West-Indian mode of correction. No postponement of emancipation, will increase the fitness of slaves for freedom, and to wait for this fitness, resembles the conduct of the simpleton who loitered by the brook, expecting to pass dry shod, after the water had run off.

The conclusion to which religion and common sense would lead us on this subject, is most abundantly confirmed by experience. Passing by the emancipation of the Serfs of Europe, let us advert to various instances of the sudden abolition of negro slavery, and let us see how far the theory we are considering is supported by facts.

On the 10th October, 1811, the Congress of Chili, decreed that every child born after that day, should be free.

On the 9th April, 1812, the government of Buenos Ayres, ordered that every child born after 1st January, 1813, should be free.

On the 19th July, 1821, the Congress of Colombia passed an Act, emancipating all slaves, who had borne arms in favor of the Republic, and providing for the eman

cipation in eighteen years, of the whole supers, of 280,000.

b·lave population

Imm

On the 15th September, 1821, the governm any rent Mexico granted instantaneous and unconditional em annation to every slave.

fre

On the 4th July, 1827, ten thousand slaves were ema cipated in the State of New-York by act of the legislature.

In all these various instances, not one case of insurrec. tion or of bloodshed is known to have resulted from emancipation. But St. Domingo-ah, what recollections are awakened by that name! With what name are associated the most irrefragable proofs of the safety and wisdom of immediate emancipation; and of the ability of the African race, to value, defend, and enjoy the blessings of freedom. The apologists of slavery, are constantly reminding Abolitionists of the SCENES IN ST. DOMINGO." Were the public familiar with the origin and history of those scenes, none but Abolitionists would dare to refer to them. We will endeavor in the next chapter to dispel the ignorance, which so extensively prevails relative to the " scenes in St. Domingo," and we trust our efforts will furnish new confirmation of the great truth, that the path of duty, is the path of safety. ·

CHAPTER VIII.

Emancipation in St. Domingo and Guadaloupe, and present state of St. Domingo.

IN 1790, the population of the French part of St. Domingo was estimated at 686,000. Of this number, 42,000 were white, 44,000 free people of color, and 600,000 slaves. At the commencement of the French revolution, the free colored people-petitioned the National Assembly, to be admitted to political rights, and sent a deputation to Paris to attend to their interests. On the 8th March, 1790, a law was passed, granting to the colonies the right of

Tas theolding representative assemblies, and of exercising to a pertain extent, legislative authority. On the 28th of the el for frame month, another law was passed, declaring that" all free persons in the colonies, who were proprietors, and residents of two years standing, and who contribute to the exigencies of the State, shall exercise the right of voting."

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The planters insisted that this law did not apply to free colored persons. They proceeded to elect a general assembly, and in this election the free blacks, were with but few exceptions, prevented from voting. The newly elected assembly issued a manifesto, declaring they would rather die, than divide their political rights with "a bastard and degenerated race." A portion of the free colored people resolved to maintain the rights given them by the mother country, and assembled in arms under one of their own number named Ogé. A letter addressed by this chief to the St. Domingo assembly, is fortunately extant, and explains the true origin of those awful calamities, which it is found expedient to ascribe to the Abolition of slavery. 66 SIRS,

"A prejudice for a long time upheld, is at last about to fall. Charged with a commission honorable to myself, I call upon you to proclaim throughout the colony the decree of the National Assembly of the 28th March, which gives, without distinction, to every free citizen the right of being admitted to all duties and functions whatever. My pretensions are just, and I do hope you will regard them. I shall not have recourse to any raising of the slave gangs. It is unnecessary, and would be unworthy of me. I wish you to appreciate duly, the purity of my intentions. When I solicited of the National Assembly* the decree I obtained in favor of our American Colonists, known under the hitherto injurious distinction of the mixed race, I never comprehended in my claims the negroes in a state of slavery. You and our adversaries have mixed this with my proceedings to destroy my estimation in the minds of all well disposed people but I have demanded only concessions for a class of free men, who have endured the yoke of your oppression for two centuries. We have no wish but for the execution of the decree of the 28th March. We insist on its promulga、 * Ogé had been one of the deputies who were sent to Paris.