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ANTI-SLIVERY BWCMT
- - - II SI W
VOL. I.
SAI.EM, O., FRIPAY.APHIL 17, 1810.
NO. 3J
1
ANT I-SL A V E 11 Y B U G L
Published every Friday at
SaI.CM, CoLLMBIANA Co., U.
JAMES BARNABY, Jr., General Agent.
riEN'JAMIV S. JONES. 3..
J. ELIZABETH JONES,
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rcnr.UHiNO L'ommitti-k: Sain'l Brco'ic,
George Uarrntsrin, James llim iliv, Jr.,
lUvitl 1,. tiallirenth, L-1 II .Sines.
3. K. FAJHTSS, ?2iJi7T3'Ji.
THE AMERICAN BOARD.
At the late Missionary Convention at .Sy
racuse, X. Y., while the address from which
we gave some extracts week before last, was
under discussion
"Alvan Stewart said he frit as though a
moral bomb-shell had been thrown into the
midst of the American Board of Mission, to
day, at about 4 o'clock this afternoon! What
will be the consequence of this explosion in
the moral world, time, tho great nnnotatnr and
commentator, could alone disclose. The Board
and its supporters supposed they had laid up
a stock of good works (or eternity; but tlio.su
who in their wills had laid by a good amount
to pre pagate the unsearchable riches of Christ;
thoso who had laid upon tho altar son after
son, and daughter after daughter, for this
work, had now at last to loam the sum total
of the whole to be, that the great man of sin
lias still contrived to rule and to reign upon
the throne of the Savior of the world. They
no' find that this Board is but a joint-stock
concern of the errors of the old world, com
bined with the faults of the new. This ex
posure made this a day of sorrow. We see,
alas! that this work of heroic devotion and
enlarged philanthropy, had become entangrUul
Kith moneyed alliances with the revolting
corruptions of the times. We had heard it
maintained that the laws were the sinners,
while the men who lived under tho laws, and
carried them out, were guiltless. You might,
in this way, enact a law to repeal the ten
commandments, and all there is in the Bible,
and out of it that is good for anything, and
nil would be well ; the law alone is to blame !
The sum of the proposition is, that the wholo
injunctions of tho Bible can be subverted with
completo impunity, by a South Carolina Leg
islature ! The answer to all tljjs flippant cas
uistry, is this: the law is as passivo as your
cane. To make it simpler : was it ever known
that a law book had stepped down from the
shelf of a magistrate, and given chase to a
thief, or other offender, arrested him, and
brought him to justice? Some twelve per
sons had been hunted up, who, it is alleged,
kept men as slaves, for the reason that greater
ovils would result to them from emancipa
tion; and this was attempted to be used as n
mantle under which the accursed system of
alavery might find shelter, and as an ample
shield for tho course of the Board in tolerat
ing slaveholders in churches established to
propagato the pure gospel of Christ among
heathen minds. But was there one of this
class who had not said to a man, cr woman,
or child 'Thou art mv slave! Mere it is,
then, that this law, from the shelf of the judge,
is called in, and through the master's month,
deprives the slave of all his manhood. It is
the act of the master which gives vitality to
the law. And yet, with this Board, it was
the law, and not the matter, that was tho sin
ner! This reasoning, if ho might call it such,
was made use of to cheat men out of immor
tality.', If this doctrine be true, this is an il
lustration: a man has stolen a pair of horses
indict the grand larcony, and let the robber
go free ! A man has committed arson, hang
Arson, and shake hands with the man who
applied tho torch ! Mr. S. related the case
of a slave recently murdered in New-Orloans.
by a drunken master, of which no notice was
taken by the newspapers no coroner's in
quest was held. The argument was, that the
master had only destroyed his property. He
spoke deliberately, when he said that he deem
ed it quite probable, that in less than 20 years,
it would be questionable whether the Chris
tian religion would not be found to have suf
fered more from the heathenism permitted to
be engrafted upon it in the mission churches,
than heathenism would have received benefit
from the little Christianity we Jiad carri"d to
heathen lands. Look at a chnreh member's
slaves; part of them mulattees ; half of them
living in promiscuous concubinage. The dec
trino of the Board was, sny nothing of linn,
until ypu get him into the church, then pu
rity Una. The first ai.li-alavery sermon, a fir r
25 years, is yet to be preached to the Chero
kee slaveholders, if any onu night to have
had religion, simple, pure, unadulterated,
taut-lit to him, it is tho ludiaii, uhelher Kisl
or West.- Uul they have all along been al
.Jowed to hold their slaves; have ben admit
ted to-communion, without reproof, in the
churches of the Board. When now reproach
ed with sin, they ask. 'why did not jolt tell
us of this before ?' The only honest misu cr
y
must he, we meant to catch you by guile,'
and such guilo that the poor Cherokee could
only think you a polished rogue. All this
has re-acted upon the Christian community.
If men, who, upon conversion, were ready
and willing to give up all, aro coolly told by
the Board, through its agents, that ft is right
to hold on to the ir slaves, what are the thought
less at tho north to conclude? Can there be
a greater hindrance in the way of emancipa
tion 1 But their slaveholders must bo such
rice, such angelic slaveholders! Look at
Dr. Bacon's Letter; tho master must neither
hold, nor buy, nor sell, a slave, for filthy lu
cre's sake: lie must keep him for tho sole
benefit of the enslaved ; ho must give him
mental and moral instruction ; ho must give
him liberty of conscience ! What a delight
ful slaveholder is Dr. Bacon's slaveholder!
I, loo, would give thn slave liberty of conscience-
and my word for it, he would walk
from his master as quick as you would from
a mad dog. Mr. S. went uu to illustrate the
idea of holding a man in bondage for the ben
efit of a man enslaved, by tho fact of an ex
emplary man's holding stolen goods, for the
benefit of another. Still, you would admit
him to the communion! lla did not do it
for his own benefit! Another man possesses
a good property, is an exemplary man; but
when he returns home by his neighbor's wood
pile, at night, he always will steal his neigh
bor's axe. 1 Io cannot !et the, axe alone: it
is his 'peculiar institution' to steal that neigh
bor's axe : yet he should be received at the
communion, nevertheless ! The whole cleri
cal wit of Xcw England theologians had been
expended, to make out the case of nn inno
cent slaveholder. Suppose, said Mr. S., there
can a man be found who keeps slaves for their
benefit, and not for his own I would tako
him by the hand and call him brother would
lodge tho master and all his slaves in my
house, aye, I would lodge them all in one
bi d ! as I have no doubt they could all gel
in. (Laughter.) An innocent slaveholder!
What a moral phenomenon to the moral
world, what a comet is to the physical crea
tion. These men, all dressed up in black,
faring sumptuously every day, tell us of their
$t;o,000,000 worth of cotton by which the 'cnir
mereial exchanges of the country are regulat d.'
But this is $00,000,000 worth of coTton pro
duced by slaves held for their own benefit 1
Is it not rather in part raised by the toil of"
woman, who in the morning moves from her
poor bed at the blast of the horn; who, while
all is damp with the dews of the night, goes
to the field with an infant of three montim up
on her arm ; who lays that infant under t he
fence, and nurses it after she has hoed across
the field and back again; to be whipped if
she fails to perform the whole of tho hard task
allotted to her; the strong men, her brethren
in bondage, who would fain assist her, pre
vented by a brutal overseer from doing so;
this is tho way that slaves are held for their
own benefit, and to enable these find, well
dressed gentlemen to talk to us of regulating
the exchanges of the nation by the production
of cotton! If there was but one such case
instead of ten thousird, it would be a suffi
cient reason for the abolition of slavery. Yet
such men an Dr. Bacon are denouncing us
for exposing the wickedness of the Board,
while they take theso lordlings by the hand.
But, said Mr. S. in conclusion, tho eyes of
the people are upon you ; your days are soon
over: you will gu to tho judgment, and may
Cjod forgive you, for I never can unless I see
signs of genuine, deep repentance. '
From the Anti-Slavery Reporter.
MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM
FREE-GROWN COTTON.
We give insertion with much pleasure to
the following address, which is in course of
extensiva private circulation :
To the friends if the abolition if the Sluve
Trade and Slavery.
It is cause for devout thankfulness to the
Almighty, that, by his blessing on the efforts
of thosti who labored fur the aboliiiou of the
Anglo-Afiican Slave-Trade and of British
colonial slavery, those dreadful evils, have
both been abolished by law. We can and do
rejoice that the shores of Africa can no longer
be infested with impunity by Iho man-steal-cr
from our country ; that nearly 800,000 of
our fellow subjects, once held as slaves in the
British colonies, have been emancipated ; and
that millions who were lately bondmen in
British India aro now legally free.
These gratifying and cheering results of
"past labors should lead us to pursue with in
creased energy what remains to bo done in
the great work of emancipation, beyond the
limits of the British empire. Let nooo has
tily, and without duo consideration of the
subject, conclude that British Abolitionists
can do little or nothing to hasten the termi
nation of Slavery, in countries subject to for
eign rulo. Wo believe there are many ways
in which this may be done. Among these
we may refer to tho practicability of calling
tho attention of persoiis in foreign lands to
the crime of Slavery, and to those dreadful
evils which nro inseparable), from its exist
ence. We may also point out to them tho
duty, the safety, and the advantages of eman
cipation. But we desire, at present, to di
rect attention to on painful fitct, connected
with the establishment and increase of for
eign Slavery, and to state tlif eoiiiso which
we think should headopled, both in order to
avoid a continue d implication in the crime,
and to discourage a vyaleai which wo set
strongly reprobate.
' It can, we believe, be clearly shown, that
American Slaveiy is principally supported by
tho demand of Great Britain for the cotton of
the United States. Allow us then briefly to
state the extent and sonic of the revolting
circumstance of the slave system in Ameri
ca, and to adduce proof of the assertion, that
the people of England are largely implicated
in its encouragement.
The slave population of the United States
of America may be estimated at 2,900,000.
This large number of our fellow men, whosa
right to liberty is no less sacred than our own,
are cruelly coercej to toil for tho benefit of
others. With worse than savage barbarity,
the marriage relation among theso victims of
oppression is not recognized bylaw; hence
those who morally sustain the relation of hus
bands and wives are often separated for life,
by the sale of one or both, at the will of their
"owner," to placos distant from each other.
The ties of parent and child art equally dis
regarded, as might be expected from those
who seruplo not to sever the conjugal rela
tion. In addition to this disregard of the so
cial rights and of the common feelings of hu
manity, slaves are debarred from an acquaint
ance with even tho rudiments of knowledge,
lest they should therefore become acquainted
with their wrongs, and learn how to escape
from them. To teach a slave to read is pun
ishable with severe penalties, and in one
slavo State, (Louisiana.) death is tho legal
penalty for a second oll'ence. For attempt
ing to escape from bondage, the laws of all
the slave States allow the life of the slave to
bo taken by the pursuers, if he cannot other
wise be secured ; and imprisonment or death
is the penalty inflicted on thoso who aid a
slave in his escape from bondage.
The American domestic Slavo Trade, which
is carried on between the various slave States,
is in some of its features too revolting for de
tail. By this trade it has been estimated that
no less than 70,000 persons aro annually
sold, the greater portion taken from the place
of thoir birth to more fertile regions, and to
severer toil, and in a multitude of iustances,
subjected to those cruel separations of the
nearest domestic ties to which we have be
fore alluded. To all who recognize the prin
ciple that tojhold an innocent fellow being In
slavery is criminal in the sight of Cod, we
need scarcely say, that it is a Christian duty
to avoid, as far as possible, all participation
in, or encouragement of, the crime.
In stating our belief that the consumers of
articles produced by slave labor, are accesso
ries to the maintenance of the wholo system
of which some features have been described,
we advance no new lc.-tunes. Duriug the
early struggle for the abolition of the Slave
Trade, in the latter part of tho last century,
the fiiends of that cause, as we have been in
formed, published and circulated tens of thou
sands of copies of a small tract recommend
ing the disuse of sugar, at that time exclu
sively produced by slavo labor. In this tract
we think it was satisfactorily shown, that a
small number of families, by their ordinary
consumption of sugar, afforded tho motive for
the removal of one slave front Africa, and
that, consequently, by abstinence from sugar
on the part of a considerable number of fami
lies, the ravages of the Slave Trade might
be expeeted to bo materially lessened. Tho
mas Clarkson, in his " History of the aboli
tion of the Slave Trade," estimates the num
ber of persons in Creat Britain who volunta
rily abandoned the use of sugar at the period
to which we refer, at 300.0UO. In addition
to tho reasons that have been already named
for substituting, as much as possible, free
grown for slave grown produce, it is manifest
that in so doing, the subject of Slavery would
be much more frequently brought under tho
notice of ourcounlrymen, and u standing pro
test be held tip against it. '
We have already suited, in concurrence
with the testimony of some of the most emi
nent friends of the slave in tho United States,
and undeniable facts, that the demand for the
cotton of that country in Creat Britain has
been a chief means of perpetuating and ex
tending Slavery in America. Shortly after
the declaration of American Independence,
there was much ground to hopo that Slavery
would not long exist in tho Union. The tide
of public opinion, which had already led to
acts for the abolition of Slavery in several of
tho Northern States, was directed with con
siderable force against it ; thero were at that
time few articles of export produced by slaves
in the States of great pecuniary value. In
17f0, the number of slaves was 057,000, and
the cotton exported, 18U.000 lbs. In 1813,
the number of slaves was estimated at 2,8 17,
810; the cotton exported was 1, 0B 1,! 19,000
lbs.; and unless the most vigorous means be
used to stay this mighty evil, it is impossi
ble to calculate what may be its future ex
tension. Shall we, then continue to utihold
and furnish an inducement for the mainten
ance of this vast system of crime and misery
which we profess to deplore and abhor ?
Humanity, justice, and religion forbid us so
to do; and we therefore 'confidently cherish
the hope that, as one means of discountenanc
ing Slavery, many of our countrymen and
countrywomen will now bo found willingand
di-iermined, as far as in them lies, to relin
quish the use of American slave-grown cot
ton. Nor will they, we trust, be less reso
lute in reference to other articles, the produce
of slave labor, among which we may special
ly reckon Carolina rice ana tobacco in nil its
forms. '
- By such a course as tho above, (which we
strongly recommend,) they will nut only in
dividually perform that which appears to be
a manifest duty, but will encourage the ef
forts of those friends of the slave in Ainoriea
who deem it right thus to act. The number
of these is, we loirn, decidedly on the- in
crease. We ari gUel to be able to luloiin
those into whost hands this may fall, that an
attempt is being made in this country to ob
tain a supply of articles man ifactured exclu
sively from cotton the produce of free labor.
It has been ascertained that some highly re
spectable m;inuf:H-t.iror in;.,
-....-... , ,U III
carrying out tho wishes of some friends of
the Aliti-Xlnvprv pinan in tl.ia :..
j III .1119 VU.lllllJ, III
maklner such nn nrttnln. irliih ... ill l.rt .l:-
tinguished by a mark, to show its genuine
ness. In tho first instance, tho number of ar
ticles produced will be small ; but, if encour-
nK uu mi, ut, (,'iycii io mo attempt, a erreater
variety will hereafter be manufactured and of
fered lor sale. .
It has been retreads aonnri a...
, J '-imiiiinu IMUb IIIU
members of several Anti-Slavery societies to
whom this subject has been submitted, cor
dially sympathize in the
We respectfully commend this subject to
the consideration of the friends of the cause
generally. It is, perhaps, unnecessary tn add,
,""" I'lomoie: uieonject nave no in
tention of derivinga profit to themselves from
tho sale of free labor articles. They may be
exposed to some loss, and will be glad if any
of their friends incline to share with them the
risk of tho experiment.
Before wo close this appeal, we deem it
proper to state, thnt wliiUi u- i.
duty to alist-iin, as far as possible, from the
""icics prouuceutiy nielaborol slaves,
as the means of discnu merino n i.,;,.i.-o,i ,.
fj.". "H.HI'11 OJS-
tem, we dnein it no less incumbent upon us
lo persevere in tho use of thoso moral moans,
which, in our onininn. !.,
!y employed nmil Slavery shall bo evcry-
JOSEPH J. CTTRVEY, Norwich.
CEOIUiE THOMAS, )
JOSEPH EATON. Bristol.
JOSEPH STUHCE. Birminerham.
C. W.
1st Mo. (January) 1st, 1816.
Head the following from the Signal of Li
berty, the organ of James G. Biruey, and thon
tell us whether Liberty Parly is not in a bad
predicament, taking its own confession as
testimony :
POSITION OF THE LIBERTY PARTY.
What is its position ? There is no use in
shutting our eyes to it, whatever it be. Its
piesont position is inaction a perfect stand
'till- The evidences of this aro most con-
vincing ; and as some of our readers m iy bo
disposed to consieler us prejudiced on this
point, we will adduce testimony of the hiuli-
est character from tho four Stales of Maiue.
t.,,i . x- -i. 1 ..I '
3i .ow i orK anu WIIIO.
An Address to the Liberty Party of Maine,
by a Committee of the Stato Convention.
published a few weeks since, says :
" Vnu are well aware that for tho last two
years, our vote) in this State has remained!
about the same. TFehare neither lust nor gain
ed. And though we have reason to hope that
much hag been gained in many other re
spects, it has not hiHjn applied lo the ballot
oox. I ou know also that our causo is yet in
its infancy. And all history demonstrates
that for any reform in its earlier stages of ex
istence to remain stationary any length of
time is certain death. It must go forward or
backward. It is contrary lo nature for it to
st.inel still. It becomes a serious question for
you to answer, then, whether our causo in
this State shall be carried forward lo its tri
umph, or not. Have von not voted for euc-
cos8 J Have you not told our opposers that
our principles embodied all the elements of
success? That they appealed to every lau
dable motive, to every honest interest 1 Tint
our cause must triumph, or our country would
be ruined? And have you not believed it?
And do you not still believe it? Is it not
true that every just motive that influences the
mind, if party prejiulices could be overcome,
would leid men to enlist with us in the great
contest for equal rights? Why then has not
our tureens in this Stale been cummensurale
with the strength of our principle ?"
Now go to New York and hear William
Ooodoll, one of the oldest pioneers in this
causn. la a late letter he says : '
" From some cause, very plainly, the pro-
jir.'is if the l iberty party it at a dead stand, as
though pi-nt up, and destined either to burst
over its present enclosure, or with dilliculty
preserve itself from dissolution. The statu
of New York is not tho only section of the
country whero these indications appear.
Look at Massachusetts ! What ails the Li
berty men there, that hot evn the " Great
Eastern Convention," with its eloquent
speeches and its rising tone of sentiment,
could send the Liberty vote ahead ? Thero
must be a cause. - Whenco the timid, hesi
tant, and half pensive lone of the Emancipa
tor 1 Contrasting so unpleasantly with ihc
pert anil lively paragraphs, buoyant, conn
dent, and hope inspiring, which it was wont
to put forth Have the working operatives,'
tho struggling democracy of New England
found out, yet, that the Liberty party js pledg
ed to in liulain the rights of the white as well
as of the colored poor, and wi'l no sooner
truckle to a northern aristocracy than lo a
Southern? And is it known and read of all
men, thai ihoso engaged in elevating tho mo
rals of the Stite, aro equally sensitive and
jealous where the purity ot the Vhure.lt is
enncorued I If a negative answer must be
jfivon to these questions, it needs no ' spirit
Irom tho vasty deep" to tell us what are ihe
obsticles to be removed."
But listen to Mr. Loavitt himself. He at
tended Iho ,M.iino Stale Convention mid ad
vociled the following resolution:
Resoleed, That wo d neit expect slavery
to be abolished in this land, by any one in
strumeulality, any one plan if operation, or
any one chits or ttt if men but wo look for
it to be effected through the blessing of the
Gd of our Fathers upon Iho c-mibinod efforts
of all classes of people, acting in all lawful
ways and through all honorable channels in
which their influence can reach the evil and
this will be done whenever, those who dis
approve of slavery shall take up its abolition
as their own work, and set about it as the
wonit that is now to be done."
How strangely this contrasts with his edi
torials in the Emancipator two or three yeera
since, in which the Liberty party was confi
dently and incessantly held out as the great
' instrumentality" tho very " set of men,"
that were to overthrow Slavery !
But let us go to tho west and hear the phi
lojophic and thinking Dr. Bailey of Iho Phi
lauthropist:
" The present stage of tho Liberty move
ment in Ohio we regard as a crisis of com
manding interest. From the year 1840, the
Liberty party increased annually at a fair rata
until tho Presidential election in 1814. But
its vote in tho October election of 1815 show
ed little or no increase over the Presidential
vote. Now, let every man bear in mind,
that a new political party must increase, or
decrease. Stand still, it cannot. You may
hold men together in moral association, with
out any perceptible increase, by the force of
high moral consideration, but a reform politi
cal party which, however pure its principles
and objects, necessarily embraces many who
are governed chiefly by party considerations,
lives by its increase, no less than by the fore
of its principles.
VV lien we consider, therefore, that the gu
bernatorial canvass of 1810 is to test the ef
ficiency of tho Liberty movement in this
State, and, according to its results, will teltlt
with multitudes the question of adhesion to it
or teparatiun front it, no one will be surprised
at our determination to give far more attention
to it, than under other circumstances we have
deemed necessary."
Hut the reader will ask, what ought the
Liberty party to do in view of thasa tinners 1
We answer in few words Go kor tub
RteillTS AND INTERESTS OP ALL MEN WHITI
as well as black and we shall attain and
deserve the confidence and support which
we cannot attain so long as we reluse to do
this."
Justice requires na, perhaps, to jjiv an- "
other view of the subject, which we take from
a paper in this State. On the ono side is the
opinion of the Maine State Convention; Wm.
Goodell, who has watched tho progress of
tho causo with an eagle eye ; Joshua Loavitt,
the editor of the great organ ; Dr. Bailey, the
oracle of the party in this State ; and the Sig
nal of Liberty, tho mouth-piece of James G.
Itirney: and on the other side is the Cleve
land American, which tjius concludes an ar
ticle on " The destiny of tho Liberty party:"
"To our friends and co-workers, we would
say, that never have our prospects been fair
er, or events more encouraging. The causes
and the times demand exertion and sacrifice,
but we labor not as those who have no hope."
A citizen of Washington City, writing to
the Albany Patriot, says:
"I received a nota this day from a highly
respectable member of the bar here, request
ing mo to investigate a case of cruelty which
his own engagements would not permit him
to attend to. 1 accordingly went to the Jail
the Jail built by tho United States, where
I found a woman some 45 or 50 years of ago,
who stated that she had been taken up, (as
she desired to be,) while fleeing from her mas
ter's service, in consequenco ol ths barbarous
torture inflicted on her by a brutil overseer
near this city. Her flesh was lacerated in a
manner disgusting to the sight, and painful
to the feelings of humanity. Her chest had
been stamped upon anj bruised till she was
scarce able to stand, and unable to eat food !
And what monstrous crime had she commit
ted, think you? She had eUrel to implore)
the overseer to whip her own ilaughter no
longer, for she thought her situation such that
shu could not bear it: upon which, this wo-man-whipper,
in n ragp, inflicted npon het
the wounds above described.'.' i : , ,
We do not say, that overy preacher and all
ill o members of the various ecclesiastical bo
dies have ascended so high on the perilous
ladder of wicked inconsistency ; but every
slaveholder is emphatically included in the
dread scriptural indictment "They are alto
gether gone out of the way; there is none
that doelh good, no, not one. 1 heir leet ars
swift to shed blood. There is ne fear of God
beforo their eyes. Will a man rob God ? Yet
yo have robbed me." They are all, without
ono exception, men-stoalers ; and therefore,
it is a rank Imposition upon the world, boll)
in lbs churches and in the people, to receive
and acknowledge slaveholders as true Chris
tians. George Bourne. '- ' '
A Slave Minister. The Christian JniTex
has on oliituary notice of Rev. Baptist Min
ister Ciesar,, who recently died in Alabama.
Ho was the properly of the Alabama Baptist
Association, and was successful as their serv
ant in tho propogation of tho gospel, A slave
bought and sent out to preach the gospel to
his fellow slaves, is a phenomenon that Chris
tianity could only have produced in these Ust
ages.
