W. W. Sleigh

“ Each day diminishes the stores, and increases the demands—and each day, fresh indications of abolition-liberty, manifest themselves in blood and outrage! At length, and that not many weeks after their victory, famine, with all her horrors, stares them in the face—children and infants, and mothers cry in vain for help—for nourishment.—Her ever constant companion, Pestilence, now attends, and thousands and thousands die of want and disease, calling down from heaven eternal curses on the heads of those who excited them to rebellion—the authors of all their sufferings—the Abolitionists! ”

“ Is not this, then, a case parallel with that of the slaves? And in both, I may as justly accuse you of oppression, of tyranny, of a hatred to liberty, because you will not emancipate lunatics, and all children, as you accuse me, for not advocating the immediate abolition of slavery.
Slavery is derived from slave; as servant comes from service. In the English language the two are distinct from one another; the former term being applied to involuntary, the latter to voluntary, servitude. ”

“ The principal reason why we abhor so much the term slavery is, the base cruelty with which some tyrant slaveholders, for there are wicked slaveholders as well as wicked husbands and masters, have treated their slaves. Hence we are very apt to use as synonymous terms, slavery, cruelty, tyranny, and oppression. Moreover it is the interest of certain persons so to use these words, for the purpose of getting more ready access to the hearts of good-natured men and women. Does any one really believe that a man cannot treat his slaves kindly, tenderly, and affectionately? ”

“ One hundred thousand Africans are annually torn away by the hand of violence from their native land; and of this number, ere they reach their destination, SIXTY THOUSAND die of hard and cruel treatment. Yet to all this Abolitionists pay no attention,—they weep and wail over, and preach and brawl about, the people of colour in these States, nine-tenths of whom are slaves only in name, and who are far better off, far happier, far more contented—far better provided for, than nine-tenths of the white labouring population of civilized Europe. ”

“ Does truth require falsehood to make it conquer? Ought not those preposterous misstatements open the eyes of the public to the real character, and motive, of those men?—The cause of God they cannot be advocating, for his cause requires not the weapons of Satan! Error invariably stands in need of lies for its support.
That there is great cruelty in the South, no one denies; but is there no cruelty in the North? Are there no cruel, tyrannical, husbands and masters in Philadelphia or in Boston? Are no acts of oppression committed north of the Chesapeake? ”

“ Such liberty would be the most awful tyranny and oppression—The liberty authorised by God, and sanctioned by the laws of this Country, is, that no man shall do aught to the injury, prejudice, or hurt of his neighbour—This is the only true liberty granted by God to man; yet this is the very liberty, the advocates of Abolitionism turn into ridicule, and attempt to destroy, under the plausible plea of vindicating the rights of man! ”

“ It does no good, but harm to the slave; it engenders bad feelings and prejudices between different parts of the Union, and it injures the very cause which it professes to espouse. Instead of advancing, I believe that it has thrown back to an indefinite time the cause of gradual emancipation—the only mode of getting rid of slavery that has been ever thought to be safe, prudent or wise in any of the States in which slavery now exists. ”

“ Methinks the effects of the cruelty of a husband or of a father, would be just as sore on the back or head of a wife, or of a child, as if they were the effects of the cruelty of a slave-holder: a rose smells as sweet by any other name! ”

“ If it be now enquired whether I consider slave-holding a sin and an evil, I readily reply, I do consider it an evil; but I do not consider it a sin! I am aware Abolitionists confound the two terms together, some through design, and, no doubt, many through want of reflection or ignorance. Now although every sin is an evil, yet every evil is not a sin—I hesitate not to pronounce slavery one of the effects of sin—hence an evil: for all evil is the effect of sin. Disease, famine, poverty, &c., are all evils ”

“ If all this is to be rejected, then let the doubter, who is so charitable towards the coloured population, exercise a little of that charity, "which rejoiceth not in iniquity," and is "without partiality," towards his white fellow citizens, and ere he slanders them, or encourages those who bear false witness against them, pay the South a visit, and judge for himself, with his own eyes, and his own cars. Methinks he replies, "but I have it from those who themselves have witnessed it!" Witnessed what? Is it that all the slaveholders in the South treat their slaves with cruelty and barbarity? ”

“ On the other hand, suppose that, in such a rebellion throughout the South, the whites were to conquer—this could not be accomplished without the destruction of vast numbers of the people of colour—nor without the loss of the lives of many whites. What then would be the condition of the surviving blacks? Common justice, and prudence, would oblige the white population to deprive the slaves of many of those privileges which they now enjoy, and to rivet their fetters more securely—whom would they have to thank for all this? Abolitionists! ”

“ Let not Abolitionists at large mistake me—I do not intend to accuse them, directly or indirectly, of impure motives—quite the reverse—I do really believe all the Abolitionists, with very few exceptions, are the best, and the most moral, and philanthropic men, in America; and are actuated by the purest motives of doing good to all—relieving the oppressed, and crushing tyranny. But at the same time, I do confess I perceive strong symptoms of other motives actuating some—we know not the heart of man—God only knows that—therefore, we can only judge of men's views by their acts and deeds. ”

“ He comes forward therefore, while he declares himself an eternal and uncompromising enemy to all cruelty, injustice, tyranny, and oppression, not against, but for liberty—not against, but for the coloured man—not against, but for humanity. ”

“ If not, it is only because many prefer the cudgel, which they use liberally on the head, back, and limbs of their unfortunate white slaves! How many think you (in this religious city of Philadelphia) white masters, and white husbands, and white fathers, are annually bound over or punished for cruelty to their white apprentices—white wives—and white children? And how many more are they, whose barbarity never comes to light, or whose wealth shelters them? ”

“ Marriages are regularly contracted. No negro is sold, except as a punishment for bad behaviour, and a dreaded one it is. None is bought save for the purpose of uniting families. Here you will hear no clanking of chains, no cracking of whips; (I have never seen a blow struck on the estate,) and here last, but not least, you will find a flourishing Temperance Society embracing almost every individual on the premises. And yet the 'Christianity of the South is a chain-forging, a whip-platting—marriage discouraging, Bible-withholding Christianity!'
"I have confined myself to a single plantation. ”

“ While therefore I pronounce the former, that is the slave-trade, to be barbarous, iniquitous, and unscriptural, I cannot find a single passage in the whole word of God which either denounces slave-holding, or commands the owner to liberate instantaneously his slaves. And I fearlessly defy all the Abolitionists on earth to produce one such passage. If therefore the Bible is to be the umpire, and to its authority alone I ever consent to strike, that sacred book announces that [14] "WHERE THERE IS NO LAW THERE IS NO TRANSGRESSION;" ”

“ Who or what were the framers of the American government, that they should dare to confirm and authorise such a high handed villany—such a flagrant robbery of the inalienable rights of man—such a glaring violation of all the precepts and injunctions of the Gospel—such a savage war upon the sixth part of their own population? They were men like ourselves—as fallible, as sinful, as weak as ourselves. ”

“ J. M. Danforth states on his own personal knowledge, that in South Carolina, 'the society, and every thing connected with it, are held in extreme abhorrence by our leading men, our politicians and wealthy planters. It is so unpopular an institution, that very few name it publicly,—it is regarded here as a northern scheme to wrest from us our slaves.' In your anti-colonization efforts then, you are associated in action with the very men, whose character as slave-holders is so odious, that you deprecate their connexion with the colonization cause, as an unpardonable sin. ”

“ I can attribute the apathy and indifference on which it is looked by many, as arising from ignorance on the subject alone, and would that every free coloured man in the United States could get a glimpse of his brethren, their situation and prospects. * * * Let but the coloured man come and see for himself, and the tear of gratitude will beam in his eye, as he looks forward to the not far distant day, when Liberia shall take her stand among the nations of the world, and proclaim abroad an empire founded by benevolence, offering a home to the poor, oppressed, and weary. ”

“ And by what means are the glorious truths of divine revelation to be disseminated amongst upwards of fifty millions of our fellow creatures except by the pure word of God, the Bible, which black man hands to black man, African hands to African—and so on, till this man of sin be consumed by the brightness of the Gospel, and the Ethiopian be enabled to lift up his hand to the living God? ”

“ No one pretends to deny that there are in the South, some cruel, irreligious—inhuman—slave-holders—and who will have the hardihood to deny that there are also in the North, thousands of cruel, irreligious and inhuman, masters, husbands, and fathers! ”

“ I will tell all these good things to all my black brethren—if I have a right to go, so have THEY—if my master's property is mine, so is it theirs also.—The poor deluded slave is thus set on fire, and thus he inflames the minds of all he knows.—They talk and converse, and dream of these good things—but they cannot easily run off—they become discontented—surly—unruly—idle—disobedient—and he who feeds, clothes, and takes care of them, can get little from them! ”

“ The professed object of the Abolition Society is to procure the immediate, instantaneous, and unconditional emancipation of all the slaves in America.—And the means adopted by this Society to accomplish this object are the publication and circulation of vast numbers of papers and pamphlets, by way of enlightening the slave, and the slaveholder—but which consist, for the most part, of exhortations, and encouragement, to the slave, to disobedience, insubordination, and rebellion. ”

“ Liberty—there is scarcely a word in the English Vocabulary so often perverted as the term liberty.—A vast mass of mankind conceive that the meaning of the word is, a perfect privilege and license for each and every man to do as he pleases.—If this be the real and true meaning of liberty, and that where this is not, there is slavery, then there is no liberty in the United States, (and God forbid, say I, there ever should be here such liberty,) and every man, woman, and child in the [10] Union, is a slave! ”

“ There is one more fatal objection to the Abolition system, viz., that its whole aim is the removal of the effect, and not the cause! Now the first principle in philosophy, indeed in common sense, is, "to remove the cause:" and every system built upon any other principle is absurd, and must turn out useless. Abolitionism is therefore unphilosophical, absurd, fallacious, and inefficacious! That slavery is the cause of much evil, I do not pretend to deny ”

“ And may not the statesman safely assume that if a feeble society, assailed from its very formation with ridicule and reproach, has been able to found and sustain a young state, the patriotism, the philanthropy, and the piety of this great nation can accomplish the noble work of justice to them, and mercy to both? ”

“ First, black would fight with black, till the land would now become drenched with black blood—parties and associations of blacks would be formed, according to the dispositions, desires, views, temperaments, and morals of each party. Ignorant, dissipated, idle, and ambitious for superiority, party would fight with party, till scarcely a party would be left. During the scenes of blood, of carnage, of idleness, of devastation, and of debauchery, the soil becomes uncultivated, the seed not sown, if in spring,—the earth's produce not gathered, if in harvest! ”

“ Amos Herring,—Resolved, That this meeting entertain the deepest gratitude for the members of the Colonization Society, for the organization and continuation of an enterprise, so noble and praiseworthy as that of restoring to the blessings of liberty, hundreds and thousands of the sore oppressed and long neglected sons of Africa; that we believe it the only institution that can, under existing circumstances, succeed in elevating the coloured population; and that advancement in agriculture, mechanism, and science, will enable us speedily to aspire to a rank with other nations of the earth. ”

“ It surpasses anything which has yet occurred. No sooner had the colony been founded at Cape Montserado, than there appeared a disposition among the owners of slaves in the United States to give them freedom voluntarily, without one farthing of compensation, and to allow them to be sent to the land of their ancestors. This is to me truly astonishing! a total change of heart in the planters, so that many thousands of slaves may be redeemed without any cost of their redemption! ”