Oliver Prescott Hiller

“ The wide diffusion of bondage throughout the dominions of Rome, and the extreme severities of the Roman law towards the slave, contributed to hasten the fall of the Roman commonwealth. The power of the father to sell his children, of the creditor to sell his insolvent debtor, of the warrior to sell his captive, carried the influence of the institution into the bosom of every Roman family, into the conditions of every contract, into the heart of every unhappy land that was invaded by the Roman eagle. The slave-markets of Rome were filled with men of every complexion and of every clime. ”

“ I grant that this Liberia may have subserved all sorts of purposes, by being played off, in the hands of our oppressors, against us. Doubtless the scheme may have been used, in unjustifiable ways, as a means of retarding our emancipation. But the question to me is — Is there not a God above all man's schemes? May He not have overruled their designs, and founded for us a nation by them? In these days a nation is born in a day. A nation starts now, with all the great problems of republican life and civilization wrought out to its hand; it has not to discover, but only to apply. ”

“ No thinking man — if he will lay aside prejudice — but must see that it is better for the colored race to separate from the whites, and go to a land where they can stand upon their own feet, in true dignity and independence. No Christian and conscientious man, but will admit, that in the long run it will be best both for blacks and whites, that slavery should cease, and that nothing but freedom, joined with light and religion, should exist upon the earth. ”

“ The father would tyrannize over his children, the older brother over the younger ones, the stronger over the weaker. The patriarch would seek to exercise absolute sway over his family and dependents; and in the contests, which self-love would soon cause to arise between one shepherd and another, captives would be taken, who would at once be made slaves, — that is, would be compelled to remain in subjection to their conqueror, and labor for his comfort and at his pleasure. Wherever might is made the only law of right, a state of slavery at once ensues. ”

“ With only such a degree of self-denial as every man of principle may justly be called upon to make, and which every legislator should consider it his glory to manifest, laws might be passed, abolishing or greatly modifying the shameful slave-markets, checking the internal slave-trade by forbidding slaves to be brought from other States for sale, and forbidding the separation of families — as of husband from wife, or of parents from children under age. Such regulations exist even in Russia — why should they not in America? ”

“ GENERAL VIEW OP THE SUBJECT — SLAVERY IN ANCIENT TIMES — IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
It may seem, to the casual observer, strange and unaccountable, that, if there be a great and overruling Providence, a wise and good Being, the Creator and Father of all, He should suffer any of His intelligent creatures — still more, such numbers of them — to be held in bondage, in absolute subjection to the will and caprice of their fellow-men. He wonders that the God above looks on and suffers such wrongs; he wonders that He does not send down His lightning-bolts, and break their chains in an instant. ”

“ If the Caucasian race is destined, as would appear from the precocity of their genius, and their natural quickness, and extreme aptitude to the arts, to reflect the lustre of the Divine wisdom, or, to speak more properly, of science — shall we envy the Negro, if a later but far nobler civilization await him, — to return the splendor of the Divine attributes of mercy and benevolence, in the practice and exhibition of all the milder and gentler virtues? ”

“ In order to form an opinion with any degree of justness concerning slavery in America, we must not only be possessed of true and accurate information as to its actual condition, but we must also recur to its origin and history, inquire how it came there; that thus a just share of the blame, if blame there be, may be laid upon its originators, and not the whole of it be thrown — as by the unreflecting multitude it is too apt to be done — on those who happen to have been born where it exists. ”

“ What enlightened and high-souled free colored man in America will not come forward and give his aid to this cause, when he once understands it, and sees its grand bearings? Here the work is entirely your own; the white man cannot take part in it, except by sympathy or pecuniary aid — he cannot personally join in this holy crusade against the Powers of Darkness and of African bondage: that climate is his grave — God made it so, but He has made it your healthy and happy home. ”

“ We are yet a small people and small population. Much has been done for us, and yet much remains to be done. We are, as it were, on the fringes of Africa. We are free, and rejoice at the present, and hope for the future. Our Republic may yet extend, as do the United States, from. one ocean to the other — from the Atlantic to the Indian. When we recall to mind the short time it has taken America to attain her greatness, what shall forbid to hope for such a future for ourselves, and that a vast emigration will yet take place to Liberia? What may not Liberia become? ”

“ Is there none left for these forty-two millions of enslaved beings, still remaining in Europe, — subject, thus, to the rod, the lash, and the terrible knout, — liable, too, at times, to the horrors of starvation from the recklessness of their haughty masters? Is there no one to write a Russian "Uncle Tom," [14] to bring the picture of their wrongs before the world? Forty-two millions! — a greater number of white men existing in bondage, this moment, in a single country of Europe, than all the blacks that have been exported from Africa, altogether, in two centuries and a half! ”

“ It is a sound theological principle, that every evil — after it is seen by the light of truth to be such — may be sooner or later removed. To think otherwise would be to make the good Creator the author or upholder of evil; for it would be to charge the Governor of the Universe with having provided no way of escape from sin and misery. But He always provides a way: man has only to seek, and he will find it. Let the noblest men of the South, then, give their minds to this task: what greater glory could there be for a legislator than to accomplish it? ”

“ Thus, if from the unity of the human family, so acknowledged, it be argued that we owe to every race of mankind on the globe the same obligations of justice and mercy which we owe to each other, the argument would be a good one, and would brand those horrid acts of injustice of which the white race have been guilty, both to the black and to the red. ”

“ The Grecian city, that made war on its neighbor city, exulted in its captives as a source of profit; the hero of Macedon sold men of his own kindred and language into hopeless slavery. The idea of universal free labor had not been generated. Aristotle had written that all mankind were brothers; yet the thought of equal enfranchisement never presented itself to his sagacious understanding. In every Grecian republic slavery was an indispensable element. ”

“ In the soft evening-hour, after the duties of the day are over, you may sit at the door of your own mansion, and while the cool sea-breeze is breathing upon you, and the new moon is hanging in beauty over the western waters, you will look across that ocean, and — thinking of the land of the whites that lies beyond — you will bless the day you left it, to come to the home of. your fathers, the rich country which Providence has set apart for the colored race. ”

“ In the Union, or out of the Union, the different slave-holding States are severally supreme within their own limits. The governments or legislatures of those States are composed of slave-owners, or appointed by them. Consequently, it is most evident that emancipation, if it is ever to take place, must be a voluntary act on the part of the owners. Now, again, we ask, is it in human nature to expect a sudden change and revolution in all the habits, feelings, and views of the many hundreds of thousands of persons of whom the slaveholders consist? ”

“ When, however, the end for which the African slave-trade had been for a time permitted, was sufficiently attained, then, in the Divine Providence, influences were brought to bear upon the evil instrument itself, to check its action. The world became enlightened to see the wrong of that trade, as it had not before seen; the voice of benevolent individuals and of societies was raised against it, and the power of nations was invoked to put a stop to it. The face of the world has now been set against it, and it must ere long cease. ”

“ Even in Africa, domestic slaves, as they are called, or those born in the house, cannot be sold or very severely punished, but for some signal offence, of which they must be first convicted by a kind of public trial. Cannot some regulations be passed, putting at least a degree of restraint on the absolute will of tyrannical masters, thus tying the hands of such wretches as Legree? It is to be hoped, indeed, that there are few such; yet that they exist, every observer of human nature in any part of the world must be satisfied. ”

“ And finally, no benevolent man and lover of his kind, but must wish to see Africa elevated in the scale of nations, its chains broken, its ignorance dispelled, and the blessings of civilization and true religion spread over it from shore to shore. Then, let all unite in this great enterprise. Laying aside the language of attack and reproach on the one side, and refraining from threat and retort on the other, let Americans of the North and of the South unite in this holy cause. ”

“ The South has injured, and is crushing herself, by cherishing an evil which will yet be found to be more than can be borne. She cannot rise, while the evil remains. She feels it, and the other States see it to be so." [15]
Now, let any one of the Southern States — Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, or any other — only pass such an Act as has been described, simply a prospective Act, declaring that all children born the limits of the State after a certain day should be free — and at once she would feel new life in her veins. ”

“ For myself, I am free to say, that of all things that have been going on in our favor since 1787, when the abolition of the slave-trade was first seriously proposed, that which is going on in the United States is the most important. It surpasses everything that has yet occurred No sooner had your colony been established on Cape Montserado than there appeared a disposition among the owners of slaves to give them freedom voluntarily and without compensation, and allow them to be sent to the land of their fathers; so that you have many thousands redeemed, without any cost of their redemption. ”

“ There is no such thing as forcing the will; for the will is the love, and love cannot be forced. This every one sees. It is indeed perfectly possible for the Divine Being to bring forth his thunderbolts — so to speak — and by violence and terror to sweep away slavery or any other evil institution or outward condition of things. ”

“ If we were able and at liberty to go whithersoever we would, the greater number, willing to leave this community, would prefer Liberia on the coast of Africa. We shall carry your language, your customs, your opinions, and Christianity, to that now desolate shore, and thence they will gradually spread with our growth far into the Continent. The slave-trade, both external and internal, can be abolished only by Settlements on the coast. We foresee that difficulties and dangers await those who emigrate, such as every infant establishment must encounter and endure. ”

“ He was born the legal proprietor of his slaves, as much as he was born the subject of civil government, — and it is his duty, and a duty which he cannot well avoid, to make the best provision for them in his power. Too frequently, it would be just as humane, to throw them overboard at sea, as to set them free in this country. Moreover, if he turn them out to shift for themselves, he turns out upon the community those who will in all probability become, most of them, vagabonds, paupers, felons, a pest to society. ”

“ While the North employs its exertions in helping off the colored population within its own borders, and aiding them to emigrate to the home of their Withers, where alone they can be truly free — the South, while performing the same service to the free blacks there, should also be left to deliberate in freedom, and without undue interference from the North, on the best means of emancipating the slave, and of preparing him, at the same time, for that freedom which every one, surely, who loves his neighbor as himself, would wish him to enjoy. ”

“ Therefore, when the choice exists, to employ at an equal price free or slave labor, the former will be decidedly preferred, because it is regarded as more capable, more diligent, more faithful, more worthy of confidence. — 'The fact is,' says one of her own distinguished citizens, 'slavery is the bane and ruin of one portion of our land, and the advantage of free labor and industry has exalted the other portion. ”

“ A conqueror commonly disposes of his captives according to the rank which they held in their native kingdom. Such of the domestic slaves as appear to be of a mild disposition, and particularly the young women, are retained as his own slaves. Others, that display marks of discontent, are disposed of in a distant country; and such of the freemen ‘ or slaves as have taken an active part in the war, are either sold to the slatees [negro slave-dealers] or are put to death. War, therefore, is certainly the most general and most productive source of slavery. ”

“ We have, too, an account of the pursuit of a fugitive slave, hunted in the usual manner, with man and horse — and the severe flogging he was subjected to, for the attempt to recover his liberty. We have, also, pictures of the internal slave-trade in Africa — its universal prevalence, and the distresses and sufferings with which it is accompanied. We behold the poor slaves, many of them women, yoked together by the neck, setting out on their terrible journey across the Great Desert, — the' skeletons of hundreds who have preceded them lying in their path. ”