Discussion on American Slavery

"That it would be difficult, in the present state of public feeling, to preserve a colored individual from inquietude in any of our collegiate schools, and to render his connection with them tolerable, is not denied."

I come now, (continued Mr. T.) to the state of the American Churches, in regard to Slavery; and to attempt a justification of the heavy charges I have brought against them. If at the close of this address it shall appear that I have misrepresented the Christians of America; that I have stated as facts, things which are untrue, I solemnly call upon those who have hitherto vindicated my reputation, and sustained me as the truthful advocate of the cause of human rights, to discard me as utterly disqualified to be their representative in so sacred a work, because, capable of pleading for JUSTICE at the expense of TRUTH.

Of slaveholding ministers in America, Mr. Breckinridge has asserted, that they are as ONE IN A THOUSAND, or at most, as ONE IN FIVE HUNDRED. The first document I shall quote to disprove this assertion, will be a letter in the "Southern Religious Telegraph," of October 31, 1835, addressed to the Presbyterian Clergy of Virginia; written to warn those ministers against pursuits calculated to injure their spirituality, destroy their usefulness, and prevent those revivals of religion with which other portions of the Church of Christ had been favored; also to account for an apparent declension in piety in the State generally. It is proper to remark, that the letter from which I make the present extract, was not written to promote the cause of abolition; that the writer never imagined it would be used on such an occasion; and that the newspaper in which it appears is pro-slavery to the very core.

"In one region of country, where I am acquainted, of rather more than THIRTY Presbyterian ministers, including missionaries, TWENTY are farmers, viz. (planters and SLAVEHOLDERS,) ON A PRETTY EXTENSIVE SCALE; three are school teachers; one is a farmer and a teacher; one, a farmer and a merchant, and joint proprietor of iron works, which must be in operation on the Sabbath; and one is a farmer and editor of a political newspaper. These farmers generally superintend their own business. THEY OVERSEE THEIR NEGROES, attend to their stock, make purchases, and visit the markets to make sale of their crops. They necessarily have much intercourse with their neighbors on worldly business, and not unfrequently come into unpleasant collision with the merchants."

O, Sir, what a revelation of things is here! These are not the calumnies of George Thompson, but the confessions of one, striving earnestly to awaken the attention of the Virginia clergy to a sense of the degradation and barrenness of the church, and to direct their attention to the main causes of such lamentable effects.

Next, permit me to request your attention to an extract from "An Address to the Presbyterians of Kentucky, proposing a plan for the instruction and emancipation of their slaves; by a Committee of the SYNOD OF KENTUCKY. Cincinnati: published by Eli Taylor, 1835." We shall, in this document, get at the opinion of men, sensitively jealous for the honor, purity, and usefulness of the Presbyterian churches, from which Mr. Breckinridge is A DELEGATE. What say they of slavery in general, and the practice of THEIR CHURCH in particular:

"Brutal stripes, and all the various kinds of personal indignities, are not the only species of cruelty, which slavery licenses. The law does not recognize the family relations of a slave; and extends to him no protection in the enjoyment of domestic endearments. The members of a slave family may be forcibly separated, so that they shall never more meet until the final judgment. And cupidity often induces the masters to practise what the law allows. Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are torn asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. These acts are daily occurring in the midst of us. The shrieks and the agony, often witnessed on such occasions, proclaim with a trumpet-tongue, the iniquity and cruelty of our system. The cry of these sufferers goes up to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. There is not a neighborhood, where these heart-rending scenes are not displayed. There is not a village or road that does not behold the sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose chains and mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by force from all that their hearts held dear. Our church, years ago, raised its voice by solemn warning against this flagrant violation of every principle of mercy, justice, and humanity. Yet WE BLUSH TO ANNOUNCE TO YOU AND TO THE WORLD, THAT, THIS WARNING HAS BEEN OFTEN DISREGARDED, EVEN BY THOSE WHO HOLD TO OUR COMMUNION. CASES HAVE OCCURRED, IN OUR OWN DENOMINATION, WHERE PROFESSORS OF THE RELIGION OF MERCY HAVE TORN THE MOTHER FROM HER CHILDREN, AND SENT HER INTO A MERCILESS AND RETURNLESS EXILE. YET ACTS OF DISCIPLINE HAVE RARELY FOLLOWED SUCH CONDUCT."

Follow me now into the GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, convened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in May, 1835, and let the individual who addresses you be forgotten, while you listen to the things uttered in the midst of that solemn convocation. At the time when the passages I am about to read, were spoken, there were sitting in that Assembly, men from all parts of the country. The Southern Churches fully represented by row upon row of ministers and elders from every region of the slaveholding States. In that Assembly, one year from this time, did the Rev. J. H. Dickey, of the Chilicothe Presbytery, Ohio, (a clergyman who had passed thirty years of his life in a slave State.) and Mr. Stewart, a ruling elder from the Presbytery of Schuyler, Illinois, make the following statements, which have remained, I believe, uncontradicted to this hour:

"He (Mr. Dickey,) believed there were many, and great evils in the Presbyterian Church; but the doctrine of slaveholding, he was fully persuaded, was the worst heresy now found in the Church."

"Mr. STEWART – I hope this Assembly are prepared to come out fully, and declare their sentiments, that slaveholding is a most flagrant and heinous SIN. Let us not pass it by in this indirect way, while so many thousands and thousands of our fellow-creatures are writhing under the lash, often inflicted too by MINISTERS AND ELDERS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH."

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"IN THIS CHURCH, a man may take a free born child, force it away from its parents, to whom God gave it in charge, saying, 'Bring it up for me,' and sell it as a beast, or hold it in perpetual bondage, and not only escape corporal punishment, but really be esteemed an excellent Christian. NAY, EVEN MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL, AND DOCTORS OF DIVINITY, may engage in this unholy traffic, and yet sustain their high and holy calling."

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"ELDERS, MINISTERS, AND DOCTORS OF DIVINITY, ARE WITH BOTH HANDS ENGAGED IN THE PRACTICE. * * * * * * A Slave-holder who is making gains by the trade, may have as good a character for honesty as any other man."

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"No language can paint the injustice and abominations of slavery, But in these United States, this vast amount of moral turpitude is (as I believe) justly chargeable to the Church. I do not mean to say those church members who actually engage in this diabolical practice, but I mean to say THE CHURCH. Yes, Sir, all the infidelity that is the result of this unjust conduct of the professed followers of CHRIST; all the unholy amalgamation; all the tears and groans; all the eyes that have been literally plucked from their sockets; all the pains and violent deaths from the lash, and the various engines of torture, and all the souls that are, or will be eternally damned, as a consequence of slavery in these United States, ARE ALL JUSTLY CHARGEABLE TO THE CHURCH; AND HOW MUCH FALLS TO THE SHARE OF THIS PARTICULAR CHURCH YOU CAN ESTIMATE AS WELL AS I."

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"The judgments of God are staring this Church full in the face, and threatening her dissolution. She is all life and nerve in matters of doctrine, and on some points where men may honestly differ; while sins of a crimson dye are committed in open day, BY MEMBERS OF THIS CHURCH WITH PERFECT IMPUNITY."

I appeal to you, Sir, and this audience; did George Thompson ever utter charges against the American churches more awful than those contained in the extracts I have read – extracts from speeches made in the General Assembly of the body from which Mr. Breckinridge is a delegate? I leave for the present the Presbyterians, and proceed to notice the state of the

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHES

Mr. Breckinridge displayed great regard for the reputation of this body. He believed they were almost free from the sin of slaveholding – their discipline was most emphatic in its condemnation of it, and he defied me to show that any Methodist was engaged in the infernal practice of slave trading. First, as to the probable extent of slavery in the church. On this point I shall quote from a solemn and authenticated document issued by a number of ministers in the Methodist Episcopal body in New England, entitled: —

"An appeal on the subject of Slavery, addressed to the members of the New England and New Hampshire conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church;" and signed by

    SHIPLEY W. WILSON.
    ABRAM D. MERRILL.
    LA ROY SUNDERLAND.
    GEORGE STORRS.
    JARED PERKINS.

Boston, Dec. 19th, 1834.

In answer to the question —

"When will slavery cease from our church, if we continue to alter our rules against it as we have done for some years past?" they observe —

"But we will not dwell on this part of our subject; it is painful enough to think of; and as members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and as Methodist preachers, we readily confess we are exceedingly afflicted with a view of it, and still more with a knowledge of the fact, that the "great evil" of slavery has been increasing, both among the membership and ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at a fearful rate, for thirty or forty years past. The general minutes of our Annual Conferences, announce about 80,000 colored members in our church; and it is highly probable, from various reasons which might be named, that as many as sixty thousand, or upwards of these, are slaves; but what proportion of these and others, are enslaved by the Methodist members and Methodist preachers, we have no means of determining precisely; but the alterations which have been made in the discipline, show at once that the number is neither few nor small; and if this evil was a "great" one fifty years ago, what must it be now? What will it be fifty or a hundred years hence, should the discipline be ALTERED as it has been during half a century past? Who can tell where this "great" and growing "evil," will end? We frequently hear Christians and Christian ministers expressing the greatest fears for the safety of the "political" union of these United States, whenever the subject of slavery is mentioned; but no fears as to the prosperity and peace of the Christian church, though this "evil" be ever so "great," and though it be increased every day a thousand fold. But can it be supposed that any branch of the Christian church is in a healthy and prosperous state, while it slumbers and nurses in its bosom so great an evil."

In reply to the challenge to produce one instance of a slave trading Methodist, I give the following from "Zion's Watchman," a Methodist newspaper, published in New York. It is from a letter of a correspondent of that paper:

"A man came among us where I was preaching, a class-leader, from Georgia, having a regular certificate, who appeared to be very zealous, exhorting and praying in our meetings, &c. I thought I had got an excellent helper; but, on inquiring his business, I found he was a SLAVE TRADER: come on purpose to buy up men, women, and children, to drive to the South!!! I expostulated with him; but he said it was not thought wrong where he came from. I told him we could not countenance such a thing here, and that we could hold no fellowship with him." He farther told me that on inquiring of a slave he had with him, what sort of a master he was, he replied, "I have had four masters, but this is the most cruel of them all;" and told him, as a proof of it, to look at his back, which, said the minister, "was cut with a whip, from his head to his heels!!" The Rev. S. W. Wilson, of Andover, United States, gives also an extract of a letter he had seen from a gentleman of high standing, who was at the South at the time of writing, which says, "The South is too much interested in the continuance of slavery, to hear any thing upon the subject. The preachers of the gospel are in the same condemnation, and METHODIST PREACHERS ESPECIALLY. The principal reason why the Methodists in these regions are more numerous and popular than other denominations is, THEY STICK SO CLOSELY TO SLAVERY!! THEY DENOUNCE BOTH THE ABOLITIONISTS AND THE COLONIZATIONISTS."

To show the extent to which THE BAPTIST CHURCHES SHARE THE GUILT OF THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY IN AMERICA, it will be sufficient to read an extract from a letter addressed to the Board of Baptist ministers in and near London, by the Rev. Lucius Bolles, D. D., the Corresponding Secretary of the American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions. The testimony is the stronger, because the whole letter is a carefully written apology for Southern religious slaveholders, and an attempt to silence the remonstrances of the English churches.

"There is a pleasing degree of union among the multiplying thousands of Baptists throughout the land. Brethren from all parts of the country meet in one General Convention and co-operate in sending the gospel to the heathen. Our Southern brethren are liberal and zealous in the promotion of every holy enterprize for the extension of the gospel. THEY ARE, GENERALLY, BOTH MINISTERS AND PEOPLE, SLAVE-HOLDERS."

In this connection, I may notice the recommendation of the work of Drs. Cox and Hoby. We are assured by Mr. Breckinridge, (though he confesses he has not read the book,) that every representation it contains relative to slavery among "the Baptists in America," may be relied on. That book, thus endorsed by Mr. B., informs us that the deputation were permitted to sit in the convention at Richmond, Virginia, only on condition of profound silence, touching the wrongs of more than two millions of heathenized slaves. We are gravely told that the introduction of abolition would have been "an INTRUSION, as RUDE as it would have been UNWELCOME." It would, says the Delegates, have "FRUSTRATED every object of our mission;" "awakened HOSTILITY, and kindled DISLIKE;" "roused into EMBITTERED ACTIVITY feelings between Christian brethren, which must have SEVERED the Baptist churches." It would have occasioned the "UTTER CONFUSION OF ALL ORDER, the RUIN of all Christian feeling," and "THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL LOVE AND FELLOWSHIP;" and the Convention would either have been "DISSOLVED" by "MAGISTERIAL INFLUENCE," or "THE DELEGATES WOULD HAVE DISSOLVED THEMSELVES." Yet this was "a sacred and heavenly meeting," in which "the kindliest emotions, the warmest affections, the loveliest spirit towards ourselves, (the Baptist Delegates,) towards England and mankind" existed! Oh, Sir, is it possible to draw a more affecting picture of the withering and corrupting influences of slavery, than is here presented to our view in this description of the triennial convention of Baptist ministers, assembled in the city of Richmond, Virginia, in the year 1835.

AMOS DRESSER'S CASE

I proceed to notice the case of Amos Dresser; the young man who was so inhumanly tortured by the citizens and professing Christians of the city of Nashville, Tennessee. I can assure my opponent, that the discrepancy in my statements which he has noticed, is an error in reporting. I am not aware of having ever stated the number of elders in the committee to be eleven. My statement of the case has always been simply this – that Mr. Dresser, a pious and respectable young man, was apprehended in Nashville, on suspicion of being an abolitionist; brought before a Vigilance Committee, and, according to "Lynch Law," was sentenced to receive twenty lashes with a cowskin, on his bare back. That he was so punished; and that upon the Committee were seven elders of the Presbyterian church, and one Campbellite minister. The whole case as narrated by Mr. Dresser, and published in the Cincinnati Gazette, is now before me. The Committee, by which Mr. Dresser was tried and sentenced, is called a "Committee of Vigilance and Safety."

The following are the names of the seven elders in the Presbyterian Church:

    JOHN NICHOL,
    ALPHA KINGSLEY,
    A. A. CASSEDAY,
    WM. ARMSTRONG,
    SAMUEL SEAY,
    S. V. D. STOUT.
    S. C. ROBINSON.
    The name of the Campbellite Minister, THOMAS CLAIBORNE.

The Committee, after examining his books, papers, and private memoranda, and hearing his defence, found him guilty – 1st. "Of being a member of an Anti-Slavery Society in Ohio." 2d. "Of having in his possession periodicals published by the American Anti-Slavery Society." And 3d. "They BELIEVED he had circulated these periodicals, and advocated in the community the principles they inculcated." The Chairman, (says Mr. Dresser,) then pronounced that I was condemned to receive twenty lashes on my bare back, and ordered to leave the place in twenty-four hours. This was not an hour previous to the commencement of the Sabbath. Mr. Dresser gives the following account of the infliction of the sentence:

"I knelt to receive the punishment, which was inflicted by Mr. Braughton, the city officer, with a HEAVY COWSKIN. When the infliction ceased, an involuntary feeling of thanksgiving to God, for the fortitude with which I had been enabled to endure it, arose in my soul, to which I began aloud to give utterance. The death-like silence that prevailed for a moment, was suddenly broken, with loud exclamations, "G – d d – m him, stop his praying." I was raised to my feet by Mr. Braughton, and conducted by him to my lodging, where it was thought safe for me to remain but for a few moments.

"Among my triers, there was a great portion of the respectability of Nashville. Nearly half the whole number, professors of Christianity, the reputed stay of the church, supporters of the cause of benevolence in the form of tract and missionary societies and Sabbath schools, several members and most of the elders of the Presbyterian church, from whose hands, but a few days before, I had received the emblems of the broken body, and shed blood of our blessed Saviour." (!!!!)

Mr. Breckinridge has twice referred to the appearance of a runaway slave at my lectures in London, and has accused me of carrying him about with me, to enact interludes during my meeting. I can assure Mr. Breckinridge that I never had any thing to do with the attendance of Moses Roper at my meetings, or with the speeches he delivered. On neither of the occasions mentioned had I any knowledge of his being in the chapel until I found him among the rest of my auditors. As for denying the facts stated by him, knowing as I do the brutalizing effects of slavery, and the state of society in the slave States of America, it is out of the question. I see nothing in the facts stated by Moses Roper at all improbable. Since I last came to this city, I have read in an American newspaper, an account of an affair in Tennessee, at which the blood runs cold. A black man having committed some crime, was lodged in prison by the authorities, but being demanded by the citizens, was given up to them, tied to a tree, and BURNT ALIVE! During my residence in the United States, a negro was burnt alive, according to a sentence given by one of the constituted tribunals of the State! It was called an exemplary punishment, and many of the papers throughout the country were filled with long and learned articles, justifying the horrid outrage. Mr. Breckinridge may point to the laws and the constitution of the country, but I tell him they and the authorities appointed to enforce them are alike powerless. I point him to the atrocities of Lynch law all over the land; to the brutal massacre of the gamblers in Mississippi, where men in the broad daylight were dragged forth, and tied by the neck to branches of trees, their eyes starting from their sockets, and their wives driven across the river, in open boats; their lives threatened, for daring to ask for the dead bodies of their husbands. I ask if any law reached the fiends in human shape, who perpetrated these deeds. I ask Mr. Breckinridge if any law punished the felons of Charleston, who, seizing the public conveyances, violated the constitution, and the law of the State, by robbing the mail bags of their contents, and burning them? Did not the Post Master General encouragingly say, "I cannot sanction, but I will not condemn what you have done. In your circumstances I would have acted in a similar manner." Need I remind Mr. Breckinridge of the mobs at the North; the riots of New York; the sacking of Mr. Tappan's house, and the demolition of colored schools? Laws there may be, but while slavery exists, and is defended by public sentiment, and while the ferocious prejudice against color remains, they will want the "executory principle," without which they are but cruel mockery.

A glance at the moral and religious state of the slave population will show the amount of care and attention exercised by the Christian churches at the South.

What says the Rev. C. C. Jones, in a sermon preached before two associations of planters in Georgia, in 1831?

"Generally speaking, they (the slaves,) appear to us to be without God, and without hope in the world, a NATION OF HEATHEN in our very midst. We cannot cry out against the Papists for withholding the Scriptures from the common people, and keeping them in ignorance of the way of life, for we WITHHOLD the Bible from our servants, and keep them in ignorance of it, while we will not use the means to have it read and explained to them. The cry of our perishing servants comes up to us from the sultry plains as they bend at their toil; it comes up from their humble cottages when they return at evening to rest their weary limbs; it comes up to us from the midst of their ignorance, and superstition, and adultery, and lewdness. We have manifested no emotions of horror at abandoning the souls of our servants to the adversary, the roaring lion that walketh about seeking whom he may devour."

Again: what said the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, in a report on the state of the colored population, in respect of religious instruction?