Book: Autographs for Freedom, Volume 2 (of 2) (1854)

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AUTOGRAPHS

FOR FREEDOM.


EDITED BY

JULIA GRIFFITHS.


"In the long vista of the years to roll,
Let me not see my country's honor fade;
Oh! let me see our land retain its soul!
Her pride in Freedom, and not Freedom's shade."


AUBURN:
ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO.

ROCHESTER:
WANZER, BEARDSLEY & CO.


1854.


ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by
ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Northern District
of New York.


STEREOTYPED BY
THOMAS B. SMITH,
216 William St. N. Y.

[Illustration: J. B. Giddings (Engraved by J. C. Buttre.)]




Preface.


In commending this, the second volume of "_the Autographs for
Freedom_," to the attention of the public, "THE ROCHESTER LADIES'
ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY" would congratulate themselves and the friends of
freedom generally on the progress made, during the past year, by the
cause to which the book is devoted.

We greet thankfully those who have contributed of the wealth of their
genius; the strength of their convictions; the ripeness of their
judgment; their earnestness of purpose; their generous sympathies; to
the completeness and excellence of the work; and we shall hope to meet
many of them, if not all, in other numbers of "_The Autograph_," which
may be called forth ere the chains of the Slave shall be broken, and
this country redeemed from the sin and the curse of Slavery.

On behalf of the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society.

[Illustration: (signature) Julia Griffiths]

_Sec'y._

ROCHESTER, N. Y.




Contents.


Subject Author PAGE

INTRODUCTION (The Colored People's
"Industrial College") _Prof. C. L. Reason_ 11

Massacre at Blount's Fort _Hon. J. R. Giddings_ 14

The Fugitive Slave Act _Hon. Wm. Jay_ 27

The Size of Souls _Antoinette L. Brown_ 41

Vincent Oge _George B. Vashon_ 44

The Law of Liberty _Rev. Dr. Wm. Marsh_ 61

The Swiftness of Time in God _Theodore Parker_ 63

Visit of a Fugitive Slave to the
Grave of Wilberforce _Wm. Wells Brown_ 70

Narrative of Albert and Mary _Dr. W. H. Brisbane_ 77

Toil and Trust _Hon. Chas. F. Adams_ 128

Friendship for the Slave is
Friendship for the Master _Jacob Abbott_ 134

Christine _Anne P. Adams_ 139

The Intellectual, Moral, and
Spiritual Condition of the
Slave _J. M. Langston_ 147

The Bible _versus_ Slavery _Rev. Dr. Willis_ 151

The Work Goes Bravely on _W. J. Watkins_ 156

Slaveholding not a Misfortune
but a Crime _Rev Win Brock_ 158

The Illegality of Slaveholding _Rev. W. Goodell_ 159

"Ore Perennius" _David Paul Brown_ 160

The Mission of America _John S. C. Abbott_ 161

Disfellowshipping the Slaveholder _Lewis Tappan_ 163

A Leaf from my Scrap Book _Wm. J. Wilson_ 165

Who is my Neighbor _Rev. Thos. Starr King_ 174

Consolation for the Slave _Dr. S. Willard_ 175

The Key _Dr. S. Willard_ 177

The True Mission of Liberty _Dr. W. Elder_ 178

The True Spirit of Reform _Mary Willard_ 180

A Welcome to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, on
her return from Europe _J. C. Holly_ 184

Forward (from the German) _Rev. T. W. Higginson_ 186

What has Canada to do with
Slavery? _Thos. Henning_ 187

A Fragment _Rev. Rufus Ellis_ 190

The Encroachment of the Slave
Power _John Jay, Esq._ 192

The Dishonor of Labor _Horace Greeley_ 194

The Evils of Colonization _Wm. Watkins_ 198

The Basis of the American
Constitution _Hon. Wm. H. Seward_ 201

A Wish _Mrs. C. M. Kirkland_ 207

A Dialogue _C. A. Bloss_ 210

A time of Justice will come _Hon. Gerit Smith_ 225

Hope and Confidence _Prof. G. L. Reason_ 226

A Letter that speaks for itself _Jane G. Swisshelm_ 230

On Freedom _R. W. Emerson_ 235

Mary Smith. An Anti-Slavery
Reminiscence _Hon S. E. Sewell_ 236

Freedom--Liberty _Dr. J. McCune Smith_ 241

An Aspiration _Rev. E. H. Chapin_ 242

The Dying Soliloquy of the
Victim of the Wilkesbarre
Tragedy _Mrs. H. H. Greenough_ 243

Let all be Free _Hon. C. M. Clay_ 248

Extract from a Speech _Frederick Douglass_ 251

Extract from an Unpublished Poem
on Freedom _William D. Snow_ 256

Letter _Rev. H. Ward Beecher_ 273

A Day Spent at Playford Hall _Mrs. Harriet B. Stowe_ 277

Teaching the Slave to Read _Mary Irving_ 304




INTRODUCTION.

The Colored People's "Industrial College."

WHAT SOME OF THE BUILDERS HAVE THOUGHT.


A word oft-times is expressive of an entire policy. Such is the term
_Abolition_. Though formerly used as a synonym of _Anti-Slavery_,
people now clearly understand that the designs of those who have
ranged themselves under the first of these systems of reform are of
deeper significance and wider scope than are the objects contemplated
by the latter, and concern themselves not only with the great primary
question of bodily freedom, but take in also the collateral issues
connected with human enfranchisement, independent of race, complexion,
or sex.

The Abolitionist of to-day is the Iconoclast of the age, and his
mission is to break the idolatrous images set up by a hypocritical
Church, a Sham Democracy, or a corrupt public sentiment, and to
substitute in their stead the simple and beautiful doctrine of a
common brotherhood. He would elevate every creature by abolishing the
hinderances and checks imposed upon him, whether these be legal or
social--and in proportion as such grievances are invidious and severe,
in such measure does he place himself in the front rank of the battle,
to wage his emancipating war.

Therefore it is that the Abolitionist has come to be considered the
especial friend of the negro, since _he_, of all others, has been made
to drink deep from the cup of oppression.

The free-colored man at the north, for his bond-brother as for
himself, has trusted hopefully in the increasing public sentiment,
which, in the multiplication of these friends, has made his future
prospects brighter. And, to-day, while he is making a noble struggle
to vindicate the claims of his entire class, depending mainly for the
accomplishment of that end on his own exertions, he passes in review
the devotion and sacrifices made in his behalf: gratitude is in his
heart, and thanks fell from his lips. But, in one department of
reformatory exertion he feels that he has been neglected. He has seen
his pledged allies throw themselves into the hottest of the battle, to
fight for the Abolition of Capital Punishment--for the Prohibition of
the Liquor Traffic--for the Rights of Women, and similar reforms,--but
he has failed to see a corresponding earnestness, according to the
influence of Abolitionists in the business world, in opening the
avenues of industrial labor to the proscribed youth of the land. This
work, therefore, is evidently left for himself to do. And he has laid
his powers to the task. The record of his conclusions was given at
Rochester, in July, and has become already a part of history.

Though shut out from the workshops of the country, he is determined to
make self-provision, so as to triumph over the spirit of caste that
would keep him degraded. The utility of the Industrial Institution he
would erect, must, he believes, commend itself to Abolitionists. But
not only to them. The verdict of less liberal minds has been given
already in its favor. The usefulness, the self-respect and
self-dependence,--the combination of intelligence and handicraft,--the
accumulation of the materials of wealth, all referable to such an
Institution, present fair claims to the assistance of the entire
American people.

Whenever emancipation shall take place, immediate though it be, the
subjects of it, like many who now make up the so-called free
population, will be in what Geologists call, the "Transition State."
The prejudice now felt against them for bearing on their persons the
brand of slaves, cannot die out immediately. Severe trials will still
be their portion--the curse of a "taunted race" must be expiated by
almost miraculous proofs of advancement; and some of these miracles
must be antecedent to the great day of Jubilee. To fight the battle on
the bare ground of abstract principles, will fail to give us complete
victory. The subterfuges of pro-slavery selfishness must _now_ be
dragged to light, and the last weak argument,--that the negro can
never contribute anything to advance the national character, "nailed
to the counter as base coin." To the conquering of the difficulties
heaped up in the path of his industry, the free-colored man of the
North has pledged himself. Already he sees, springing into growth,
from out his foster _work-school_, intelligent young laborers,
competent to enrich the world with necessary products--industrious
citizens, contributing their proportion to aid on the advancing
civilization of the country;--self-providing artizans vindicating
their people from the never-ceasing charge of a fitness for servile
positions.

Abolitionists ought to consider it a legitimate part of their great
work, to aid in such an enterprise--to abolish not only chattel
servitude, but that other kind of slavery, which, for generation after
generation, dooms an oppressed people to a condition of dependence and
pauperism. Such an Institution would be a shining mark, in even this
enlightened age; and every man and woman, equipped by its discipline
to do good battle in the arena of active life, would be, next to the
emancipated bondman, the most desirable "_Autograph for Freedom_."

[Illustration: (signature) Chas. L. Reason]




Massacre at Blount's Fort.


On the west side of the Appalachicola River, some forty miles below
the line of Georgia, are yet found the ruins of what was once called
"BLOUNT'S FORT." Its ramparts are now covered with a dense growth of
underbrush and small trees. You may yet trace out its bastions,
curtains, and magazine. At this time the country adjacent presents the
appearance of an unbroken wilderness, and the whole scene is one of
gloomy solitude, associated as it is with one of the most cruel
massacres which ever disgraced the American arms.

The fort had originally been erected by civilized troops, and, when
abandoned by its occupants at the close of the war, in 1815, it was
taken possession of by the refugees from Georgia. But little is yet
known of that persecuted people; their history can only be found in
the national archives at Washington. They had been held as slaves in
the State referred to; but during the Revolution they caught the
spirit of liberty, at that time so prevalent throughout our land, and
fled from their oppressors and found an asylum among the aborigines
living in Florida.

During forty years they had effectually eluded, or resisted, all
attempts to re-enslave them. They were true to themselves, to the
instinctive love of liberty, which is planted in every human heart.
Most of them had been born amidst perils, reared in the forest, and
taught from their childhood to hate the oppressors of their race. Most
of those who had been personally held in degrading servitude, whose
backs had been seared by the lash of the savage overseer, had passed
to that spirit-land where the clanking of chains is not heard, where
slavery is not known. Some few of that class yet remained. Their gray
hairs and feeble limbs, however, indicated that they, too, must soon
pass away. Of the three hundred and eleven persons residing in
"Blount's Fort" not more than twenty had been actually held in
servitude. The others were descended from slave parents, who fled from
Georgia, and, according to the laws of slave States, were liable to
suffer the same outrages to which their ancestors had been subjected.

It is a most singular feature in slave-holding morals, that if the
parents be robbed of their liberty, deprived of the rights with which
their Creator has endowed them, the perpetrator of these wrongs
becomes entitled to repeat them upon the children of their former
victims. There were also some few parents and grandchildren, as well
as middle-aged persons, who sought protection within the walls of the
Fort against the vigilant slave-catchers who occasionally were seen
prowling around the fortifications, but who dare not venture within
the power of those whom they sought to enslave.

These fugitives had planted their gardens, and some of them had flocks
roaming in the wilderness; all were enjoying the fruits of their
labor, and congratulating themselves upon being safe from the attacks
of those who enslave mankind. But the spirit of oppression is
inexorable. The slaveholders finding they could not themselves obtain
possession of their intended victims, called on the President of the
United States for assistance to perpetrate the crime of enslaving
their fellow men. That functionary had been reared amid southern
institutions. He entertained no doubt of the right of one man to
enslave another. He did not doubt that if a man held in servitude
should attempt to escape, he would be worthy of death. In short, he
fully sympathised with those who sought his official aid. He
immediately directed the Secretary of War to issue orders to the
Commander of the "Southern Military District of the United States" to
send a detachment of troops to destroy "Blount's Fort," and to "_seize
those who occupied it and return them to their masters_."[1]

General Jackson, at that time Commander of the Southern Military
District, directed Lieut.-Colonel Clinch to perform the barbarous
task. I was at one time personally acquainted with that officer, and
know the impulses of his generous nature, and can readily account for
the failure of his expedition. He marched to the vicinity of the Fort,
made the necessary recognisance, and returned, making report that "the
fortification was not accessible by land."[2]

Orders were then issued to Commodore Patterson, directing him to carry
out the directions of the Secretary of War. He at that time commanded
the American flotilla lying in "Mobile Bay," and instantly issued an
order to Lieut. Loomis to ascend the Appalachicola River with two
gun-boats, "to seize the people in BLOUNT'S FORT, deliver them to
their owners, and destroy the Fort."

On the morning of the 17th Sept., A. D. 1816, a spectator might have
seen several individuals standing upon the walls of that fortress
watching with intense interest the approach of two small vessels that
were slowly ascending the river, under full-spread canvas, by the aid
of a light southern breeze. They were in sight at early dawn, but it
was ten o'clock when they furled their sails and cast anchor opposite
the Fort, and some four or five hundred yards distant from it.

A boat was lowered, and soon a midshipman and twelve men were observed
making for the shore. They were met at the water's edge by some half
dozen of the principal men in the Fort, and their errand demanded.

The young officer told them he was sent to make demand of the Fort,
and that its inmates were to be given up to the "slaveholders, then on
board the gun-boat, who claimed them as fugitive slaves!" The demand
was instantly rejected, and the midshipman and his men returned to the
gun-boats and informed Lieut. Loomis of the answer he had received.

As the colored men entered the Fort they related to their companions
the demand that had been made. Great was the consternation manifested
by the females, and even a portion of the sterner sex appeared to be
distressed at their situation. This was observed by an old patriarch,
who had drunk the bitter cup of servitude, one who bore on his person
the visible marks of the thong, as well as the brand of his master,
upon his shoulder. He saw his friends faultered, and he spoke
cheerfully to them. He assured them that they were safe from the
cannon shot of the enemy--that there were not men enough on board the
vessels to storm their Fort, and finally closed with the emphatic
declaration: "_Give me liberty or give me death!_" This saying was
repeated by many agonized fathers and mothers on that bloody day.

A cannonade was soon commenced upon the Fort, but without much
apparent effect. The shots were harmless; they penetrated the earth
of which the walls were composed, and were there buried, without
further injury. Some two hours were thus spent without injuring any
person in the Fort. They then commenced throwing bombs. The bursting
of these shells had more effect. There was no shelter from these fatal
messages. Mothers gathered their little ones around them and pressed
their babes more closely to their bosoms, as one explosion after
another warned them of their imminent danger. By these explosions some
were occasionally wounded and a few killed, until, at length, the
shrieks of the wounded and groans of the dying were heard in various
parts of the fortress.

Do you ask why these mothers and children were thus butchered in cold
blood? I answer, they were slain for adhering to the doctrine that
"all men are endowed by their Creator with the _inalienable right to
enjoy life and liberty_." Holding to this doctrine of Hancock and of
Jefferson, the power of the nation was arrayed against them, and our
army employed to deprive them of life.

The bombardment was continued some hours with but little effect, so
far as the assailants could discover. They manifested no disposition
to surrender. The day was passing away. Lieut. Loomis called a council
of officers and put to them the question, _what further shall be
done_? An under officer suggested the propriety of firing "hot shot at
the magazine." The proposition was agreed to. The furnaces were
heated, balls were prepared, and the cannonade was resumed. The
occupants of the Fort felt relieved by the change. They could hear the
deep humming sound of the cannon balls, to which they had become
accustomed in the early part of the day, and some made themselves
merry at the supposed folly of their assailants. They knew not that
the shot was heated, and was therefore unconscious of the danger which
threatened them.

The sun was rapidly descending in the west. The tall pines and spruce
threw their shadows over the fortification. The roar of the cannon,
the sighing of the shot, the groans of the wounded, the dark shades of
approaching evening, all conspired to render the scene one of intense
gloom. They longed for the approaching night to close around them in
order that they might bury the dead, and flee to the wilderness for
safety.

Suddenly a startling phenomena presented itself to their astonished
view. The heavy embankment and timbers protecting the magazine
appeared to rise from the earth, and the next _instant_ the dreadful
explosion overwhelmed them, and the next found _two hundred and
seventy_ parents and children in the immediate presence of a holy God,
making their appeal for retributive justice upon the government who
had murdered them, and the freemen of the north who sustained such
unutterable crimes.[3]

Many were crushed by the falling earth and the timbers; many were
entirely buried in the ruins. Some were horribly mangled by the
fragments of timber and the explosion of charged shells that were in
the magazine. Limbs were torn from the bodies to which they had been
attached. Mothers and babes lay beside each other, wrapped in that
sleep which knows no waking.

The sun had set, and the twilight of evening was closing around them,
when some sixty sailors, under the officer second in command, landed,
and, without opposition, entered the Fort. The veteran sailors,
accustomed to blood and carnage, were horror-stricken as they viewed
the scene before them. They were accompanied, however, by some twenty
slaveholders, all anxious for their prey. These paid little attention
to the dead and dying, but anxiously seized upon the living, and,
fastening the fetters upon their limbs, hurried them from the Fort,
and instantly commenced their return towards the frontier of Georgia.
Some fifteen persons in the Fort survived the terrible explosion, and
they now sleep in servile graves, or moan and weep in bondage.

The officer in command of the party, with his men, returned to the
boats as soon as the slaveholders were fairly in possession of their
victims. The sailors appeared gloomy and thoughtful as they returned
to their vessels. The anchors were weighed, the sails unfurled, and
both vessels hurried from the scene of butchery as rapidly as they
were able. After the officers had retired to their cabins, the
rough-featured sailors gathered before the mast, and loud and bitter
were the curses they uttered against slavery and against those
officers of government who had then constrained them to murder women
and helpless children, merely for their love of liberty.

But the dead remained unburied; and the next day the vultures were
feeding upon the carcasses of young men and young women, whose hearts
on the previous morning had beaten high with expectation. Their bones
have been bleaching in the sun for thirty-seven years, and may yet be
seen scattered among the ruins of that ancient fortification.

Twenty-two years elapsed, and a representative in Congress, from one
of the free States, reported a bill giving to the perpetrators of
these murders a gratuity of five thousand dollars from the public
treasury, as a token of the gratitude which the people of this nation
felt for the soldierly and gallant manner in which the crime was
committed toward them. The bill passed both houses of Congress, was
approved by the President, and now stands upon our statute book among
the laws enacted at the 3d Session of the 25th Congress.

The facts are all found scattered among the various public documents
which repose in the alcoves of our National Library. But no historian
has been willing to collect and publish them, in consequence of the
deep disgrace which they reflect upon the American arms, and upon
those who then controlled the government.

[Illustration: (signature) J. R. Giddings]


FOOTNOTES:

[1] Vide Executive documents of the 2d Session 13th Congress.

[2] It is believed that this report was suggested by the humanity of
Col. Clinch. He was reputed one of the bravest and most energetic
officers in the service. He possessed an indomitable perseverance, and
could probably have captured the Fort in one hour, had he desired to
do so.

[3] That is the number officially reported by the officer in command,
vide Executive doc. of the 13th Congress.




The Fugitive Slave Act.


Few laws have ever been passed better calculated than this to harden
the heart and benumb the conscience of every man who assists in its
execution. It pours contempt upon the dictates of justice and
humanity. It levels in the dust the barriers erected by the common law
for the protection of personal liberty. Its victims are native born
Americans, uncharged with crime. These men are seized, without notice,
and instantly carried before an officer, by whom they are generally
hurried off into a cruel bondage, for the remainder of their days, and
sometimes without time being allowed for a parting interview with
their families. Such treatment would be cruel toward criminals; but
these men are adjudged to toil, to stripes, to ignorance, to poverty,
to hopeless degradation, on the pretence that they "owe service."
This allegation all know to be utterly false, they having never
promised to serve, and being legally incapable of making any contract.
Every act of Christian kindness to these unhappy people, tending to
secure to them the rights which our declaration of independence
asserts belong _to all_ men, is made by this accursed law a penal
offence, to be punished with fine and imprisonment. Mock judges,
unknown to the constitution, and bribed by the promise of double fees
to re-enslave the fugitive, are commanded to decide, _summarily_, the
most momentous personal issue, with the single exception of life and
death, that could possibly engage the attention of a legal tribunal of
the most august character. Yet this tremendous issue of liberty or
bondage, is to be decided, not only in a hurry, but on such _prima
facie_ evidence as may satisfy the judge, and this judge, too,
_selected_ from a herd of similar creatures, by the claimant himself!!
An _ex parte_ affidavit, made by an absent and interested party, with
the certificate of an absent judge that he believes it to be true, is
to be received as CONCLUSIVE, in the face of any amount of oral and
documentary testimony to the contrary. "Can a man take fire into his
bosom and not be burned?" Can a man aid in executing such a law
without defiling his own conscience? Yet does this profligate statute,
with impious arrogance, command "ALL GOOD CITIZENS" to assist in
enforcing it, when required so to do by an official slave-catcher!

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