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THE

AMERICAN REVIEW.

No. LXXVIL

FOR MAY, 1851.

THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.

NOTWITHSTANDING the entire freedom of thought and speech which in this Republic we theoretically possess; notwithstanding the varieties of forms and opportunities existing for the discussion of the great and the small questions that arise among us; the numerous halls of legislation that are dotted over the entire surface of the nation, as well as the great central Congress of the whole; the newspapers "thick as the leaves in Vallambrosa" primary meetings and political assemblages of the people; pulpits, lecturerooms, and unrestricted book publication; and notwithstanding a certain general intelligence, and aptitude for thinking, speaking, and writing, a calm observer must be struck with the rarity of instances in which an important question, if arising within the arena of political strife, is considered with a breadth of thought adequate to its thorough elucidation. What are the causes of this national deficiency? In the first place, we are too one-sided as individuals, and too "many-sided" as a people. Each one is born into or attaches himself to a sect, clique or faction; and every region has its predominant local dogmas and tone of thought. Each one therefore is apt to have a preconceived theory, or a local prejudice, which more or less interferes with a wide and liberal view of any question which touches the whole nation, or the discussion of which embraces general principles. In the next place, there may be too incessant

VOL. VII. NO. V. NEW SERIES.

discussion for deep thinking. The stimulus to declamation is sympathy; and the staple of declamation is appeals to feelings, to prejudices, to interests. Wise thought and consistent logic visit genius in other spheres. The daily press is too incessant in its demands for well-considered thinking, and too local in its very nature, and all its attachments, for unbiased consideration. That form of periodical literature which is the best for such modes of presenting subjects as we are lamenting the want of, and which we have endeavored to contribute to, in the establishment of this Review, is interfered with too much by the flood of foreign rivals to assume as it ought this its proper function among us. Other causes of the evil we allude to exist, but we need not at present name them. It will be seen, we may remark, that it springs from the abuse of some of our most valuable privileges, and is only another illustration of the imperfection of all human systems.

Now we would not have it inferred from these observations that we do not think this nation arrives at the truth of questions that arise within it, or that it does not as rapidly advance in the settlement of principles as others. It does so; but yet it does not outstrip others as it should, considering its unimpeded thought and unshackled press, if there was less of the friction we have described. Truth appears to be only struck out among us in fragments after the conflict of

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battle, and finally moulded together for general use after the bitterness of the strife has passed away.

And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguishing dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he has obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes com

with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another."

One question there is, the solution of which seems to be hopelessly impeded by these causes- the question, namely: What is the duty of the whole nation, arising under its admitted Constitution, in ref-mitted against the liberties of one people erence to the subject of Negro Slavery in the Southern States? The passage of the new Fugitive Slave Bill and its enforcement have given occasion for a new discussion of this subject, and have especially stimulated all those influences which we have named, as adverse to the wisest and calmest consideration of important questions. There are some reasons why this should not be regretted, as it presents the question in a more tangible and practical shape than it usually assumes, and enables us to test the declamation it excites by the well-established principles of government, of common sense, and of divine law.

This may be too strong a statement of the case, and no doubt was considered so, as it was not inserted by Congress in the Declaration as adopted. Still, it is undeniable that the introduction of slaves into the colonies was especially patronized by the English Government, and maintained by repeated acts of Parliament. And also," being openly countenanced by the Dutch in their municipal charter and corporate societies, slavery was forced upon the American Colonies."*" "In nearly every instance," says Dr. Stevens, "the earliest legislation in There may be occasions when it is the each colony was directed to putting down part of wisdom to decline a controversy in- such a species of labor. Virginia early disvolved with collateral issues and impractica-couraged it, and during her colonial existence, ble abstractions; but it is not only wise, but manly, to embrace the occasion, when the question is presented in a form that admits of a clear decision by the common sense and common conscience of the world. But before commencing the presentation of our own views of this embarrassing subject, we propose to show the operation of the causes we began by adverting to, in impeding the fair discussion and settlement of the general question, in order that we may bespeak a more candid hearing.

passed laws imposing duties on slaves imported into the colony, thus virtually prohibiting them." Mr. Madison says, "The British Government constantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put a stop to this infernal traffic." "South Carolina soon passed a law prohibiting their further importation." It was rejected by the King in council, who declared the trade "beneficial and necessary to the mother country."

"Massachusetts, the first State in America and that, too, though a member of one of the which directly participated in the slave-trade, Boston churches earnestly rebuked the traffic, imposed duties upon negroes imported, and aimed at other efforts; but as late as 1774, when the Assembly of Massachusetts passed an act to prevent the importation of negroes and others as slaves,' Governor Hutchinson refused his assent, and dissolved the Assembly; because to sanction it would have violated his instructions. The royal orders to Governor Wentworth, of NewHampshire, directed him not to give his assent to, or pass, any law imposing duties on negroes imported into New-Hampshire. Slaves were introduced into Pennsylvania by William Penn; and though before he died he did somewhat to meliorate their condition, he died a slaveholder.'

In the first draft of the Declaration of Independence submitted by Thomas Jefferson, the following was among the grievances enumerated: "He (the King of Great Britain) has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating them and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of a Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought or the labor of individual philanthropy accomplish, and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce.

"But what could the remonstrances of colonies

*Stevens's History of Georgia, chap. ix.
+ lb. p. 286.

when kings, aud queens, and cabinets, and cities, and Parliaments, and associations, for two hundred years, were the patrons and participants in this evil traffic? The treaty of Utrecht, in 1711, constituted Her Britannic Majesty Queen Anne, and His Catholic Majesty Philip V., the crowned slave-merchants of North America; the Queen agreeing in the space of thirty years to bring into the Spanish West Indies one hundred and fortyfour thousand negroes, to the exclusion of every other slave-trader; and in her speech to Parliament the following year, she boasted of her plan in thus obtaining for English subjects a new slave market in the Spanish West Indies.

"In 1729, Parliament, at the recommendation of the King, granted supplies for keeping up the slave-traders' posts in Africa; and in 1745 a British merchant embodied the views of the mass of the English people when he entitled his tract, 'The African Slave-Trade, the great Pillar and Support of the British Plantation Trade in America.'"*

Such was the general origin of the institution in the colonies, and the sentiments that existed in relation to it; but in the case of Georgia, the Trustees in England, who held the government of that colony, prohibited the introduction of negroes. They persisted for many years in this prohibition, contrary to the repeated remonstrances and exertions of the colonists themselves; and finally yielded to the representations and the apparent necessity of the case. What those representations were, and what high names lent their sanction to them, the following extracts from Stevens will show :

"Not only was this decline visible in Savannah, but it existed in every part of the province, as is evidenced by the magistrates, who in a letter to Mr. Martyn, Secretary of the Board, state 'that the whole inhabitants of Augusta, who have had negroes among them for some years past, declare that if they cannot have that liberty they will remove to the Carolina side; and many of late seeing us strenuous to see the Trustees' or ders fulfilled, express themselves in the same

strain.'

"Thus this colony, once the pride of the philanthropic, the object of so many hopes, and the theme of so much eulogy, was pining in misery, and gasping for vitality, even under the eye of its great founder, and within seven years of its first establishment.

"One of the remedies proposed was, to use their own language, the use of negroes, with proper limitations, which, if granted, would both occasion great numbers of white people to come here, and also to render us capable to subsist ourselves, by raising provisions upon our lands, until we could make some produce fit for export, in some measure to balance our importations.' In

*Stevens's History of Georgia, p. 268.

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"I once thought it was unlawful to keep negro slaves, but I am now induced to think God may have a higher end in permitting them to be brought to this Christian country than merely to support their masters. Many of the poor slaves in America have already been made freemen of the heavenly Jerusalem, and possibly a time may come when many thousands may embrace the gospel, and thereby be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. These and other considerations appear to plead strongly for a limited use of negroes; for, while we can buy provisions in Carolina cheaper than we can here, no one will be induced to plant much."

Free trade, it would appear by this extract, compelled the relinquishment of the original policy. Hon. Colonel Heron writes, May, 1748 :

"It is well known to every one in the colony that negroes have been in and about Savannah for these several years past; that the magistrates knew and winked at it, and that their constant toast is the one thing needful,' by which is meant negroes."

The celebrated George Whitfield, who was establishing his Orphan House, at Bethesda, Georgia, says :-

"Upwards of five thousand pounds have been. expended in that undertaking, and yet very little proficiency made in the cultivation of my tract of land, and that entirely owing to the necessity L lay under of making use of white hands. Had a negro been allowed I should now have had a sufficiency to support a great many orphans, without expending above half the sum which has been laid out. An unwillingness to let so good a design drop, and having a rational conviction that it must necessarily, if some other method was not fixed upon to prevent it-these two considerations, honored gentlemen, prevailed on me about two years ago, through the bounty of my good friends, to purchase a plantation in South Carolina, where negroes are allowed. Blessed be God, this plantation has succeeded; and though at present I have but eight working hand-, yet in all probability there will be more raised in one year and with a quarter the expense than has been produced at Bethesda for several years last past. This confirms me in the opinion I have entertained for a long time, that Georgia never con or will be a flourishing province without negroes are allowed."

These historical references will serve to

present a general view of the origin of slavery in these States. It will be seen that it was never established or advocated by the colonists as an institution good in itself, but objected to, and only admitted on compulsion when it appeared necessary to their

existence.

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We quote now from the Southern Quarterly Review for January, 1851, the following passages, as confirmatory of the uniformity of these sentiments: Indeed, for a long time, even our own people were disposed to admit our inferiority in this respect, and were used to base their apology for slavery mainly upon the ground of the present impossibility of abandoning it" "and thus many, if not most slaveholders, gradually adopted the oft-repeated assertion, and were wont to admit in argument that our system was in all points inferior to others, and could only be maintained on the plea of necessity." Such were the opinions and acts of the South as represented by their great men in former times. Let us now contrast them with the modern doctrines, inculcated with all the earnestness of conviction by

some.

The views and arguments of General McDuffie, Governor Hammond, Mr. Calhoun, &c., we need not quote. They are fresh in the minds of all. Mr. McDuffie contended that Republicanism itself cannot exist permanently without the institution of slavery. The laboring population, "the hewers of wood and drawers of water," he thinks, are unsafe depositaries of political powers and rights. The other authorities we have named hold, we believe, the same thing. But as we have not at hand the means of quoting the language of these gentlemen, we will turn to the article in our able Southern contemporary, from which we have already quoted for a summary of the opinions we are trying to represent. "The investigation (the writer calls it) is of comparatively recent date, but its results are of vast importance. It has effected a revolution in the intelligence of the South which places the system upon an impregnable position. It has been examined from every point of view, and we believe that every examination has increased its value. We are satisfied now that we are right—right politically, industrially, socially, and above all, religiously."

After showing its superiority over every

| other relation of labor and capital, and the constant advantages to accrue to both parties, but especially the slave, by it, the writer exclaims, "What limits can be set to the admiration for a system which bids fair to do so much!"

These quotations and observations will be sufficient to show that there has a new set of opinions, doctrines, and arguments grown up in the South. They are held, we know, chiefly in one State, and are known as the South Carolina doctrines; but they are comparatively new, and may extend themselves. What is the cause of this change? Previous to any external pressure, we have seen that these opinions did not exist at the South; à priori, therefore, there is reason to believe that some connection exists between that pressure and these opinions. We believe it to be the general sentiment that that connection is positive-cause and effect. The "Abolitionists" are responsible for it. They have been unjust, one-sided, and unphilosophical. They have represented the slaveholder as wilfully unjust and wicked. Men whom their neighbors, even their slaves, know to be gifted with every Christian virtue and every human charity, they have maligned and denounced in the most opprobrious terms. Every one not carried away by their fanaticism has felt this to be injustice, and, indeed, irreconcilable with common sense. All know that men may be morally pure and honest while practising that which others may consider wrong. And no man positively knows for his brother man what is right and what not in complicated cases. "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

Self-preservation, (or what seemed to them to be such,) being the first law of nature, compelled them to defend themselves. Metaphysical subtleties being the chief weapon of attack, they resorted to the same weapons for defense; and in that section whose mind was impregnated by the genius of a great master of the sophisms of metaphysics, the result is as we have shown. The difficulties of the subject have been increased, and its solution retarded. Since the attack on the institution has been made from without, it has come to be defended as good per se, and we have seen no progress made towards a modification of their systems by the Southern States, no comparisons of opinions by those who have the fullest prac

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