In one of the societies from which we have had communications, a standing committee has been appointed, who are charged with the selection and publication of such extracts, essays and fugitive pieces relative to slavery, as they apprehend may give currency to the subject and revive in the minds of our fellow citizens, from time to time a few reflections on the condition of those who still wear the galling chains, deprived of one of the dearest privileges of our nature. We highly approve of this mode of circulating a knowledge of the subject, and recommend it to the imitation of all, who are not in a similar practice.

The committee appointed by the last Constitution to arrange the papers and documents relative to the formation of a history of slavery in the United States, and to produce an analysis of their contents, produced a report, from which we have judged it right to nominate three of our members in Philadelphia to engage some suitable literary character to undertake the work, and to have it published under the care, and superintendence of the committee; should you be in possession of any documents or other important information on the subject, we request you will forward them free of expense and with all convenient dispatch to the said committee, in order that they may be used as circumstances may render necessary.

The circuitous trade to Africa we have reason to believe, still continues to be carried on, particularly from many ports in the Eastern States, and although several of the attempts which have been made to punish infractions of the laws of the United States on this subject, have not resulted in the wished for event, nevertheless, we invite your vigilant and persevering opposition to this disgraceful traffic, and attention to the discovery and prosecution of the offenders, and we are willing to hope that though a partial perversion of the public sentiment, and the cupidity of interested individuals, may for a time, present considerable discouragement, yet that the virtuous exertions of the friends of the human race, will at last be blessed with the merited success.

To conclude, fellow labourers, we believe the magnitude of the work in which we are engaged is by no means lessened, and that the alarming and direful consequences attendant in various quarters, on this unchristian and inhuman usurpation of power, call for our united vigilance, and redoubled exertions, in contributing our share towards the eradication of this evil so portentous to our land.[9]

To the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.

We have received, with cordial satisfaction, the addresses to this Convention from the societies in New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

This interchange of opinion and information, between the Convention and its constituents, is as the vital current of the body, flowing from part to part, and communicating genial warmth, and health, and vigour, to every portion of the system.

Our satisfaction would have been much increased, could we have acknowledged the receipt of communications and delegations from several societies which were represented in former Conventions, but from whom we have now to direct intelligence; and had some of the addresses which have now no direct intelligence contained more detailed information.

Impressed with a sense of the interesting nature of the subject, we cannot but call your renewed attention to the education of the blacks. The schools are represented as being, in some parts, in a flourishing condition; while in others it is to be feared, little or nothing has been done towards their establishment and support. We recommend to such societies as have it not in their power, from the scantiness of their funds and other circumstances, to employ regular tutors, to form associations of their members, or other well disposed individuals, to instruct the people of colour in the most simple and useful branches of education; especially on the first day of the week—a day too often devoted to dissipation. It is also of importance that their religious and moral education should keep pace with their knowledge of letters, or much permanent good will not be accomplished. They should be taught to fear and venerate the Deity; to respect the laws of the country, and in all things to act as becomes men escaped from bondage, and on whose good conduct must, in some measure, depend the liberation of their brethren, and the kind of treatment of such as remain in slavery. We believe it would be profitable occasionally to convene them, in order to afford suitable opportunities to impress their minds with these truths.

As much good may be expected to result from the establishment of a fund, to be at the disposal of the Convention, we hope the laudable example set by some of the societies, in their donations for that purpose, will be followed by wealthy individuals, and by other societies who are in a capacity to afford it.

A person of established literary reputation has been engaged to write a history of the rise, progress, and present state of slavery in the United States; and some advancement has been made in the work—As a great variety of information on this subject will be necessary, to enable the author to compose a correct and ample history, you are requested to collect and forward, without delay all such essays and facts, relative to the design, as may be in your power.

At the same time that we invite a vigilant and constant attention, in the friends of the blacks, to prevent as far as their power extends, the infraction of the laws of the country in favour of emancipation, we confidently trust that due care will be observed to select men to the several offices of the societies, who have their zeal tempered with prudence and knowledge; for we are sensible, that for want of sound discretion on the part of some well-meaning but over-zealous individuals, the views and conduct of the body at large, have been grossly misunderstood; the cause has suffered undeserved reproach in the minds of some of our fellow citizens, and heavy expenses have been incurred in the unfavorable termination of suits undertaken without sufficient evidence, and with too much precipitation.

Being persuaded that no favourable opportunity should be lost for impressing the public mind with the iniquity of slavery, and the varied vices and evils, which are incident to it, in all their forms and consequences, we entreat such of you as have not chosen Standing Committees, charged with the publication of extracts and fugitive pieces, on this very interesting subject, to adopt the measure. Its utility has been fully proven by experience, which is the best of wisdom. To those societies who have derived advantage from the practice, we recommend a diligent and habitual attention to the subject.

We observe, with much sensibility and regret, that the inhuman and wicked practice of kidnapping, still prevails in our country, and that several cases of it have occurred since the meeting of the last Convention. Was there no other object to claim the ardent sympathy, and the active opposition of our associated brethren, than this alone, it would of itself be sufficiently interesting and momentous to justify an union of all our powers, and a vigorous combination of all our efforts, to resist this single enormity, this cruel and savage violation of the rights of our fellow-men. We request that you will, in your succeeding communications to the Convention, furnish accurate accounts of the several cases which may come under your notice, and that you will detail with precision, such of them as may be attended with particular circumstances of atrocity. The perpetrators should be known and exposed to public odium. Their names whenever detected, should be circulated throughout the continent, through the medium of the public prints; and no offender, who can be brought to punishment, should be suffered to escape the just penalty of his transgressions.

The discouragements which prevail among the friends and advocates of the African race, especially to the southward, have excited the anxious concern of the Convention. While we have nine hundred thousand slaves in our country—while we have the strongest evidence that new importations will take place—while the abominable practice of kidnapping exists to an alarming and most sorrowful extent—while we have reason to believe that hundreds of vessels sail annually from our shores to traffic in the blood of our fellow-men—and while we feel, acknowledge, and deplore, that the cause of emancipation has many strenuous, powerful, and unwearied opponents in every quarter of the union—Can this be the time to remit our effort? and to abandon that standard under which, with the favour and protection of Providence, so many thousands have been rescued from the yoke of bondage, and restored to the enjoyment of their natural rights? Not so brethren—Be not disheartened—Let us rather redouble our diligence to help forward the great and good work in which we have engaged; resting our hopes of ultimate success, on our honest and disinterested endeavours, and on the justice of our cause.[10]

To the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.

THIS Convention has the pleasure of acknowledging the reception of addresses from the Societies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware; and of a communication from the Society of Rhode Island. A free interchange of sentiments between the different societies, through the medium of the Convention, we consider as a matter of primary importance. By such communications, the Convention becomes the central fountain, into which the opinions, and experience of the different societies are received, and from whence the united knowledge may be transmitted to the individual branches. We therefore recommend, to each society, a continuation of the practice, and we earnestly entreat them to comply with our request of last year, by furnishing us with "more detailed information," not only respecting the moral, literary, and legal condition of slaves, and other persons of colour, within their districts, but also with minute accounts of every attempt at kidnapping, mentioning the names of the parties concerned in the business. Such information will open to us an extensive view of slavery and its attendant evils, as they exist within the whole circle of our societies, and enable us to labour with greater certainty and more effect, for the performance of the solemn duties which are imposed on us.

We perceive, with sincere and deep regret, that some societies have not yet made much progress in the establishment of schools for the literary and moral improvement of the people of colour. We cannot withhold the expression of our anxiety on this subject.... We consider it a matter of high moment, involving the most interesting and affecting consequences. Shall we, by lukewarmness or neglect, give the enemies of our institutions the triumph of reproaching us with indifference.... With a want of that virtue ... that inflexible spirit of perseverance, without which the tree we have nourished, and hoped to bring to maturity, may erect its barren and useless branches before us, a gloomy monument of our indolence? With what reproaches, and difficulties, and dangers, have our societies heretofore contended! with a courage and temperance, which could have been maintained only in a great and good cause; we have withstood all the rude onsets of the enemies of rational liberty, and, under the protection of a wise Providence, we have, step by step, moved forward, subduing by the eloquent voice of reason and humanity, the oppressors of the weeping Africans, until we have seen the fetters fall from thousands, and beheld those, who had been reduced to the condition of beasts of burthen, rising from the earth with the privileges and rights of men! Shall we now desert them? after teaching them that they belong to the rank of man, shall we refuse to employ our time and talents in preparing their minds for the enjoyment of those pleasures, and the practice of those virtues which belong to their species? We have hitherto been their friends; if we now desert them, to whom shall they apply for help? Their fate, as it regards human aid, rests chiefly with us. Let us try the strength of our virtue.... Let us decide, by a vote in our societies, whether we will continue our parental care over them, or leave them friendless and abandoned to their own weakness and ignorance. This vote will proclaim to the world the sincerity of our views, and the integrity of our hearts. If we are weary of well-doing, we shall forsake them; but if our breasts still glow with benevolence, we shall decide, with one voice, in their favour. Before we determine the important question, it will be well for us to recollect that no good deed passes unrewarded. Every individual sacrifice, to humanity and virtue, will be placed to our credit in the records of our lives.

The Convention have been informed, by one society, that "not being able to raise funds for the payment of a tutor, they have appointed a committee, of ten members, who maintained a school during the last summer and autumn, on the First-day afternoon of each week, for the moral and literary education of people of colour," and that they propose re-commencing the business early next summer. This conduct merits and receives our approbation, and we regard it as highly worthy the attention of societies in similar circumstances.... We exhort them to "go and do likewise."

In the cities of New York and Philadelphia, the schools appear to be in a flourishing condition; in some of them persons of colour are employed as teachers, and where such persons, properly qualified, can be procured, the Convention believes the employment of them will be attended with peculiar advantages.... It will contribute to kindle a spirit of emulation in their brethren. In some places there are persons of colour whose pecuniary circumstances would allow them to give something towards the support of schools, for their own class, and we think it proper and just, that their aid should be solicited.

Several societies have informed us that benefit has arisen from their meetings with the coloured people. We therefore, recommend that each society select a committee, of suitable members, whose duty it shall be to assemble the free persons of colour, as often as they shall judge it useful, and communicate to them such advice and instruction, as they shall think necessary; and that the committee report, in writing, the result of their opinions respecting the conference, to the next succeeding meeting of their society.

The Convention of last year, recommended to each society, the appointment of a committee for the purpose of publishing extracts, and essays, shewing the impolicy, and injustice of slavery; but we observe, with regret, this subject has not received that serious and diligent attention to which it was entitled. No abolition society can be ignorant that there are yet many thousands of persons, within the United States, who are opposed, on what they esteem grounds of justice and policy, to African liberty. Many remain under the erroneous notion, that the blacks are a class of beings not merely inferior to, but absolutely a species different from the whites, and that they are intended, by nature, only for the degradations and sufferings of slavery. There was a time when the people of all our states, and members of every religious sect, were overshadowed by the darkness of this error, and, in consequence of their erroneous opinions, practised legal violations of the rights of humanity. The pen, and the tongue of reason and truth have convinced thousands of the falsity of those opinions, and such instruments should not be permitted to rest in idleness, until truth and humanity obtain a complete and universal triumph.

We lament the continued necessity, of inviting your attention to the clandestine commerce, which, in defiance of our state and national laws, is still carried on to the coast of Africa. Information has been received that artful men, with the secrecy of midnight robbers, have contrived means of loading their vessels for Africa, and obtaining cargoes of slaves, and vending them in the West Indies, without subjecting themselves to such detection as would lead to legal punishment. Let us keep a watchful eye on all persons of this class, and endeavour to deter them from the perpetration of such cruel offences, by the only argument of which they are susceptible, the fear of the just punishment of the laws of their country.

This address will be accompanied by a number of copies of our advice to the free people of colour. We leave it to your discretion, to distribute them, together with such parts of our former advices, as you shall judge expedient.

Finally, brethren, we beseech you by the rights of humanity ... by the pleadings of mercy ... by the great and interesting cause which we have espoused, that you suffer nothing to discourage you in your useful labours, ... but that you persevere in your good works of justice and benevolence, with a temperate and firm spirit until your task, by the aid of Providence, shall be accomplished.[11]

To

WE the American Convention of Delegates for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, feeling the importance of the business which you have committed to our deliberation, deem it our duty to address you, and to communicate some of the subjects which have claimed our particular attention.

We learn that in some parts of the United States, there are yet men so lost to all honourable feelings, so deeply depraved as to violate those laws of their country which were intended to protect the rights of free persons of colour. Those who have any knowledge of the heart of man, his selfish attachments, and the firm grasp with which he seizes and holds all that he calls his own, cannot be surprized at the reluctance which individuals evince, in resigning their claims to those people of colour who are legally their slaves: but at this period when the rights of man are so well understood, in a country where the highest degree of civil liberty is enjoyed by the white citizens, it appears astonishing that the kidnapper should be permitted to carry on his depredations; that his audacious encroachments on the rights and happiness of the suffering people of colour should, for a moment, be tolerated. We hope our feelings on this subject, will not be considered as the offspring of misguided zeal. Every one in whose heart the pulse of benevolence beats, whose sentiments are not degraded beneath the dignity of man must feel on this occasion; he must be sensible of the deep crime which the kidnapper commits against the laws of his country, and the violent nature of his trespass on the dearest rights of humanity. The man of colour whom our country has declared free; around whose liberty the law has thrown its protecting arms, in defiance of the voice of that country and that law, is torn from his family by the midnight robber, and transported to the mournful regions of perpetual slavery, while his wife and his little ones are left to struggle alone, in poverty, for the bread of mere existence. This is a melancholy but a faithful picture of the miseries occasioned by the detestable kidnapper. Let us exert our best faculties for the purpose of eradicating such evils. Those societies who form the line of demarcation between the states in which slavery has been partially or totally abolished, and those in which it is unconditionally maintained, are particularly and earnestly requested to use all their vigilance for the detection of kidnappers and the suppression of those crimes. We do not mean to say that any deficiency, in proper zeal, has been manifested by those societies, we rather wish to speak the language of encouragement.

We observe with satisfaction the continued care, of several societies, in the great task of education. We hope there is not a single member of any one of our societies who does not perceive the importance of it. To make men happy in themselves and useful to society it is not necessary that they be taught the abstruse sciences, but it is indispensibly requisite that they be qualified to form a correct estimate of those powers, and to exercise those faculties which the Great Creator of man has been pleased to intrust to their care. The Abolition Societies may be regarded as the paternal protectors and friends of the people of colour. They have undertaken that task, and it is their duty to persevere in their labours, to hold out to the end in their good work. Although liberty be a blessing, when we obtain the freedom of the slave our work is not completed. It then becomes our peculiar charge to endeavour to teach the enfranchised man how to value, and how to employ the privileges which have fallen to his lot. This noble task is rapidly progressing in some societies, and we seriously and affectionately invite others to imitate their benevolent efforts. Lancaster's plan of instruction seems admirably adapted for the communication of the rudiments of literature, we hope there are, in all our societies, some individuals whose condition of life will allow them leisure, and whose virtue will animate them to persevering efforts in the blessed task of instructing the forlorn, and in some places, we may say almost friendless people of colour. Let them be taught to read and they will be introduced to a knowledge of the scriptures, those sacred repositories of moral and divine truth; let them be taught the elementary branches of arithmetic which will prepare them for the common concerns of life.

We rejoice with you that our national Government has had the wisdom and humanity, to embrace the first constitutional opportunity afforded, to pass a law which entirely prohibits our citizens from foreign traffic in human flesh. We hope our hearts are not without sentiments of sincere gratitude to the great disposer of events for that signal blessing. But we have to sympathize with nearly a million of human beings who are subject to the bonds of slavery within the United States, we have yet to mourn over this dishonour of our country. The progress of truth, or correct opinion of right has accomplished great ends, but much remains to be done. Domestic slavery is a national crime; a crime which is calculated to excite in the man of upright sentiments, serious and awful apprehensions of the final consequences of its continuance. It is our duty to employ the pen and the press for the dissemination of such arguments as shall convince our countrymen of the injustice and impolicy of such slavery. The man whose mind is clouded by prejudice, while his heart is hardened by selfish considerations, must have truth frequently repeated, and presented under various aspects, before his errors can be corrected, his prejudices subdued, and the noble feelings of philanthropy excited in his breast. This is a constant, an arduous, but not a hopeless duty. We therefore recommend the frequent publication of extracts from celebrated works, or original essays, tending to establish the justice and policy of gradual and general emancipation.

One society has informed us that a committee of its members held a satisfactory conference with the blacks and other people of colour. We think such conferences, under the direction of discreet men, may have a beneficial influence on the minds of the blacks, we again recommend the subject to your attention. In such meetings the advice of former Conventions may be renewed, and, we think, the necessity of legal marriages, honesty in their dealings, and the importance of religious instruction should be impressively urged upon them.

We learn that Thomas Clarkson's history of the abolition of the slave trade, which has been reprinted in Philadelphia, is now published for the emolument of its author. When we consider the value of this work to the cause of emancipation, the indefatigable zeal of that powerful and benevolent advocate for the rights of the Africans, and his great expense in the performance of his labours, we think ourselves bound in duty, to contribute our aid for the general circulation of his interesting history. We therefore earnestly recommend that work to your patronage, and we hope you will cheerfully employ such means, as you may think effectual for promoting its sale.[12]

To Society for promoting abolition.

IN discharging the customary duty of addressing you, we have great satisfaction in stating, that the business of the Convention has been conducted, throughout, with the utmost cordiality.

We cannot, however, forbear the expression of our sincere regret, that so few societies have been represented in this Convention. When we contemplate the interesting magnitude of the cause in which we have unitedly and voluntarily embarked—when we consider the solid and obvious advantages, which have hitherto been derived, to the friends of humanity, from a free and personal interchange of opinion and from unison of action, we confidently trust that trifling impediments will not be suffered to interpose in the fulfilment of our duty. We therefore, in that freedom which becomes the advocates of truth and justice, do most earnestly and affectionately recommend a more zealous attention to this important point, in order that the succeeding Convention may be more fully attended. Much has been accomplished, but, when we remember that it has been officially announced by the late census that nearly twelve hundred thousand of our fellow beings remain in a state of abject bondage in our deluded country, it surely will not, cannot be denied, that much, very much, remains yet to be done. You have put your hands to the plough—look not back till ye shall have accomplished the end. You have commenced the wrestling, cease not your hold till ye shall have obtained the prize.

While against the oppressor, we plead the cause of the oppressed—While we invite the unhappy slave to a patient and Christian submission to his condition—and urge on his legalized master a humane exercise of his power—While we feel ourselves bound, by all honourable and lawful means, to protect those whom the laws have enfranchised, from being again dragged into slavery—let us not forget how much depends on the careful instruction of all who are free. Without this our labour will be but very partially accomplished. This great object, so important to ourselves, as members of those who are the subjects of our care; and the Convention have learned, with heart-felt satisfaction, that it is proposed, by the people of colour in New York, to raise a fund among themselves, for the instruction of their orphan children. This circumstance, while it proves an honourable testimony to the persevering zeal of the New-York Manumission Society, reflects great credit on the blacks themselves; and we hope the example will not be without beneficial effects elsewhere. Could such of these people as have it in their power, be persuaded to apply a part of their surplus earnings to the establishment of similar funds, instead, as is unhappily the case in too many instances, of spending their money in courses which prove injurious to their health and morals, not only their race, but the community at large, would from such meritorious efforts speedily reap the most unequivocal advantages.

It appears that, in defiance of the laws already provided to interdict the inhuman practice, and notwithstanding the enormity of the offence in itself, men are yet found, so lost to justice and the tender feeling of humanity, as to be guilty of carrying free blacks from some of the states, and selling them as slaves in others. We, therefore, recommend renewed vigilance to detect and prosecute these hardened transgressors—and that, whenever the laws are found to be defective, or insufficient to the correction of the evil, application be made, to the constituted authorities, for such amendments, and alterations as may be necessary and effectual; that our country may be purged of this most grievous iniquity.

The Pennsylvania Society accompanied their address to the Convention with some very interesting documents, which were transmitted to them by the African Institution in London, part of which it is proposed to publish in the form of an appendix to our printed minutes, in order that the information which it contains may be more generally diffused. The Convention have not, at this time, deemed it necessary or expedient, to take any further order on this subject. Were the laws of the general government, in relation to the slave trade, duly and faithfully executed, it is believed they would put an end to this inhuman traffic, which, to the disgrace of some of our citizens, it is but too evident they have been carrying on under the protection and cover of foreign flags. We invite you to a careful perusal of these documents. They contain the evidence of a mass of iniquity, the development of which cannot but excite the indignation of every feeling mind.

You will perceive, by the minutes of our proceedings, that the friends of humanity have gained an accession to their cause in the establishment of an Abolition Society in Kentucky. We trust their labours will be blessed with success, and that this dawn of light will burst into a more perfect day on our brethren of the southern states, casting its cheering and benign influence alike on all; that the ensanguined lash of the task master, and the cries of the slave, may no longer appal the ear and sicken the heart, in this boasted land of mercy and equal rights.[13]

The Committee appointed to draft an address to the several Abolition, Manumission, &c. Societies in the United States—reported an essay, which was read, considered by paragraphs, and adopted, as follows:—

To the various Societies instituted to promote the Abolition of Slavery in the United States, or to protect the rights and improve the condition of the People of Color.

The American Convention of delegates from Societies, associated in various parts of our country, to promote the abolition of slavery and improve the condition of the African race, convened in Philadelphia, having harmoniously transacted its important concerns, address you at this time with increased interest for the success of the cause they have espoused; firmly relying on the Divine Being for a blessing on their feeble efforts to promote the cause of justice and mercy.

The communications forwarded to the Convention at this time, fully evince that the cause of emancipation continues to advance, and that even in the strongholds of slavery the friends of the oppressed slave are fast increasing in numbers. Our fellow citizens of the south and west are becoming more and more awakened to a sense of the evil, injustice, and impolicy of slavery; and we firmly trust that those who have engaged in the benevolent work of "restoring liberty to the captive, and to let the oppressed go free," will not look back with discouragement at the long period this cruelty has prevailed, but continue to press forward with increased energy to the goal they have set before them, the complete and final abolition of slavery within the United States. To promote this desirable object we know of no measures more efficient than the formation of anti-slavery associations, particularly in situations where the evils of slavery prevail; for experience has fully proved that a combination of effort has often effected that which individual exertion has attempted in vain. The dissemination of useful works and tracts on the subject of slavery, cannot but have a powerful effect in enlightening the public mind on this awfully interesting subject. The Convention would particularly recommend the following works to your special attention—viz: Clarkson's Abolition of the Slave Trade, abridged by Evan Lewis; Clarkson's Thoughts on Slavery; Laws of the State of Pennsylvania, passed 1780; Tract on Slavery, published by the Tract Association of Friends in Philadelphia; Hodgson's Letter to J. B. Say, on the comparative productiveness of Free and Slave Labor; and a work now preparing for publication in this city, entitled, A Sketch of the Laws in relation to Slavery in the United States, by George M. Stroud. They also recommend that each Anti-Slavery Society subscribe, and promote subscriptions among their members and others, for the Genius of Universal Emancipation, edited by Benjamin Lundy, of Baltimore; and to the African Observer, a periodical work published in Philadelphia, by Enoch Lewis; and the Freedom's Journal, a weekly paper published at New York, by John B. Russwurm, a person of color. All these works we believe are well conducted, and will be powerful aids to the cause of liberty and justice.

As an incipient step to the abolition of slavery, we earnestly recommend that immediate application be made to the Legislature of states where slavery exists, to prohibit the sale of slaves out of the state. The traffic which is thus carried on from state to state, is fruitful of evil consequences, not only depraving the minds of those engaged in it, but producing the most cruel separations of near connexions, and depriving its victims of almost every incentive to conjugal fidelity or correctness of conduct. Perhaps next in importance in meliorating the condition of the slaves, is the adoption of regulations for their religious instruction, and the education of their children.

The condition of the free people of color in the United States has claimed our attention, and we earnestly recommend to the several societies, not only to use their endeavors to protect them in their just rights, but to use every means in their power to elevate them in the scale of society, by affording them and their children the means of literary instruction. And as the first day of the week is too frequently spent by them in dissipation, we would suggest the formation of associations wherever practicable, for the establishment of first day or Sunday schools for their benefit, as well as schools on the other days of the week. The degraded condition of this class of men ought to call forth our regret and sympathy; being precluded from pursuing the lucrative employments of life, it is much to be desired that more of them than have heretofore been permitted may be instructed in handicraft trades, and employed in manufactures.

You will observe, by our minutes, that the Convention has again addressed Congress, on the important subject of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and the restriction of the further introduction of slaves into the Territory of Florida; and we hope our application will be supported by addresses from other bodies of our constituents. The Convention believes that if the advocates of freedom persevere in endeavoring to enlighten the public mind on this all important subject, that the time is not far distant when a triumph will be obtained over the strong prejudice and delusion which has so long continued, and the cause of justice and humanity will finally prevail.

The Convention fervently desires that all who have put their hands to this great work may really deserve the epithet of "Saints," which in irony has been reproachfully cast upon them; and by their energy, prudence, and moderation, convince their opponents they have been mistaken in their characters and conduct. And we confidently hope that the blessing of that Almighty Being, who equally regards the bond and the free, will crown your righteous labor with success.[14]

To the various Anti-Slavery Societies in the United States.

The American Convention, for promoting the abolition of slavery, and improving the condition of the African race, feeling desirous to encourage every measure that may have a tendency to aid this deeply injured people, and to relieve our country from the many evils inseparably connected with the system of individual oppression, take the liberty to address you upon the present occasion. And in the performance of this task, we are particularly solicitous to draw your attention to the subject of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia—a subject which we view as highly important, especially at the present moment, and deserving your most serious consideration.

When we reflect that the government of this District emanates from the Congress of the United States—that the power to regulate its political and municipal concerns is solely vested in that body—that the people of every State must share the honor or opprobium attending the course of conduct pursued by the authorities in the administration of its local government—and that the whole Union must be measurably responsible for the consequence resulting therefrom—when we take this view of the subject, we ought not for a moment to hesitate in appealing to the friends of humanity in every section of the country, and urging them to use all lawful and just means, within their reach, to limit, and finally to eradicate the demoralizing and corrupting system of slavery, which is yet upheld and tolerated there.

We will not enter into a minute detail of the many advantages that would result to the nation, either morally or politically, from the abolition of slavery, in the District aforesaid.—But we feel it an imperious duty to state, that in our opinion it would be attended with the most salutary effects on other portions of the Union, the influence of which would be incalculable. Under the present regulations, that distinguished spot on which is erected the sacred Fane of republican Freedom, is not only polluted by the galling shackle and the iron rod of oppression, but is absolutely converted into a great depository for the purchase and sale of human beings. The demoralizing effect which this must produce on the minds of many who become familiarized with it, and the odium which it attaches to us, in the estimation of enlightened foreigners, many of whom are constant witnesses thereof, must inevitably sap the foundation of our free institutions, and degrade our national character in the eyes of the world. This, we conceive, (to say nothing of the injustice of slavery and its concomitants,) should be a sufficient incentive to action—a sufficient inducement to labor in the holy cause of emancipation.

We are aware that it has been asserted, even on the floor of Congress, that we should wait until the people of that District themselves demand the abolition of the system of slavery. This doctrine we conceive to be fallacious. The people there are not exclusively responsible for the national disgrace and criminality attending it. The United States government, and of course, the people in every section of the Union, must bear the odium and meet the consequences:—and if so, it follows, that they have a perfect right to avert the same, by such just and legal means as their wisdom may point out, and their judgment select. But a portion of the people of that District are now demanding the eradication of the evil in question. Societies for the abolition of slavery have been organized among them; and they have protested against the continuance of the cruel and disgraceful practice. Let, then, the voice of their brethren elsewhere, be heard in unison with theirs. Let a strong appeal be made to the justice of the nation, that the constituted authorities may be induced to take up the subject, and bestow upon it that care which its importance imperiously requires.

To facilitate the accomplishment of this purpose, we would advise and recommend, that petitions and memorials be circulated by all the anti-slavery societies in each of the States and territories, for the signature of the citizens at large, and that they be forwarded to Congress by the Representatives, with instructions to lay them before that body, at an early day.

The Committee appointed to consider on and report what measures, &c. made the following report.

To the American Convention for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, &c.

The Committee appointed "to consider of and report what measures are necessary to be taken to promote the Abolition of the Domestic Slave Trade, and to protect free persons of color from being kidnapped, and whether any regulations might be adopted to prevent their being carried off in steam boats, stages, and coasting vessels," Report, that although in their opinion the intimate connexion existing between the Domestic Slave Trade and the system of slavery generally, precludes the expectation of applying a very efficient check to the one, except by a reduction of the other, yet they indulge the hope that the united influence of the several Abolition and Anti-Slavery Societies throughout the Union, directed to memorializing Congress, might procure some wholesome restraint upon a traffick fraught with such aggravated evil, and productive of such complicated misery.

In relation to the other subject submitted to them, viz. "the protection of free persons of color against kidnappers," the Committee are of opinion that the existing laws appear to be amply sufficient, if properly executed. They have, therefore, no other measures to recommend than the less obtrusive, but persevering exertions, of the several associations now formed, and which may be hereafter instituted, in the different sections of our country.

On behalf of the Committee,

DAVID SCHOLFIELD, Chairman.[15]

To the Abolition, Manumission, and Anti-Slavery Societies in the United States of America.

FELLOW LABORERS.—In reviewing the labors of the several Anti-Slavery Societies in the United States, there is much to cheer and gratify us. In looking over the different sections of our extended country, we find the cause of truth and humanity has slowly, but regularly advanced, in the minds of our fellow citizens generally. And we think nothing remains but perseverance in presenting the subject of slavery in its native deformity and its hideous aspect, to convince its advocates of their error, and to overcome all the opposition which can be arrayed against us. We are satisfied that to the perseverance of its advocates alone, we are indebted in a considerable degree for the change of opinion in the Northern, Middle, and some of the Western States: and we sincerely hope that a similar change will be ultimately made in the southern sections of our county. Let us never relax in our exertions to promote the emancipation, and meliorate the condition of slaves, till every human being in these United States shall equally enjoy, all the blessings of our free Institutions. How can we feel apathy or indifference while we can almost see from the windows of the room in which we are now deliberating, a receptacle for slaves, in which they are thrust, manacled and bound, all ready to ship by their avaricious owner in the first vessel whose master or owners are as hard hearted and unprincipled as himself! Yes! A dungeon, the horrors of which has called forth deep emotions of regret from all who are permitted to see the misery and wretchedness of its inmates, and particularly the tears and great agitation of a benevolent aged stranger, who, in visiting this country, which has always professed "That all men are by nature, and of right ought to be free," was surprised and shocked to find in the precincts of one of the most professedly enlightened and patriotic cities in the Union, a storehouse of human flesh!

Slavery in whatever point of light considered, is a revolting subject, repugnant to the best feelings of our nature, as inconsistent with the rights and happiness of man. We therefore, urge the respective Societies to renewed exertions, in behalf of our colored population, and to petition Congress to abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia, and also to prevent its further extension in the territories of the United States.

Deeply injured as they have been by the whites, the colored people certainly claim from us some degree of retributive justice; we would, therefore, at this time particularly and earnestly recommend to the renewed attention of all the Abolition, Manumission and Anti-Slavery Societies in this country, the all-important subject of giving the colored children literary instruction, and placing them as apprentices to useful trades.

For, unquestionably, the most efficient means of promoting the moral improvement of this degraded portion of the human family is the institution of schools. And it must be obvious to every thinking mind, that a portion of education will be absolutely necessary to prepare the slave for the enjoyment of freedom; and such has been the happy influence of it on the scholars in the New York African Free School, that the Trustees in that city, state, that no scholar who has been regularly educated in their school, has ever been convicted of crime in any of their courts of justice. We have no doubt that if similar means were used in other places, the like happy result would be obtained. And it is equally certain, that facts like these do more to obliterate idle prejudice than all abstract reasoning on the subject.

The Convention have been highly pleased at this time by the exhibition of some handsome specimens of the skill and talent of some of the boys in the African school under the charge of Charles C. Andrews, in New York; creditable alike to the Teacher and the scholar. For a more particular description of these articles, we refer to page 20 of the minutes of this Convention.

We again call your attention to the following extract from our Address last year, particularly applicable to the present subject.

"As an incipient step to the Abolition of Slavery, we earnestly recommend, that immediate application be made to the Legislatures of States where Slavery exists, to prohibit the sale of slaves out of the state. The traffic which is thus carried on from state to state, is fruitful of evil consequences, not only depraving the minds of those engaged in it, but producing the most cruel separation of near connexions, and depriving its victims of almost every incentive to conjugal fidelity or correctness of conduct. Perhaps next in importance in meliorating the condition of slaves, is the adoption of regulations for their religious instruction, and the education of their children."

"And while the members of the several Societies are laboring in the good work of universal emancipation, the Convention would particularly urge them to use all suitable endeavours, mildly yet earnestly, to prevail upon slave holders to consider the injustice and impolicy of tolerating Slavery; and prevail, if possible, upon such individuals, to fall into some plan for its gradual and entire abolition in our otherwise free and favoured country."

We conclude with exhorting all those who are engaged with us in this important cause, to persevere, with the hope and confidence, that although our progress may be apparently slow, and our prospects sometimes appear discouraging, conformably to the dispensations of a Gracious Providence, truth and justice must, and will ultimately prevail.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

EDMUND HAVILAND, Chairman.[16]

To the Manumission, Anti-Slavery Societies, &c, throughout the United States.

FELLOW CITIZENS,—The American Convention for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, &c. now sitting at Washington, in the District of Columbia, having seriously taken into consideration the state of slavery in the said district, and in the United States generally, and viewed what furtherance the cause of freedom has received for some time past, are decidedly of opinion, that increasing efforts are at this time, emphatically called for, on the part of those who really think that "all men are created free and equal."

Memorial after memorial has been presented to Congress, but as yet they have produced but little visible effect. Small progress has been made towards abolishing slavery at the seat of our National Government. It has been a subject of much reflection what measures would be most likely to accomplish the grand object of our labours; and we would suggest whether greater success would not be likely to crown our efforts, by more widely disseminating a knowledge of the objects and principles of the different Anti-Slavery Societies throughout the Union. The subject has been referred at this session of our Acting Committee, but our funds are too limited to act as extensively as the great importance of the object requires. It is believed that a very large portion of the citizens of the United States are favorable to the emancipation of the people of colour, if it could be done upon legitimate principles, without infringing upon the rights of individuals or endangering the safety of the community; and if the dissemination of our principles was more generally attended to, co-adjuting societies would doubtless increase, and this Convention eventually become a body so numerous and respectable, that the National Government would not withhold its attention.

The proper education of the African race should form a prominent feature in all our efforts. It is with much gratification we are enabled to state that the address from New York, mentions a continued advancement in the literary improvement of the coloured children, and that from Philadelphia holds out the prospect of the establishment of a school for teaching them the higher branches of an English education and thus enabling them to act as teachers of their own isolated race. To break up the fallow ground, to sow the seed, and rear the tender plants of virtue in this degraded people, should be the wish of every heart and the effort of every hand. Let us establish schools, instruct the children, and show to the world that the mind of the African is not a soil where genius sickens and every virtue dies.

When we reflect that man is a being whose own interest generally forms the alpha and omega, beginning and end of life, a centre around which every passion and affection of his heart revolves, a boundary beyond which he seldom ventures, we are rather encouraged at the progress of our cause, than deterred by the magnitude of the work to be yet accomplished. Have not thousands been liberated, and the condition of tens of thousands improved? We believe there is a secret fire enkindled in the public bosom which will never be extinguished, until liberty be given to the captive and freedom to the oppressed. But this glorious principle needs to be encouraged and kept alive by the increasing efforts of its friends, to show to the world that they themselves are not weary of well-doing. Prejudices imbibed in youth and strengthened by age are to be broken down, and many an objection to be overcome.

In conclusion we would remark that although much censure has been cast upon us, we are renewedly convinced of the goodness and the justice of our cause. Let us exhort you to a patient continuance in your labours; and "the bread cast upon the waters, shall be found after many days."[17]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1794, pp. 18-21.

[2] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1795, pp. 26-31.

[3] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1796, pp. 23-25.

[4] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1796, p. 28.

[5] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1797, pp. 22-25.

[6] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1798, pp. 15-20.

[7] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1800, pp. 20-23.

[8] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1801, pp. 42-46.

[9] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1803, pp. 29-34.

[10] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1804, pp. 35-39.

[11] Minutes of Proceedings of Tenth American Convention for the Abolition of Slavery, 1805, pp. 26-35.

[12] Minutes of the Proceedings of the Twelfth American Convention for promoting the Abolition of Slavery and improving the condition of the African Race Assembled at Philadelphia, 1809, pp. 26-31.

[13] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1812, pp. 25-28.

[14] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1827, pp. 20-22.

[15] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1827, pp. 22-25.

[16] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1828, pp. 28-30.

[17] Minutes of the Proceedings of a Convention of Delegates from the Abolition Societies, 1829, pp. 19-21.



CORRESPONDENCE

245 WEST 139TH ST., NEW YORK CITY, January 11, 1920.

CARTER G. WOODSON, Ph.D., Editor, THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY, Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir:

In the January, 1920, number of The Journal of Negro History there is an affidavit of Kelly Miller and Whitefield McKinlay to the effect that Mr. Cardoza, at one time secretary of State for South Carolina, stated to them that a number of colored men met and appointed a committee which was sent to Washington to get the advice of Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens concerning the formation of the political organization for the newly enfranchised Negro shortly after the adoption of the 14th Amendment, pains being taken to keep the plans from both the native whites and the so-called carpet-baggers from the North, and that both Mr. Sumner and Mr. Stevens advised the committee to tender the leadership to native whites of the master class of conservative views, but that the plan was frustrated because they were unable to secure the consent of desired representatives of the former class to assume the proffered leadership.

I accept the fact that Mr. Cardoza made the statement as sworn to by Prof. Miller and Mr. McKinlay, but I must state with all of the emphasis that is possible that it is inconceivable to me how Mr. Sumner or Mr. Stevens could give such advice that would give the leadership of the newly enfranchised Negroes to native whites of the master class, however conservative. All rebels were alike to Mr. Sumner and Mr. Stevens. No reference to conservative men of the master class will be found in the speeches or writings of either one.

I have read the speeches of both men on the Reconstruction measures as published in the Congressional Globe and I have failed to find one word uttered by either one that would lead me to believe that they would give the advice as stated in the affidavit. Both men held radical views as to reconstruction plans for the rebel States and were chiefly instrumental in having the Reconstruction Acts and the 14th Amendment passed. If it had not been for their untiring and persistent efforts, especially of Mr. Stevens, who practically dominated the House of Representatives from 1861 to the date of his death, I venture the assertion that the Reconstruction Acts and the 14th Amendment as passed could not have been passed.

It is possible that there were Negroes in South Carolina who had never felt the lash of the master class who were willing to curry favor with that class, regardless of the gratitude due the Northern men, white and colored, but I do not believe that the Northern Negroes (R. B. Elliott, Judge Wright, Judge Whipper, Henry W. Purvis, S. A. Swails, Dr. B. A. Bosemon, R. H. Gleaves, B. F. Randolph and others) would have deserted their Northern brethren, nor do I believe that the great men of the Republican Party (Conkling, Fessenden, Wade, Morton, Weed, Seward, Stanton, Chase, Boutwell, Washburne, Blaine, Sherman, Schurz, Phelps, Morrill, Bingham, Henry Wilson, Hoar and others) would have stood for the consummation of such a plan. I am sure, from what I knew of the Negroes of South Carolina, that they would have rebelled against the plan. If any committee went on to Washington it is possible that the members suggested the plan to Mr. Sumner and Mr. Stevens, but for them to advise along that line, a thousand times, no.

Everything done by Mr. Sumner and Mr. Stevens was done openly and above board and if they had given the advice as stated in the affidavit they would have had the courage of their convictions to have stated so publicly. It was not in their nature to play the cards from under the table.

Mr. Stevens, who was the author of the Reconstruction Act and most of the Reconstruction measures, ranking next to Alexander Hamilton as a constructive statesman, had embodied in the Act an oath that would have precluded men of the former master class, radical or conservative, from having anything to do with the Reconstruction legislation for the former rebel States. They could not register; therefore, they could not vote nor hold office until all of the provisions of the Reconstruction Acts, including the ratification of the 14th Amendment, were complied with, and their political disabilities removed. Practically all of the "cracker" element or "poor buckra" as designated by the Negroes could vote but the statement does not include that element.

The Republican Party was organized in South Carolina in July, 1867, and Northern men, white and colored, took an active part in the deliberations, R. H. Gleaves, a Northern Negro, being the President of the convention.

The Constitutional Convention met in Charleston, January 14, 1868, the Northern men practically dominating the proceedings, and before adjournment a State ticket was nominated. R. K. Scott, a Northern white man, was nominated for Governor. There were other white men (Northern) on the ticket. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor were elected for two years and the other State officers for four years. This would indicate that the Northern men held the situation well in hand.

The South Carolina legislature under the Constitution of 1865, refused to ratify the proposed 14th Amendment on December 20, 1866. This legislature was composed of Democrats, all of the master class, conservative and radical, and in view of this it is incomprehensible to me how intelligent Negroes could have thought of tendering the leadership to any men of the master class. The conditions were such that men of the master class could not have accepted the leadership had they so desired after repudiating the 14th Amendment.

I have read Rhodes, Dunning, Burgess, Hart, Hollis, Pike, and Schouler, on Reconstruction, also S. W. McCall's Biography of Thaddeus Stevens, E. B. Callender's Thaddeus Stevens, the Commoner, and E. L. Pierce's Memoirs and Letters of Charles Sumner, and cannot find anything that would indicate that either Mr. Sumner or Mr. Stevens would give the advice as stated in the affidavit.

When Mr. Stevens introduced the proposed 14th Amendment it contained the following section:

Section 3.—Until July 4, 1870, all persons who voluntarily adhered to the late insurrection, giving it aid and comfort, shall be excluded from the right to vote for Representatives in Congress and for Electors for President and Vice-President.

This section was defeated but relative to it Mr. Stevens in a speech said:

"The 3rd section may encounter more difference here. Among the people I believe it will be the most popular of all the provisions; it prohibits rebels from voting for members of Congress and electors of President until 1870. My only objection to it is that it is too lenient.

I would be glad to see it extended to 1878, and to include all State and municipal as well as national elections."

There are two things about the advice that seem incongruous. First that intelligent Negroes would think that any men of the master class would join hands with them, some of whom had probably been their slaves, to govern the State. In the second place it is hard to believe that Sumner and Stevens, men of brilliant legal minds, would give advice that could not be carried out, even if practicable.

No man of the master class in South Carolina, however conservative, would stand for being called a scalawag.

There were practically no Union men in South Carolina. There were a few men who opposed secession at the time but when the ordinance of secession was passed a man who did not go with the State was considered a traitor. South Carolina was not considered a safe place for a white man who was opposed to secession after the ordinance was passed. This probably accounts for the statement in the last part of the affidavit relative to the frustration of the plans.

I regard the statement in reference to Messrs. Sumner and Stevens as a reflection on the memory of two of the greatest friends of the Negro.

History, unless it is based on facts, incontrovertible facts, is worthless.

If there are any readers of The Journal of Negro History who can produce "irrefragable evidence" relative to this matter I would be glad if they would do so. Truth is supreme and everlasting.

Prof. R. T. Greener, now of Chicago, Harvard's first Negro graduate, and the first and only Negro who occupied a chair in one of the old Southern universities, delivered on Public Day, June 29, 1874, in the historic South Carolina University, a most eloquent and scholarly address on "Charles Sumner, the Idealist, Statesman and Scholar." It made such an impression on the members of the faculty that they requested Prof. Greener to allow them to have it published and distributed. Professor Greener was the only Negro on the faculty. He occupied the chair of Mental and Moral Philosophy. Professor Greener was closer to Mr. Sumner than any other colored man, although very much younger, and enjoyed a friendship with the Senator vouchsafed to very few white men. It is possible that he may be able to throw some light on the subject in so far as Mr. Sumner is concerned.

Letters from scholars in this field will help us to learn the truth. A copy of a letter from J. F. Rhodes follows:

RAVENSCLEFT, SEAL HARBOR, MAINE, Sept. 27, 1920.

HENRY A. WALLACE,

Dear Sir:

I have your valued favor of 23 with enclosure. It is now about fourteen years since I made my study of Reconstruction, and on some details my memory is not fresh, but I have no hesitation in saying that I never found anything that would lead me to believe that either Sumner or Stevens was in favor of the scheme outlined. The story told by the affidavit "does not fit into the situation" as Samuel R. Gardiner used to say. Nothing but irrefragible evidence could lead one to such a view. Your examination of the subject seems to have been thorough and I thank you for giving me the results of it.

Very truly yours, enc. returned Signed. JAMES F. RHODES.

A Copy of a Letter from Samuel W. McCall

24 MT. VERNON ST., September 13, 1920.

MR. HENRY A. WALLACE, 245 West 139th St., New York, N. Y.

Dear Sir:

In reply to your favor of the 3rd inst., with enclosed copy of the affidavit concerning the position of Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner upon the proposed policy of organization for the negroes, I would say that I do not remember ever having come across anything of the kind in my researches concerning Mr. Stevens, nor have I ever heard of it about Mr. Sumner.

Very truly yours, Signed. SAML. W. MCCALL.

A Copy of a Letter from Hon. H. C. Lodge.

NAHANT, MASS., September 8, 1920.

My dear Sir:

I have received your letter of the 6th. I have never heard before of the point which you raise in regard to Mr. Sumner and really know nothing about it. As I am separated from my library, which is in Washington, I am sorry that I can give you no information about it, but if you would examine the Life of Charles Sumner by Edward L. Pierce, which is very elaborate and thorough, you would find something about it there, if anywhere.

Very truly yours, Signed. H. C. LODGE.

HENRY A. WALLACE, ESQ., 245 West 139th St., New York, N. Y.

As the native white men of the master class were ineligible to hold office until the new Constitution and the 14th Amendment were ratified and their political disabilities were removed, even had they acted in an advisory capacity to the newly enfranchised Negroes, the Northern men being eliminated, only Negroes and white men of the "cracker" element could have held office and have been elected delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

There were some native white men of the "cracker" element in the Constitutional Convention and also in the first legislature elected.

Very respectfully, HENRY A. WALLACE.

245 WEST 139TH ST., NEW YORK CITY, January 16, 1921.

CARTER G. WOODSON, Ph.D., Editor, THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY, 1216 You St., N. W., Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir:

In connection with my letter to you of the 11th instant, pertaining to the affidavit of Messrs. Miller and McKinlay relative to the statement made by Mr. Francis Cardoza to them concerning Mr. Sumner and Mr. Stevens, as published in The Journal of Negro History for January, 1920, I respectfully invite your attention to a copy of a letter from Dr. J. W. Burgess, formerly of Columbia University. You will find him listed in "Who's Who in America."

Dr. Burgess is the author of two books covering the Civil War and the Reconstruction period, The Civil War and the Constitution and Reconstruction and the Constitution, and evidently made a thorough research in collecting the data for publication.

I regard this as a very important matter and the truth or falsity of the statement should be established. It is only by publicity that the facts can be established.

The names of Stevens and Sumner should be imperishable to the Negro race and any reflection on their attitude during the Reconstruction period should not go unchallenged.

A copy of letter from John W. Burgess follows:

BROOKLINE, MASS., January 14, 1921.

MR. HENRY A. WALLACE:

Your favor of January 12, forwarded to me here, interests me highly, and I thank you most sincerely for it. I am obliged to reply, however, that the affidavit of Messrs Miller and McKinlay astonished me very much. I cannot remember to have ever read anything of the kind anywhere and like you, I am very skeptical about it. I was in the world and a student at Amherst College in the year 1867, and was even then collecting the material for my history. I am pretty sure that I should have known of anything of this kind had it existed. I am going to try to run this assertion down, as I am here among the acquaintances and relatives of Sumner.

Very sincerely yours, Signed. JOHN W. BURGESS.

I have written to Dr. Burgess to inform me as to the result of his investigation and will let you know what he reports.

Yours very truly, HENRY A. WALLACE.



BOOK REVIEWS

Rachel. By ANGELINA W. GRIMKE. Boston, Mass., The Cornhill Company, 1920. Pp. 96. Price, $1.25.

Miss Grimke's drama of Rachel is a beautiful and poetic creation. She has produced this effect by a literary instinct which is fine and mainly cultivated. Its native vigor carries the reader past an occasional crudity, which it would seem to be hypocritical to notice. The sweep of passion in the drama is elemental. She has connected the story of a girl-woman with the most woeful of earthly tragedies, namely the crime of a great nation against one of its component parts.

The feelings expressed in the drama, though elemental, are uttered in the terms of modernity. The structure of the drama is modern, and yet there is something in the figure and movement of Rachel herself which reminds the present writer of Antigone. We do not see Antigone before the hour when she has chosen to meet the doom that man's law has decreed should she perform the task that human love and religious faith have enjoined upon her. Antigone goes to the death of her body declaring that in the Infinite there is a longer time for love than there is on earth.

But we do see Rachel before the ultimate choice has come to her. She is a gay and happy girl. The drama proceeds to the hour when she too must choose between the issues of earthly love and those which reach into eternity. She learns from her mother, Mrs. Loving, that ten years before, they all lived in the South and her father and her half brother were lynched. Briefly summarized, this is Mrs. Loving's story. As a young widow with a boy seven years old, she had married an educated man of color. She was a person of color herself. Mr. Loving owned and edited a paper in which he wrote on behalf of the people of color. A Negro innocent of all crime was murdered by a mob in that region. Mr. Loving denounced the murder and the murderers in his paper. He received an anonymous letter apparently written by an educated person, threatening him with death, if he did not retract what he had said. In the next issue of his paper he published an equally stern arraignment of the lynchers and their crime.

That night a dozen masked men broke into his house. Mr. Loving had a revolver. He defended his life and his home. Mrs. Loving tried to close her eyes. She could not. She saw all that happened in her bedroom. Four of the masked assailants fell. "They did not move any more ... after a little while." Then she saw her husband dragged out of the room. Her older boy, George, tried to help his stepfather. He was dragged out also. She went to the bedside of her two younger children. They were asleep. Rachel was smiling. The mother knelt down and covered her ears. When at last she let herself listen, she heard only the tapping of the branch of a pine tree against the side of the house. She did not know at first that it was the tree.

She fled with her two little children to the North. Those children had never before this day of revelation known how their father had died. The shadow of white cruelty to the body and souls of black folks had darkened somewhat over their lives in the North, but still they had been frolicsome and loving young creatures. Now they begin to realize the full significance of "race prejudice."

Rachel speaks to her mother: "Then, everywhere, everywhere throughout the South, there are hundreds of dark mothers who live in fear, terrible, suffocating fear, ... whose joy in their babies ... is three parts pain.... The South is full of ... thousands of little boys who one day may be, and some of whom will be lynched." "And the babies, the dear, little, helpless babies ... have that sooner or later to look to. They will laugh and play and sing and grow up, and perhaps be ambitious,—just for that."

"Yes, Rachel," answers her mother. The girl is one of those rare, feminine creatures whose soul and body are framed for maternity. In one swift rush of realization and of premonition, she comprehends all that the doom upon her race must eventually mean to her; she utters the cry of Africa's heart in America. "It would be more merciful to strangle the little things at birth.... This white Christian nation has set its curse upon the most beautiful, ... the most holy thing on earth ... motherhood."

Let us consider the historic background forth from which Miss Grimke has drawn her story. How do its incidents compare with known facts? In 1844, Massachusetts sent Judge Hoar to South Carolina to look after the interests of Massachusetts citizens of color there. The mob spirit showed itself so violently that this father of the future Senator was obliged to leave the South. More careful investigation into hidden causes for lynching would doubtless disclose more cases when educated men have been threatened or actually murdered. The rope with which to hang Wendell Phillips was actually carried into the hall where he was to speak. And the concerted plan had been to hang him on Boston Common.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has investigated and published statistics showing that from 1889 to 1918 in the United States, 702 whites and 2522 blacks have been lynched, and that 11 of these victims were white women and 50 were women and girls of color. 6 whites and 142 Negroes were lynched for "no crime."

A few instances may well be cited. After some race riots in 1894 in which crimes had been committed on both sides, MacBride, "a respectable Negro of Portal, Georgia, was beaten, kicked, and shot to death for trying to defend from a whipping at the hands of a crowd of white men, his wife who was confined with a baby three days old." No offence on the part of the wife or the three days old baby is recorded, but the one of that helpless couple who could speak may have made about the riots remarks which disturbed the delicate sensibilities of these southerners who are so discriminating in their "chivalrous treatment" of women.

In 1895 a Negro in Texas was killed by a mob because he was accused of riding over a little white girl and seriously injuring her. "Later developments proved that the mob murdered the wrong negro." In 1899 in Louisiana "an attempt had been made to assault a white woman." Afterwards one Michael Curry saw a large Negro wandering in a field. For no reason whatever he decided that that man had been the assailant. Some white would-be murderers were quickly got together and shot the black man to death. Then it was discovered that he was an escaped lunatic, whose recent history did not square with the theory that he was the assailant.

In Georgia there was in 1911 a Negro woman described as "a good reliable servant" in her normal condition, but who was subject to attacks of violent mania. She killed a white woman in such an attack, as many years ago poor English Mary Lamb killed her own mother. The world knows with what chivalry her brother Charles shielded her through life. This Negro native of Georgia had once been adjudged to be a fit subject for an insane asylum; but the State institution was crowded and she was not then or now taken into it. Georgia took care of her in an easier way. Its lynchers put her into an automobile and placed a rope around her neck, fastened it to a tree, and started the car from under her, and left her to die. No arrests followed. But why mention that fact in this case? There are very few instances of mob murder when white murderers have ever been arrested.

In Oklahoma in 1914, two white men assaulted a seventeen-year-old girl of color. Her screams brought her brother to the rescue. There was a fight. He killed one of the men. The next day a mob came to the house in search of the brother. They could not find him so they killed the girl. In 1915 a sheriff in Georgia was murdered, and straightway five Negroes were killed. About a year later it was learned that all five were innocent. Sometimes "race prejudice" is given as the reason why certain Negroes were lynched. That probably means that in no such instance had the lynched Negro committed any offence, or at most none deserving the death penalty by any legal process.

The next historical question, which Miss Grimke's drama raises, was pertinently put to the present writer: "Was an educated, high-toned man like Loving ever lynched?" The answer as to probabilities is easily made. The American impulse towards mob-murder has always been strong whenever and wherever the rise of the Negro, either free or enslaved, has been considered vitally obnoxious to the community. In the slavery days, Northern mobs prepared often to kill William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and other Abolitionists, but they were foiled every time except when, in 1836, the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, a white Northerner, was killed in Alton, Illinois, for denouncing, in his own paper, the burning to death of a Negro in Missouri. It was supposed, however, that the men who shot Lovejoy were Missourians and not Illinoisans.

The southern temper as to the educated Negroes was certainly voiced to a large extent, when in the eighties, the librarian of a large library in a southern town made answer to a question asked by a northern visitor: "Oh, no, the colored people don't come here to take out books. We don't believe in social equality, you know." And the Negro teacher in that town answered thus another Northerner's question: "Why don't you go there and ask for a book?" "I shouldn't like to do that, if I am going on living here."

In 1898 there were some terrible race riots in North Carolina. Two well educated Negroes owned and edited a small paper. Like the black Loving in Miss Grimke's drama, like the white historical Lovejoy, sixty-two years before, they printed editorials on the side of the Negroes. They were threatened. They fled and escaped pursuit. It is safe to assume that, had they been caught, they would have been lynched.

About a year ago, John R. Shillady, a white man, was engaged on a peaceful mission in Texas on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, whose agent he was. Prominent white citizens assaulted and beat him severely. It has always been the same story; white or black, educated or ignorant, in every part of this country the defenders of the Negroes have been liable to the decree or the abuse of the mob.

Still fresh is the memory of that shameful day when a white mob fired the Omaha jail where a Negro, still unconvicted of crime, was confined. He helped several of the other prisoners to get in line to leave the prison in safety, and then went down the steps himself to the mob which grabbed him and killed him. Meanwhile the ruffians had seized the Mayor of the town as he was on his way to try to enforce law and order. They hanged him, but somebody cut the rope before he was quite dead. There was strong evidence to show that the murdered Negro was innocent.

We come next to the question: What sort of men are they who make up these murderous mobs? Wendell Phillips once said, as to the North, that he had faced many mobs between the seaboard and the Mississippi, and that he never saw one that did not show that it was inspired if not actually led by "respectability and what called itself education." It is harder to know exactly what is the personnel of southern lynching parties. But a close study of known facts shows that "respectability and what calls itself education" has countenanced, approved, and participated in a large proportion of these orgies of horror. And the southern approval has developed in the South a most abhorrent type of white woman who holds up her babies to see a black man cut and burned to death. Miss Grimke's historical accuracy is unimpeachable when she allows "church members" to lynch Loving and his stepson.

George W. Cable said to the present writer in the winter of 1888-89, "You are right, the southerners do not want the Negroes to be educated." Miss Grimke, inferentially, dates her lynching somewhere in the decade of the nineties. The mass of black, brown, and olive-tinted ignorance at that time in the South, was appalling. It is appalling now—largely through the governing white man's fault. But still there were in the South at that time and before then many colored people who had obtained the rudiments of education and some who might be truthfully called well educated. Some of these became known to the whole country; but there might easily have been obscure ones like Loving scattered in many communities.

Now ordinary critics are sure to cry out against my analysis of the historical situation and remind me of Booker Washington. They will say, "He was not lynched. He was accepted. Any Negro like him is safe, if he behaves himself." I answer that I have no fancy for mob murder or torture of any human being, ignorant or wise, good or bad. There are, moreover, other answers to the riddle of that great constructive educator's career. One is creditable to the white southerners. They are not all eager for Negro blood. There is yet another solution. Booker Washington surrendered many of the Negro's rights to southern prejudices. The South liked that surrender. Northern philanthropists occasionally liked it well enough to give money for purposes which would tend to make the Negro useful in the ways the whites wanted him to be, and yet to insure him a little intellectual comfort in his life.

To return to the direct consideration of Miss Grimke's Rachel; we see the girl, from the hour that she learns what things are done, and may be done, in the South to the dusky sons and daughters of America, she lives under a cloud—a sense of doom. Yet the cloud breaks now and then. She loves so much, and especially she loves so many little children, that she cannot fail to be happy sometimes. She also comes to love a man, and all the possibilities of marriage and motherhood open radiantly before her. But the shadow falls denser than ever upon her. She sees, even in the North, the grown men of her race, no matter how well educated, seldom able to get work befitting their ability. All this sort of thing would not happen in every northern town but every careful observer knows that such things do happen in many northern villages and cities.

Little children flock around her, drawn by the magic of her incarnated motherliness. She sees them ill-treated by their white school mates. She has adopted a little boy, Jimmy, and she sees him suffer. She sees a little girl, very black and ugly, but still a child, who has been frightened almost into idiocy by white children. Finally Rachel's ears are so filled with the sound of real wailing that her brain reels with the thought of the crying children all over the land, and at last voices come to her from the infinite spaces. Voices of unborn babies, the little babies who were meant to be born unto her.... They were begging her never to bring them into earthly existence. Now, like Antigone, she makes her choice; to soothe a ghostly pain no matter what may be her earthly doom.

Her lover leaves her. She cries after him once, as if to call him back. Then she ceases that cry, knowing that her fate is fixed, and her vow never to be a mother on earth is irrevocable. She begins to talk as to the pre-existent ghosts of her unborn children, and all the while the crying of her adopted child mingles fitfully with the wailing that seems to come to her from the caverns of the unknown regions.

The drama would probably have to be remoulded for use in the regular theatre, yet it is the present writer's opinion that to create the part of Rachel on the stage might well allure any actress who possesses the most delicate and passionate genius.

LILLIE BUFFUM CHACE WYMAN.

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Songs and Tales from the Dark Continent, recorded from the Singing and Sayings of C. Kamba Simango, Ndau Tribe, Portuguese East Africa and Madikane Cele, Zulu Tribe, Natal, Zululand, South Africa. By NATALIE CURTIS BURLIN. New York, G. Schirmer, 1921. Pp. 170.

This work as its title imports does not cover a wide field of investigation and it was not done in Africa. The object of the author is to introduce Europeans and Americans to the soul of the African, who has too long been regarded merely as an object for exploitation. Believing that in the folk-music of a people is imaged the real soul, the author has made in this field researches, the results of which have been herein set forth. The aim finally is to show that the human family is near of kin and that basic emotions of love, of sorrow, of rejoicing and of prayer, whether men be primitive or advanced, white, yellow, red or black, are the same root-feelings planted in us all.