BV
639
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THE
NEGRO PEW.
If ye have respect to persons, ye
commit sin.-ST. JAMES.

هية
1
1
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 02643 9318
1877
ARTES
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
OF THE
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PLURIBUS UNUM
TUEBOR
SI-QUÆRIS PENINSULAM-AMŒNAM
CIRCUMSPICE
THE GIFT OF
Mrs. U. B. Phillips

David Wilk
450, 27 Marlbo, et S. Library
:
how
BY
639
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THE
"NEGRO PEW:"
BEING
AN INQUIRY
CONCERNING THE PROPRIETY OF
DISTINCTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD,
ON ACCOUNT OF COLOR.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY ISAAC KNAPP,
NO. 25, CORNHILL.
1837.
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1837, by
ISAAC KNAPP, in the office of the Clerk of the District Court
of the District of Massachusetts.
A
PREFACE.
It is no pleasant thing to attack the prejudices of
mankind; especially when they appear under the
guise of gray-headed custom. It is no easy matter
to perceive the propriety or injustice of manners and
habits, to which we have been long accustomed.
These are received by most men as the legacy of
their fathers and they forget to apply to them the
touchstone of truth-the GOLDEN RULE of human
society. If all the customs of civilized life were
brought up to this ordeal, how few could stand?
For example, suppose the church should set apart a
seat in the extreme corner of the gallery, for all those
who have red hair; and it should be generally un-
derstood that no such person would be allowed to
occupy any other seat: Would a red-haired man or
woman ever be found in the church? What opinion
would they form of the religion which makes such
invidious distinctions in the worship of the Great
God? Yet, this is only asking red-haired people
whether they would like to be subject to to the same
rule that is applied to those who have black faces.
iv
PREFACE.
No man would be willing that his constitutional pe-
culiarities, which God gave him, should exclude him
from equal privileges in the house of God. It there-
fore follows, that no one ought to desire any of his
fellow-beings to be subject to such exclusion, for a
similar cause.
To prove, illustrate, and enforce this
point, is the object of the following pages. The au-
thor has taken up his pen, not for the purpose of
finding fault, or railing at his brethren; but from a
firm conviction that justice requires this at his hand,
in behalf of an oppressed and injured people, whom
he is not ashamed to call his brethren, though the
fancy of some may prefer white to black. He has
aimed to approach the subject in the spirit of candid
inquiry; and he hopes no one, in reading these
pages, will have occasion to accuse him of exhibiting
a belligerant spirit, or of indulging bitterness of feel-
ing. He would not denounce as no Christians, all
those who have silently fallen into an old custom,
founded in unrighteousness and the spirit of oppres-
sion; but he would entreat them as brethren, to lay
aside prejudice, place themselves, in imagination, in
the condition of these people, and in a spirit of meek-
ness and prayer, ask whether they can reconcile this
practice with the law of love, by which our Saviour
has required us to be governed in all our intercourse
with others.
The author is an uncompromising advocate of
EQUAL RIGHTS: by which he does not mean Agra-
PREFACE.
་ ་
rianism, which would make an equal distribution of
property; for this would be rank injustice, and it
would take away one of the motives to industry, im-
planted in our nature. Nor does he mean that all
men, without respect to character and qualifications,
should be compelled to mingle in social intercourse,
or be permitted to occupy the same station; for this
would be also unjust, and would remove one of the
strongest earthly motives to mental and moral eleva-
tion. But he means, that every man is entitled To
BE ESTEEMED AND TREATED ACCORDING TO HIS SO-
nature.
CIAL, MORAL, AND INTELLECTUAL WORTH; and that
no other test of character can be either just, or con-
sistent with the spirit of the Christian religion. This
may be called radicalism, ultraism, or what not. But
it is the true spirit of the Bible. It is the dictate of
The spirit which excludes the colored man,
who possesses intelligence, refinement, and piety,
from equal privileges in the house of God, in our par-
lors, and at our tables, would exclude him from heav-
en, if it could enter that holy place. But, thanks
be to God, he is no respecter of persons; but in
every nation, he that feareth him and worketh right-
eousness is accepted of him.'
Boston, January, 1837.
1*
:
THE NEGRO PEW,' &c.
CHAPTER I.
PREJUDICE: Its origin; its influence on the minds and consciences
of men; its effects upon the rights and interests of others.
C
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge
righteous judgment.' JOHN vii, 24.
As Prejudice is the root of the evil designed to
be reached in this work, it may not be amiss to
devote the Introductory Chapter to a consideration
of this mischievous principle. I propose, there-
fore, to examine its origin, its influence over men's
minds and conduct, and its effects upon the rights
and interests of others. And
1. Its origin. Prejudice is one of the fruits
of the general wreck of human nature, consequent
upon the fall; by which the higher and more no-
ble powers of the soul have come into subjection
PREJUDICE.
to the corrupt inclinations of the heart. Hence,
in relation to some things, with men of cultivated
intellects, and sometimes even with good men,
reason is dethroned, and the decisions of the mind
are controlled by caprice, or by the summary de-
terminations of the will, under the influence of
wrong principles. This judging according to first im-
pressions, outward appearance, inclination, or feel-
ing, without thorough examination, is very prop-
erly denominated prejudice, or pre-judging; be-
cause it is judging before the case is fully under-
stood, and upon false principles. It is this that is
expressly condemned by our Saviour, in the pas-
sage which stands at the head of this chapter.
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge
righteous judgment.' That is, the case must be
thoroughly examined and understood, before we
pass judgment; and then our decision must be
made according to truth and equity, without re-
gard to our own feelings, partialities, or private
interests.
2. The influence of Prejudice over the minds
and conduct of men. Prejudice, in its various
forms, modifications, and degrees, pervades all
classes of men; and to a greater or less extent,
influences all their decisions and conduct; and this
will probably continue to be the case, so long as
PREJUDICE.
9
we continue to be an imperfect and sinful race.
It is exceedingly insidious in its operation, and men
often act under its influence when they do not per-
haps even suspect its existence in their own minds.
Hence we may account for the strange perversion
of feeling which some estimable men manifest upon
particular subjects; while, in relation to every
thing else, they appear to be under the influence
of Christian principle. How sadly, in these in-
stances, are we reminded of the saying of the
Psalmist, ‘I have seen an end of all perfection.'
There is perhaps no form of prejudice, which,
operates more powerfully to blind the understand-
ing, obscure the perception of truth, and prevent
moral feeling, than that which it assumes in this
land, in regard to the people of color. Such is its
effect, that men will embrace principles and adopt
measures, in relation to them, as they suppose from
pure benevolence, which they would resent as the
highest indignity, if embraced and adopted by
others in regard to themselves. And this accounts
for the obtuseness of perception, which prevails
so extensively, with respect to the rights of this
much injured class. They are regarded as an in-
ferior race, and therefore not possessing a title to
those natural rights, which, in the case of the
white man, are confessedly inalienable. I do not
•
10
PREJUDICE.
mean that these principles are openly avowed, nor,
in general, wilfully indulged; but that this is the
secret feeling of the heart, which blinds the mind,
and blunts the moral perception. It is even prob-
able if those who have come out openly, as the
colored man's friends, should make diligent
search into the state of their own hearts, they
would find that they have but just begun to open
their eyes on this subject. How much of the same
feeling which perpetuates the colored man's
wrong, would every one discover in his own bos-
om? How few would be found, who are so entire-
ly free from it, as to be willing openly to acknowl-
edge him as a brother? This ought certainly to
be made a matter of self-examination, by every
one who professes to be an ABOLITIONIST. I use
this term, as I believe it ought ever to be used, to
designate those who are seeking not only the abo-
lition of SLAVERY, but the ABOLITION OF CASTE.
Let every one who embraces this cause, try his
own heart, and ask what would be his emotions, if
the mass of the community felt towards him as he
feels towards the colored man. Let him place
himself by the side of a colored man of intelli-
gence, refinement, and piety, in any public place,
and see whether he would be willing that his own
professed friends should feel towards him, as he
PREJUDICE.
11
feels towards this man, whom he professes to re-
gard as his brother; and in whom he discovers
nothing but a colored skin, to prevent him from
being a valuable friend and associate.
3. The effects of Prejudice upon the Rights
and Interests of others. Men are influenced, in
their intercourse with one another, by the princi-
ples they embrace, and the opinions they adopt.
Hence, if those principles and opinions are found-
ed upon false premises, they must be injurious in
their operation. It is unjust to adopt principles,
which will operate to the injury of any man, un-
less those principles are founded in immutable
right; and then their operation can be injurious
only to wrong doers. It is also unjust to adopt an
opinion respecting any man, or any class of men,
which will lead us to esteem them as less worthy
than they really are.
We have no right to indulge
a capricious feeling of
esteem towards any man.
of these feelings, we are bound to show good
cause in those who are the objects of them, or
else we are convicted of injuring them wrongfully;
and this injury will be in proportion to the influ-
ence of these feelings upon our own conduct and
the conduct of others. Hence the injustice of
Prejudice. Suppose a man is accused of crime.
ill-will, or contempt, or dis-
If we do exercise any
12
PREJUDICE.
We prejudge his case, and regard him as guilty.
The whole community pursue the same course.
Then we have an individual against whom noth-
ing has been proved, standing condemned before
the bar of public opinion. His rights are jeopard-
ed, his good name is lost, and he is deprived of
a fair trial. Yet, he may be innocent; for it is a
maxim of law, as well as of common sense, that a
man is to be judged innocent, till he is proved
guilty. Take an example: A young man, in a
neighboring state, was employed as a clerk in a
mercantile house. He sustained an irreproachable
character, and discharged his duties with the ut-
most fidelity. But at length, money was missed
from the drawer. The young man was accused.
He protested his innocence; but his employer was
sure no other person had obtained access to the
drawer. He was threatened; and being friendless,
and unable to prove his innocence, he relinquished
his earnings, and left the place pennyless. He
went to a distant state, and there finding a situa-
tion, wrote to his former employer, who immedi-
ately informed his new employer of what he sup-
posed to be the young man's character, and pro-
duced his discharge. This was once or twice re-
peated. But, at length, on remodelling the store,
the money supposed to have been stolen, was found
PREJUDICE.
13
safely deposited in a rat's nest, back of the draw-
er! Such is the effect of prejudice in a single in-
stance. This innocent young man was condeinned
to suffer the opprobrium of guilt, and to be hunted
from place to place, simply because his case had
been prejudged. He had been judged guilty,
without a sufficient examination. Our sympathies
go out involuntarily towards such a case of unjust
suffering. But, suppose this prejudice had not
been confined to the merchant who employed the
young man; but had extended throughout the
whole community, from one end of the land to the
other; and suppose the young man had carried in
his forehead an indelible mark, by which he could
be identified wherever he went: how inconceivably
more trying wonld have been his condition. Yet,
precisely similar to this, is the operation of the
prejudice against color. It pervades the mass of
the community, and is directed against a large class
of American citizens, native born, who possess the
same right to call this their country, the land of
their birth, and the house of their childhood, which
is claimed as exclusively belonging to those who
consider them as intruders. They carry in their
front the mark, which designates them as the ob-
jects of this prejudice; and it operates to a very
great extent, to exclude them from respectable
2
14
PREJUDICE.
employment, and compel them to perform menial
services, or starve. It also excludes them from
the society of their equals, and from equal privi-
leges in public meetings, at the polls, in public
houses, on board public conveyances, in schools,
and even in the house of God! Yes; in the tem-
ples dedicated to the worship of the Great Jeho-
vah, who declares himself to be no respecter of
persons,' it excludes them from a seat by the side
of their Christian brethren! Alas! how has my
heart sunk within me, when I have seen the pro-
fessed disciples of the meek and lowly Saviour,
(who did not scorn to sit at meat even with
publicans and sinners,) coming up, one company
after another, to receive at the altar the emblems
of his dying love; and after all the rest had par-
taken, the officiating minister announces, Now,
we will give our colored brethren an opportunity!'
And, equally injurious and oppressive is the prac-
tice which provides them seats in the broad aisle,
and serves them last of all; so as to force them to
feel a sense of degradation. Hear the effect of
this cruel prejudice graphically described, by one
who has felt its withering influence:*
(
'No man can really understand this prejudice,
unless he feels it crushing him to the dust, because
* Speech of Rev. Theodore S. Wright, a colored gentleman of
New York, in the New England Anti-Šlavery Convention of 1836.
PREJUDICE.
15
it is a matter of feeling. It has bolts, scourges, and
bars, wherever the colored man goes. It has bolts
in all the schools and colleges. The colored parent,
with the same soul as a white parent, sends his child
to the seats of learning, and he finds the door bolted,
and he sits down to weep beside his boy. Prejudice
stands at the door, and bars him out. Does the child
of the colored man show a talent for mechanics?
The heart of the parent beats with hope. He sees
the children of the white man engaged in employ-
ment, and he trusts that there is a door open to his
boy, to get an honest living, and become a useful
member of society. But, when he comes to the
work-shop with his child, he finds a bolt there. But,
even suppose that he can get this first bolt removed,
he finds other bars. He can't work. Let him be
ever so skilled as a mechanic, up starts prejudice,
and says, 'I won't work in the shop if you do.' Here
he is scourged by prejudice, and has to go back, and
sink down to some of the employments which white
men leave for the most degraded. He hears of the
death of a child, from home, and he goes in a stage
or a steamboat. His money is received, but he is
scourged there by prejudice. If he is sick, he can
have no bed, he is driven on deck; money will not
buy for him the comforts it gets for all who have not
his complexion. He turns to some friend among the
white men; perhaps that white man had sat at his
table at home, but he does not resist prejudice here.
He says, 'Submit. 'Tis an ordinance of God-you
must be humble.' Sir, I have felt this. As a min-
ister, I have been called to pass often up and down
the North River in steamboats. Many a night have
I walked the deck, and not been allowed to lie down
in a bed. Prejudice would even turn money to
;
16
PREJUDICE.
dross, when it was offered for these comforts by a
colored man.
Thus, prejudice scourges us from the
table, it scourges us from the cabin, from the stage-
coach, from the bed, wherever we go, it has for us
bolts; bars, and rods.'
Is this brotherly love? Is it Christian charity?
Is it the feeling which pervades the heavenly
ranks? Will the colored man there be directed to
the footstool, and forced away from his master's
table? In the resurrection, will the celestial ranks
be graduated according to the color which they
bore in this life? Will the colored man's com-
plexion on earth, dim the radiance of the star in
glory? Or will this be the ground of difference
between one and another star in glory?
CHAPTER II.
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED: Color not the real
ground of Prejudice. Reasons: 1. Nothing odious in the color
of black: 2. Color no ground of demerit: 3. Color no mark of
inferiority Facts: Arts and sciences originated with people of
color-Mental capacity of Blacks-Learned and distinguished
men of color: Moral traits: Integrity and Veracity-Fidelity—
Courage and Bravery-Nobleness and Generosity-Industry-
Cleanliness-Good nature, Humanity, Kindness, Hospitality—
Gratitude-Reverence and Filial Piety-Modesty and Chastity
Patience and Capacity of Endurance: 4. This prejudice does
not every where exist. True Cause: Caste.
In the discussion of this subject, I shall endeavor
to maintain the position that color is not the real
ground of the prejudice which prevails so exten-
sively, in this land, against that class of persons
to whom God has given a dark skin. And, to es-
tablish this position, I submit to the careful atten-
tion and candid reflection of the reader, the fol-
lowing considerations:
1. There is nothing in itself odious in the color
of black; nor in any of the intermediate colors,
which form the numerous varieties of the human
species, between black and white. This is evi-
dent from the fact, that no prejudice any where
2*
18
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
exists against these colors, except when they ap-
pear in the skin; * no lady is despised, or regard-
ed as less beautiful, because she attires herself in
black, yellow, or any other color which her fancy
chooses; and it is thought no disgrace, but often
regarded as an ornament, even to possess black
hair and black eyes. Why then should it be con-
sidered disgraceful to have a black skin? Can
any better reason be given, than mere caprice, for
the difference of feeling which exists towards a
person with black hair or black eyes, and one
with a black skin? If not, the true cause of this
feeling must be sought for in some thing else be-
sides the color of the skin.
2. The color of the skin, with any other natural
peculiarities which may accompany it, constitute
no ground of demerit. The variety of colors of
the human species has been a matter of much
speculation among the learned; and, however un-
satisfactory their theories may be, it must be gen-
erally admitted that it cannot be owing to any pe-
culiar defect in the bodily organization of particu-
lar varieties of the human species; for the word
of God declares that He hath made oF ONE
BLOOD all the nations that dwell upon the face of
*Cuguano, (for many years a slave, but afterwards an author,)
makes this very sensible inquiry, whether it is "more criminal to be
black or white, than to wear a black or white coat.”
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
19
the earth." The most probable opinion is, that
this variety of color is to be attributed to the vari-
ety of climate and regimen; together with the
continued intermarriage of the same race; with
other accessory causes. Blumenbach, the learn-
ed professor of Goettingen, says, that in Guinea,
not only men, but dogs, birds, and other animals,
are black; while, near the frozen seas, bears and
other animals are white. It is also attested by
many credible witnesses, that the descendants of
the Portuguese, at Congo, and other parts of
Africa, have become as black as the aborigines of
that country. Analogous to this, is a fact related
to the author, by Rev. Mr. Agnew, for some time
a missionary among the Choctaw Indians.
stated that the Indians residing far to the South,
in the country of agues and bilious fevers, were
fast changing to an ebony color; some of them
having already become nearly as black as native
Africans. It is matter of common observation,
that those parts of the body most exposed to the
sun, assume a much darker appearance than those
which are concealed from its influence. We may
readily suppose, then, that a people exposed to a
vertical sun, for successive generations, with little
covering, would ultimately assume a very deep
color. And, as the application of heat is used, in
He
20
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
9:5
civilized countries, to frizzle the hair, who knows.
but the intense heat of the sun, in the torid zone,
might have the effect to render this condition of
the hair perpetual? And, if white ladies make
artificial curls, to enhance their beauty, why
should we despise the natural curls of the Ethio-
pian race?
Rev. S. Stanhope Smith, after collecting
numerous facts to prove the influence of climate
upon color, explains why the Africans on the
Western coast, under the torrid zone, are blacker
than those on the Eastern; and, also, why-the
saine latitude in America does not produce the
same effect. Here the action of the sun is opposed
by local causes, which in Africa give it more force.
In general, the black color is found between the
tropics, and its progressive shades follow the lati-
tude, among those who, very long ago established
in a country, have neither been transplanted into
other climates, nor crossed by other races. Wil-
liams, author of a history of Vermont, has made
an estimate based upon similar facts, showing how
long it would take to make the black race white,
by the influence of climate. In addition to this,
it is an incontestible fact, that whites have become
black and yellow, and blacks have become white,
by the influence of disease. The author, some
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED. 21
years ago, saw a native African, past middle age,
who, without any known cause, was fast changing
white. There were a few black spots remaining,
in different parts of his body; and his features
clearly indicated his origin. But the skin, upon
those parts of the body which had become white,
was as soft and delicate as that of a child; yet
there was nothing unhealthy in its appearance.
These facts show that the color of the skin, and
the features of the different races of men, have no
more connection with their general organization,
than the less striking varieties which distinguish
different individuals of the same race; and it fol-
lows of course, that these varieties cannot of them-
selves constitute any just ground, either of esteem
or disesteem.
3. The dark color of the skin, with its accom-
panying peculiarity of features, does not necessa-
rily constitute a mark of inferiority. The argu-
ments produced under the last head, prove this.
If these peculiarities are the effect of climate, and
other accidental causes, it must be proved that
these causes also affect the physical energies, the
intellectual capacities, or the moral feelings, before
it can be shown that those who are affected by them
are inferior to others. But this cannot be proved.
On the contrary, we have volumes of facts, to
22
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINed.
show that the natural capacities of the colored
races, especially the blacks, both physical, mental,
and moral, are in no respect inferior to the whites.
Volney says we are indebted to the black race for
the arts and sciences, and even for language.
Herodotus says that the Egyptians had a black
skin and frizzled hair; and we know that Pytha-
goras and other Greeks travelled among them to
learn philosophy; and even Moses was learned
in all the wisdom of Egypt.' To them certainly
we are indebted for the noble science of mathe-
matics. And, in later periods of ancient history,
the same fact is conspicuous. Cyprian, Augus-
tine, and Tertullian, those eminent fathers in the
church, were Africans. Terence, also, a celebrat-
ed ancient poet, was an African, and once a slave.
Quintillian says he was the most elegant and re-
fined of all the comedians whose writings appear-
ed on the Roman stage. Hannibal, also, who
scaled the Alps, and carried consternation to the
gates of Rome, was an African.
And, notwithstanding the depressing influences
under which the people of color have so long suf-
fered, later ages have not been deficient in exam-
ples of their capacity for improvement. Persons
who have resided a long time in Guinea and Abys-
sinia, say they found the natives possessing a keen,
€
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
23
penetrating mind, sound judgment, taste and deli-
cacy. In the Persian Gulf, they are often seen
at the head of great commercial houses, receiving
orders, and expediting vessels to all the different
ports of India. On different parts of the coast of
Africa, black men speak two or three different
languages, and act as interpreters. Stedman knew
one, who could repeat, from memory, the whole
Koran. The son of the king of Nimbana went to
England to receive an education. He made rapid
progress in different sciences; and in a very short
time became so well acquainted with Hebrew, as
to be able to read the Bible in the original. Tra-
vellers in Africa have been astonished with the
eloquence of the natives, and represent their
poetical and musical genius as of a high order.
Stedman enumerates no less than eighteen of their
wind and stringed instruments. Grainger describes
a kind of guitar invented by them, on which they
play airs, which inspire a sweet and sentimental
melancholy, so congenial to the feelings of those
who are continually exposed to the inroads of the
man-trader.
From the accounts of travellers, also, we learn
that the inhabitants of the interior of Africa are
more virtuous and civilized than those on the
coast. They also surpass them in their mechani-
24
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
cal skill; and exhibit many other evidences of an
improved state of society. Besides rural labors,
which are their principal occupation, they have
manufactories, and extract ore from metals.
They manufacture cloth, leather, indigo, soap,
cordage, fine tissue, excellent pottery ware, arms
of white metal, instruments of agriculture, and
curious works in gold, silver, and steel, and many
other skilful works of art.
The interior of Africa is too little known for the
credit of the race. Much of our information is
derived from those who have only visited the
coast, where the natives have learned the vices of
the whites, while all their motives to industry and
improvement are destroyed by the debasing influ-
ence of the man-trade. But all travellers, who
have penetrated far into the interior, give accounts
of large towns, well cultivated lands, and extensive
kingdoms. Vassa describes the kingdom of Benin
as wealthy and powerful, as well as vast in extent.
This kingdom is divided into many provinces or
districts. In one of the most distant and fertile
of these, he was born. He describes the govern-
ment as simple, patriarchal, and equitable. The
industrious race of Accas, at Cape Verd, have an
organized republic; and in some of the monarchies
in Africa, their kings are elective. Mr. Thomp-
son, late governor of Sierra Leone, in a letter to
‹
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
25
a distinguished gentleman in Massachusetts, says,
that he brought manuscripts from Africa sufficient
to convince him that the interior of that great conti-
nent is even now in a vastly higher state of cultiva-
tion and improvement, than the residents on the
coast have any idea of.' *
The following account of a visit of Lieut. Laing,
of the British navy, to King Yaradee, far in the
interior of Africa, is taken from the same work
which contains the extract last quoted. It illus-
trates the same point, and shows that the Africans,
in their own country, not only possess native genius,
but a good degree of cultivation. The song com-
posed for this occasion will compare with any simi-
lar production of American genius; and the same
might be said of the sweet extemporaneous songs
of the African women, who so hospitably enter-
tained Mungo Park :
'After visiting different chiefs by whom he was
well received, Lieut. Laing came to a place called
Koukundi, a village of farms belonging to the people
of Melicouri. Here he remained during the night,
and early in the morning entered the town itself,
which was walled round, with port holes for mus-
quetry, and was impregnable. The country in the
neighborhood was abundantly productive, and in a
high state of cultivation; corn, barley, rice, cassada,
and cotton growing in great profusion. Lt. L. says
he passed several hundred acres of such cultivation.
* Yaradee.
3
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The next day, he proceeded to the camp which
was about eight miles distant, North, and about three
hours S. of Fouricaria. Immediately on his approach,
the drums and other warlike instruments were in
motion, and soon about 12,000 people were assem-
bled in a large square, in the centre of the savannah
on which an immense army was encamped, and Lt.
L. communicated the object of his visit, which was
to explain the footing on which the Colony of Sierra
Leone wished to stand with the neighboring nations.
King Yaradee, who is one of the most warlike of
the African monarchs, he found surrounded by his
brave chiefs, under an ample tent, seated upon the
skin of a lion. The king kindly invited Lt. L. to
take a seat by his side. The following song, in
their own language, was then sung by a minstrel :
SONG.
"A stranger has come to Yaradee's camp,
Whose bosom is soft and is fair;
He sits by the valiant Yaradee's side,
And none but the valiant sit there.
"Like the furious Lion Yaradee comes,
And hurls the terrors of war;
His enemies see him, and, panic-struck, flee
To the woods and the deserts afar.
"By the side of this hero, sc valiant and brave,
Sits the stranger whose skin is so fair;
He lives on the sea, where he wanders at will,
And he knows neither sorrow nor care.
"Then look at the stranger before he departs;
Brave Yaradee, touch his soft hair;
The last note of my harp swells to Yaradee's praise,
While I gaze on the stranger so fair.”
The Abbe Gregoire also says that there are
states, in the interior of Africa, where the social
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
27
arts have made progress. The Foulahs, whose
kingdom is very extensive, have towns with a con-
siderable population. Tembo, the capital, has
seven thousand inhabitants; and in almost all their
towns there are schools. According to Mungo
Park, the Africans love instruction. This traveler
found magnificence in the bosom of Africa, at Sego,
a town of thirty thousand souls, although in every
respect inferior to Jenne, Tombuctoo, and Houssa.
The accounts of the Landers also agree with his.
The Abbe Gregoire has enumerated a large
number of colored men, who have become emi-
nent for their learning, and risen to distinction by
the native energies of their own minds. Some of
these are authors of considerable celebrity; some
of them poets, and others extensive linguists.
One of them, Amo, a native of Africa, became a
professor in the University of Wittemberg, and
wrote several works on abstruse and metaphysical
subjects, which were highly extolled by the learned
of his day. And I have on my table a work writ-
ten by a native of the interior of Africa, named
Gustavus Vassa, which shows him to have been
a man of no ordinary strength of mind and energy
of character. It is a narative of his own life,
which is full of incident far more touching than
the imaginary scenes of the novelest. He had no
28 PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
education, except what he acquired himself, with
such assistance as he could get from others, during
a life of great activity, most of it spent in servitude,
and much of it on shipboard. Yet, his style is
pure, and his narrative full of pathos. He suc-
ceeds admirably in transferring to paper his own
feelings, during the period of painful suspense, in
which he was kidnapped, while a boy, from hist
father's house, far in the interior of Africa, and
conveyed from place to place, and from one mas-
ter to another, till he arrived at the coast, and was
put on board the slave ship. He then gives a
graphic description of the feelings of terror inspired
by the sight of the white men, and the strange
things which he saw on board the vessel, and of
the horrors of the middle passage, with all the
sensations arising from a painful suspense, as to
his ultimate destination, as hope and fear alter-
nately swelled his childish bosom. This part of
the narrative, especially, is exceedingly touching;
yet it is but one of millions of similar tales of sor-
row, suffering, and wo, which the judgment day
will disclose, in connection with this horrid traffic
in human flesh. The remainder of the narrative
is no less interesting; and I think no person can
read it without the impression that few white men
could have succeeded so well, in a great variety
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
29
of difficult stations, with so little motive for exer-
tion. The exhibition of talent is always modified
by the circumstances in which it is placed. It
consists chiefly in the ability to press through diffi-
culties, and accomplish the object in view, by skill
and energy in removing impediments as they rise.
And, with this view of the subject, it is probable
the history of thousands of colored people in this
country, who have purchased their own freedom,
would exhibit as striking evidence of uncommon
talents as can be found either in our colleges and
seminaries, or among the distinguished men of
our day. This is a subject little understood by
those who despise the colored man.
Let any one
visit the colored people of our Northern cities, and
inquire into their history, and he will be surprised
to learn how many of them have been bred in
slavery; and how many of them have purchased
by their own industry, not only their own liberty,
but that of their families.
The Abbe Gregoire says he visited a college of
colored youth at Clapham, near London, in 1802,
for the purpose of examining the progress of the
schools, and he found that, between them and
European children, there existed no difference but
that of color. The same observation,' says he,
has been made at Paris, in the ancient college of
3*
30
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
La Marche, where Coesnon, formerly professor of
the University, had united a certain number of
negro children. Many members of the national
institute, who have also carefully examined this
college, and traced the progress of the scholars in
all the circumstances of life, in their particular
classes and public exercises, will give testimony
to the truth of my assertion.' The learned sec-
retary of the Academy of Portugal,' says the same
writer, informs us that several black men have
been learned lawyers, preachers, and professors;
and at Lisbon, Rio Janeiro, and other Portuguese
possessions, have been signalized by their talents.'
But, we need not go so far, to be convinced that
the native talents of colored people are equal to
our own. Any one, who will go into their schools,
will see as much evidence of sprightliness, mental
activity, and intelligence, as in any other schools;
and where they are permitted to attend the same
schools, no difference is perceptible between their
capacities and those of white children. The
author was acquainted with a school in the
state of New York, composed of children of all
classes, many of whom had been at school ever
since they were of a suitable age. In this school
there was one colored boy, who was at service,
and only went to school during the winter months.
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
31
He was in no respect behind his classmates; and
at a public examination, took the premium in one
of the exercises, which was awarded by a board of
Trustees. Nor are the colored people in this
country wanting in men of native talent, education,
and refinement of manners, notwithstanding all the
impediments thrown in the way of their advance-
ment. One of them, (who has lately gone where
all invidious distinctions forever cease,) raised
himself, by the native energy of his own mind,
connected with a corresponding moral and religious
character, so as to become, for many years, the
pastor of a white congregation in New England.
Facts of similar import might be multiplied al-
most indefinitely. But it is needless. Indeed, it
seems almost a work of supererrogation to enter
into an argument to prove what must be so obvi-
ous to the mind of every man who will examine
the subject at all. If any one desires further evi-
dence of the capacity of this portion of our race
for improvement, let him examine the history of
Christian missions in South Africa; and, if not
wholly destitute of candor, he will be satisfied.
I now proceed to consider some moral traits,
which appear to be strikingly exhibited in the
African character, both in their native land, and
among their descendants elsewhere. In speaking
32
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
of this subject, however, I mean to be understood
only in that qualified sense in which, moral excel-
lence is to be attributed to fallen man, in a state
of nature; and not that there can be any thing
really holy, in the sight of God, in the heart that
is alienated from him. But there are certain na-
tural excellencies of character, which are good and
lovely, as far as they go. And these we find in
different degrees in different individuals; and it is
the relative proportion of these which constitutes
what we call a good or bad natural disposition.
It is in relation to native character, viewed in this
light, that I wish to draw a comparison between
the two portions of the human race, distinctly
marked by white and biack. And, in doing so, I
shall only exhibit some prominent traits on one
side, leaving the reader to complete the compari-
And some of these will have more respect
to the original character of the natives of the inte-
rior of Africa, than of those whose moral habits
have been modified by their intercourse with the
whites, as well as by their depressed condition,
under the influence of the genius of slavery.
son.
(1.) Integrity and Veracity. After Vassa was
kidnapped, and while he was with his first master,
he says, ' I used to be sometimes employed in as-
sisting an elderly woman slave, to cook and take
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
33
care of the poultry: and one morning, while I was
feeding some chickens, I happened to toss a small
pebble at one of them, which hit it in the middle.
and killed it. The old slave, having soon after
missed the chicken, inquired after it; and on my
relating the accident, (for I told the truth, be-
cause my mother would never allow me to tell a
ile,) she flew into a violent passion, and threatened
that I should suffer for it.' This heathen mother
had succeeded in making such an impression upon
the mind of her son, of the odious nature of false-
hood, that he would not tell a lie to screen him-
self from punishment. Would that every Chris-
tian mother might meet with similar success!
This trait of character, in the native Africans, is
confirmed from other sources. Park speaks of an
African woman who found consolation, upon the
loss of her son, in the fact that he had never told
a lie; which shows the estimation in which truth
is held in that country. Rev. John Newton says
he one day accused a black man of imposture and
injustice, who, with wounded pride, replied, 'Do
you take me for a white man?'
(2.) Fidelity. Wadstrom boasts much of the
friendship of the blacks; and Capt. Wilson, who
lived among them, speaks highly of their con-
stancy in friendship. No one, I think, can read
34
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
C
Vassa's narrative, without remarking his uncom-
mon fidelity. The whole narrative shows that his
bosom swelled with intense longings after freedom;
yet he would not leave his master, whom he lov-
ed, until he had honorably obtained his freedom.
There are probably few white men, who, placed
in his situation, would not reason that, as no man
can have the right of property in another, it would
be right to embrace an opportunity to escape from
unjust bondage; and it would be very difficult,
either from reason or Scripture, to refute such doc-
trine. Yet, listen to the sentiments of this man :
‹ Had I wished to run away, I did not want oppor-
tunities, which frequently presented themselves;
and particularly at one time soon after this. When
we were at the island of Guadeloupe, there was a
large fleet of merchant men bound for old France;
and seamen then being very scarce, they gave
from fifteen to twenty pounds a man for the run.
Our mate, and all the white sailors, left our vessel
on this account, and went on board of the French
ships. They would have had me also to go with
them, for they regarded me; and swore to protect
me, if I would go and as the fleet was to sail the
next day, I really believe I could have got safe to
Europe at that time. However, as my master
was kind, I would not attempt to leave him; still
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
35
<
remembering the old maxim, that honesty is the
best policy Yet, this was not because he did
not earnestly desire his freedom; for he says just
before this, 'My mind was hourly replete with in-
ventions and thoughts of being freed; and if pos-
sible, by honest and honorable means.'
But this fact will be no matter of surprise to
those who are acquainted with the history of
American slavery. It is no uncommon thing for
slaves to acquire the confidence of their masters,
so as to be employed beyond the reach of their in-
spection; and sometimes they are permitted to go
into free states, and work and earn money to buy
their freedom; which they often do, without tak-
ing advantage of the liberty given them. They
are faithful to their masters. James Bradley was
permitted to buy his time, for two years and a
half; during which he went two or three hundred
miles from the house of his mistress, to earn mon-
ey to buy his freedom. But he never attempted
to run away. Yet, hear him describe his feelings,
in regard to LIBERTY: From the time I was four-
teen years old, I began to think a great deal about
freedom. It was my heart's desire. I could not
keep it out of my mind. Many a sleepless night
I have spent in tears, because I was a slave. I
looked back on all I had suffered,-and when I
·
36 PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
looked ahead, all was dark and hopeless bondage.
MY HEART ACHED TO FEEL WITHIN ME THE LIFE
OF LIBERTY.'
, **
There was a colored man in the Eastern Pen-
itentiary of Pennsylvania, in whom the Warden
placed great confidence; and on one occasion he
was taken to the market. But, having missed his
attendant, he lost his way, and was found in the
streets, inquiring the way to the penitentiary !
The Maroons of Jacmel were for almost a
century, a terror to the whites on the Island of
St. Domingo, before the revolution. They were
hunted like wolves; yet, although they forced
one of the most imperious governors to capitu-
late, one of the planters testifies that they had
never been known to violate a capitulation. The
Maroons of Surinam, whom the ferocity of the
colonists had driven to despair, forced their oppres-
sors to a treaty, which they religiously observed.
The colonists asked for a negotiation; which was
accepted, with the condition that, as a preliminary,
they should send them some good fire arms and
ammunition. But, when the commissioners came,
they brought only such trifles as scissors, combs,
and small mirrors. When their commander saw
it, he exclaimed in a voice of thunder: Do Eu-
* Oasis, p. 108.
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
37
ropeans think negroes have need only of combs
and scissors? One of such articles is sufficient for
us all. One barrel of powder would have testified
that the Hollanders have confidence in us.' But,
instead of abruptly breaking off negotiation with
a government that broke its engagements, they
gave a year to deliberation, to choose either peace
or war, treated the commissioners with hospitality
and kindness; and on parting, reminded them that
the colonists of Surinam, by their inhumanity to
their slaves, were the authors of their own misfor-
tunes.
But perhaps the most remarkable instance of
faithfulness on record in the annals of the world,
is to be found in the conduct of Touissaint L'-
Ouverture, the George Washington of St. Do-
mingo.'
<
'Seven years previous to this, Toussaint sent his
sons, then seven and nine years of age, to Paris for
education. They were put under the care of a tu-
tor, named Coisnon. Bonaparte used this man as a
tool to prepare the boys for his purpose. The tutor
and his charge having been sent out with Le Clerc,
Coisnon wrote from Cape Francois to Toussaint,
who was then at his country seat at Ennery, saying,
'the first Consul sends by me your two sons, and
certain important despatches. Your sons will be
with you to-morrow, provided you will give me your
word that in the result of your not complying with
the wishes of the first Consul, they shall be safely re-
4
38
PREJUDICE AGAINST coloR EXAMINED.
turned with me to the Cape.' Toussaint gave his
word, and, on the morrow, the boys, accompanied
by Coisnon, were with their fond parents. Tous-
saint had now a choice of three things. He might
break his word and keep his sons; he might comply
with the wishes of Bonaparte and keep them; or he
might send them back. He would neither break his
word, nor sell his country, and therefore chose to
send them back. It was a proverb in St. Domingo,
that Toussaint L'Ouverture never broke his word.' *
(3.) Courage and Bravery. I have not much
to say in praise of this trait of character; knowing
as I do that it is the peacemakers, and not the he-
roes, who are to inherit the earth.' Yet, the
quality itself is noble and praiseworthy, and may
be exercised without the love of blood and car-
nage,' and in many ways, even disconnected with
scenes of violence. I suppose this characteristic
of the African race is so well known to those who
have paid attention to their history, as to need no
illustration; and the facts which prove it are so nu…
merous as to render selection difficult.
All are
familiar with the bravery of the colored troops at
the battle of New-Orleans, where their conduct
called forth the public commendation of general
Jackson. The brave exploits of Henry Diaz,
are probably familiar to most of my readers; † and
* Anti-Slavery Record, Vol. I. p. 38.
+ See Mrs. Child's Oasis, p. 42.
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
39
!
the military skill and success of Toussaint, Des-
salines, and their companions in St. Domingo,
would have immortalized their names, if they had
been at the head of a nation of white men, strug-
gling for liberty against half the tyranny suffered
by their countrymen.
In the seventeenth century,' says Gregoire,
'when Jamaica was still under the dominion of the
Spaniards, a party of slaves, under command of
John de Bolas, regained their independence.-
They increased in numbers, and became formida-
ble, after they had elected Cudjoe as their chief.
He was brave, skilful, and enterprising. In 1730,
he established a confederation among all the Ma-
roon tribes, made the English tremble, and com-
pelled them to make a treaty, in which they ac-
knowledged the freedom of the blacks, and ceded
to them forever a portion of the territory of Ja-
maica.'
Alexander Dumas was a mulatto. Near Lisle,
with four men, he attacked a post of fifty Austri-
ans, killed six, and made sixteen prisoners. For
a long time, he commanded a legion of horse, com-
posed of blacks and mulattoes, who were the ter-
ror of their enemies. In the army of the Alps, he
ascended St. Bernard, which was defended by a
number of fortifications, took possession of the can-
40
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
non, and immediately directed them against the
enemy.
A black man of the name of Menton, was taken
prisoner by the English; but, in sight of the coast
of Ushant, he took possession of the vessel that
was conducting him to England, and carried her
to Brest. Vincent says of Toussaint, At the
head of his army, he is the most active and inde-
fatigable man of whom we can form an idea. We
may say with truth that he is found wherever in-
structions or danger render his presence necessary.
His great sobriety, the faculty, which none but he
possesses of never reposing, the facility with which
he resumes the affairs of the cabinet, after the
most tiresome excursions, of answering daily a
hundred letters, and of habitually tiring five secre-
taries, render him so superior to all those around
him, that respect and submission are in most
individuals carried to extremes. It is certain that
no man, in the present times, has obtained such
an influence over a mass of ignorant people, as
General Toussaint possesses over his brethren in
St. Domingo.'
But, it is painful to dwell on this subject; and
I therefore dismiss it with the remark, that, what-
ever we may think of this trait of character, it
cannot be exhibited by persons of either mental
or moral imbecility.
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
41
'Nobleness,'
(4.) Nobleness and Generosity.
says Gregoire, is the inseparable companion of
bravery;' and the history of the African race furn-
ishes as rare exhibitions of it as are to be found
in the annals of any people; and sometimes it is
found in striking contrast with the conduct of those
who despise them. Take the three following facts
as specimens: Some slaves in St. Domingo, in the
time of the revolution in that island, were SO
strongly, attached to their masters, that they fol-
lowed them in their misfortunes and exile. And
how were they requited? Did their masters re-
ward this noble generosity with their freedom?
No; (I speak with shame for the color of my face,
when I remember that these masters were white
men,) on their arrival in Louisiana they sold them!
Again: A slave had run away. The master prom-
ised a reward of twelve dollars to any person who
would bring him back. A colored man conduct-
ed him to his master, but refused the reward, only
asking pardon for the deserter. The master grant-
ed the request, and kept his money. Robin, the
voyager, who relates this anecdote, remarks that
the master had the soul of a slave, and the slave
that of a master. He would have been nearer the
truth, if he had said the former had the soul of a
master, and the latter the soul of a man. That
4*
42
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
must be a debased and niggardly soul that can
make merchandize of a fellow being. The man
who can hold an immortal spirit as property, what-
ever excellent traits of character he may possess,
must have some ingredients of the monster. A
third case: The author of the West-Indian Ec-
logues, relates, in a note appended to his poems,
that he owed his life to a black man, who, to save
it, sacrificed his own; yet his gratitude did not
lead him to mention the name of his preserver.
Incidents almost innumerable, might be men-
tioned, to show the noble generosity of the black
man's heart. Stedman says they are so benevo-
lent to one another that it is useless to say to them
'love your neighbor as yourself.' This may be
an exageration; yet there must have been some
foundation for the remark. And the fact is cor-
roborated by the feelings they have manifested to-
wards their suffering brethren in this land.
A no-
bler sentiment than that put forth by a conven-
tion of the free people of color, on the formation
of the American Colonization Society, was per-
haps never uttered:
'Resolved, That we never will separate ourselves
voluntarily from the slave population in this country;
they are our brethren by the ties of consanguinity,
of suffering, and of wrong; and we feel that there
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
43
is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than
fancied advantages for a season.'
Rev. Charles Stuart, in the Anti-Slavery Quar-
terly for October, gives an interesting account of
the noble conduct of the colored people, during
the ravages of the yellow fever in Philadelphia:
'In the autumn of 1793 the yellow fever broke out
in Philadelphia, with peculiar malignity. The in-
solent and unnatural distinctions of caste were over-
turned, and the people called colored, were solicited
in the public papers to come forward, and assist the
perishing sick. The colored people of Philadelphia
nobly responded. The then Mayor, Mathew Clark-
son, received their deputation with respect, and re-
commended their course. They appointed Absalom
Jones and Wm. Gray to superintend it, the Mayor
advertising the public that, by applying to them, aid
could be obtained. This took place about Septem-
ber.
'Soon afterwards the sickness increased so dread-
fully, that it became next to impossible to remove the
corpses. The colored people volunteered this pain-
ful and dangerous duty-did it extensively, and hired
help in doing it. Dr. Rush instructed the two su-
perintendents in the proper precautions and measures
to be used.
'A sick white man crept to his chamber window,
and entreated the passers by to bring him a drink of
water. Several white men passed, but hurried on.
A foreigner came up-paused-was afraid to supply
the help with his own hands, but stood, and offered
eight dollars to whomsoever would. At length a
44
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
poor black man appeared; he heard-stopped-ran
for water-took it to the sick man; and then staid by
him to nurse him, steadily and mildly refusing all
pecuniary compensation.
'A poor black man, named Sampson, went con-
stantly from house to house giving assistance every
where gratuitously, until he was seized with the fev-
er and died.
'An elderly black nurse, going about most dili-
gently and affectionately, when asked what pay she
wished, used to say a dinner, Massa, some cold
winter's day.
'A young black woman was offered any price, if
she would attend a white merchant and his wife.-
She would take no money; but went, saying that, if
she went from holy love, she might hope to be pre-
served—but not if she went for money. She was
seized with the fever, but recovered.'
C
Gregoire relates that several Maroons had been
condemned to the gallows. One had the offer of
his life, provided he would become the executioner
of his fellows. But he preferred death, and refus-
ed. The master ordered one of his slaves to per-
form the office. Wait,' said he, 'till I get ready,'
and hastened into the house, where, with a hatchet,
he cut off his hand. He then returned to his
master, and said, 'Order me now to be the execu-
tioner of my comrade.' Dickson relates, that a
black had killed a white man. Another, accused
of the crime, was about to suffer. But the mur-
derer said, 'I cannot suffer the remorse I must
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
45
feel from the idea of being the cause of the death
of two individuals.' He therefore confessed the
crime. The innocent man was released, and he
was sent to the gibbet, where he remained alive
six or seven days!
A Portuguese slave had fled to the woods; but
learning that his master was to be brought to trial
for assassination, his noble spirit was roused. He
went to prison instead of the master; gave proof
which satisfied the court that he was the person
that was guilty; and suffered death in the place
of the real criminal. But, while we admire the
conduct of the slave, what shall we say of the
master?
There is a very general impression, among the
gradualists, that emancipated slaves will harbor
feelings of revenge against their old masters.
When we consider that the master robs his slave,
not only of his earnings, but of his very being,
such a feeling might be natural enough, during
the continuance of the robbery. But all the facts
which have yet transpired, go to show that this
feeling gives way to a nobler sentiment in the bo-
som of the emancipated African. An instance of
this will furnish an appropriate illustration of our
subject: Louis Desrauleaux had been a slave of
Pinsum, in St. Domingo. His master was a cap-
46
FREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
tain in the slave trade. He went to France, with
great riches. By some means, Louis obtained
his freedom, and was for some time employed as
a pastry cook at Nantes. But, afterwards, he re-
turned to St. Domingo, where he also became
rich. But his old master lost his property, and
returned to St. Domingo in poverty. Those who
had called themselves his friends when he was
rich, now scarcely recognized him. But, when
Louis learned his misfortunes, he hastened to find
him; gave him what he needed; but proposed
that he should live in France, where his feelings
would not be mortified by the sight of ungrateful
men. But I cannot support myself in France,'
said Pinsum. · Will an annual revenue of fifteen
thousand francs be sufficient,' replied Louis. His
old master wept for joy. Louis signed the con-
tract, and the pension was regularly paid till his
death. Here we see an emancipated slave reward-
ing, in princely style, the man who had robbed
him of his liberty and earnings for many years.
But this is only characteristic of the native gener-
osity of their dispositions. The blacks in chains.
have been seen to share with the sailors their un-
wholesome and scanty nourishment.
(5.) Industry. The blacks are generally accused
of indolence. This accusation may be true, under
}
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
47
certain circumstances. Men are free agents; and
must therefore be controlled, in their voluntary
actions, by motives. And what motive has the
slave to labor? Ha cannot call even his own body
and soul his own, much less the fruit of his toil.
No wonder that slaves are indolent. Again, the
motives to industry increase or diminish in propor-
tion to the difficulty or facility of obtaining the
means of subsistence. In a simple primitive state
of society, men's wants are few; and in a fertile
country they are easily supplied. Hence the
native African, in his own fruitful land, has less
motive to exertion than the inhabitants of the
rocky mountains of New-England. But blacks
and whites are all laborious, when stimulated by
the prospect of wealth, or any other favorite ob-
ject of pursuit. Pelletan says the negroes of
Senegal work with ardor because they are unmo-
lested in their possessions and enjoyments. 'Such,
too, are the laborious inhabitants of Axiam, on the
golden coast, whom all travellers love to describe.
Beaver mentions the negroes of the country of
Boulam, as inured to industry; and those of Jago,
as celebrated for an activity which enriches their
country. And Bosman speaks of those of Cabo-
monte and Fido, as indefatigable cultivators.
They are so economical of their soil as scarcely
48
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
to leave a footpath to form a communication be-
tween their different possessions. They reap one
day, and the next they sow the same carth, with-
out allowing it time for repose.'*
Vassa, speaking of his native land, says, 'Our
land is uncommonly rich and fruitful, and produ-
ces all kinds of vegetables in great abundance.
All our industry is exerted to improve these bless-
ings of nature. Agriculture is our chief employ-
ment; and every one, even the children and
women, are engaged in it. Thus we are all
habituated to labor from our earliest years. Every
one contributes something to the common stock;
and as we are unacquainted with idleness we have
no beggars.'
Thus it appears that, whenever they may with
justice be charged with indolence, it is rather the
result of circumstances than of native disposition.
Yet, I think if any person will institute a careful
and candid inquiry into the habits and condition of
the free colored people in the United States, he will
be surprised that, with their motives for exertion,
they are not more indolent. Shut out as they are
from almost every respectable employinent, I feel
no hesitation in challenging a comparison between
their condition and that of any other class of
* Gregoire.
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
49
laborers in our large towns. Though generally
poor, they are seldom in circumstances of extreme
want; and it is a rare thing to see them begging
in the streets. Yet, hundreds of thousands of
dollars have been wrenched from their hard earn-
ings, to pay for their own persons!
*
(6.) Cleanliness. Vassa says, in reference to
his native land, 'Our cleanliness on all occasions
is extreme. This necessary habit of decency was
with us a matter of religion, and therefore we had
many purifications and washings.' And, so far as
my observation has extended, I have noticed a
remarkable attention to the cleanliness of their
dwellings, among the free people of color, often
in contrast with the same class of people, among
the whites.
(7.) Good nature--Humanity--Kindness-Hos-
pitality. All unprejudiced authors,' says Gre-
goire, who speak of negroes, do justice to their
natural disposition and virtues.' Proyart says the
natives of the interior of Africa are humane, oblig-
ing, and hospitable. Golberry says he found
among them 'men of probity, filial, conjugal, and
paternal affection, who know all the energies and
refinements of virtue, because they observe, more
* See Proceedings of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention, 1835.
5
50
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
than we, the dictates of nature, and know how to
sacrifice personal interest to the ties of friendship.'
Adanson, who visited Senegal, in 1754, says he
found the natives sociable, obliging, humane, and
hospitable. Mungo Park, in the bosom of Africa,
was ready to perish with hunger. A native woman
meets him, invites him to her hut, and treats him
in the most hospitable manner.
The women of
the family were assembled; and part of the night
was passed in spinning cotton, and singing extem-
pore songs, to amuse the white man. One of
these songs, which exhibits the kindness and sym-
pathy of their feelings in a strain of simple pathos,
he has furnished us:
• The winds howled and the rain fell:
The poor white man, weary with fatigue,
Sits under our tree:
He has no mother to bring him milk,
No woman to grind his corn.
CHORUS.
Pity the poor white man,
He has no mother to bring him milk,
No woman to grind his corn.'
<
Joseph Rachel, a free colored man of Barba-
does, became rich by trade, and consecrated all
his fortune to objects of benevolence. The un-
fortunate, whatever his color, had a claim upon
his goodness. He gave to the poor, lent to those
who could make no return, visited prisoners, and
endeavored to reform the guilty.
He died at
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
51
Bridgetown, in 1758, equally lamented by blacks
and whites.'
Jasmin Thoumazeau was born in Africa. He
became a slave in St. Domingo; but afterwards
obtained his freedom, married a woman of the
Gold Coast, and established a hospital at the Cape
for his poor colored brethren. More than forty
years, he and his wife devoted themselves to the
relief of their distresses.
It may be objected, that the Africans enslave
their brethren, and sell them to the slave dealers;
and therefore kindness and humanity cannot be-
long to their character. But, let us apply the
same rule to the whites, and see what claim we
should have upon these virtues. Unless it can be
proved that selling one's own color is a greater
mark of barbarity than the same crime, when com-
mitted upon another color, we shall certainly gain
nothing by the comparison. The trade in slaves,
on the coast of Africa, is carried on at the instiga-
tion of white men. 'When a trader wants slaves,'
says Vassa, he applies to a chief for them, and
tempts him with his wares. It is not extraordi-
nary, if, on this occasion, he yields to the tempta-
tion with as little firmness, and accepts the price
of his fellow creatures' liberty, with as little reluc-
tance as the enlightened merchant. Accordingly,
52
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
he falls on his neighbors, and a desperate battle
ensues. If he prevails and takes prisoners, he
gratifies his avarice by selling them; but if his
party be vanquished, and he falls into the hands
of the enemy, he is put to death; and no ransom
can save him, though all other priseners may be
redeemed. Those who are not sold or redeemed
are kept as slaves. But how different is their
condition from that of the slaves in the West In-
dies! With us, they do no more work than other
members of the community, even their masters;
their food, clothing, and lodging, are nearly the
same as the rest of the family, except that they
are not permitted to eat with those who are free
born. There is scarcely any other difference be-
tween them, than a superior degree of importance
which the head of a family possesses, and the
authority which he exercises over every part of
his household. Some of these slaves have even
slaves under them, as their own property, and for
their own use.' How different this from American
slavery, by which one man becomes the absolute
property of another, to be used for his benefit,
without any regard for his own rights or happiness!
And how much more of the milk of human kind-
ness reigns in the breast of the kidnapper in
America, than the kidnapper in Africa? And
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
53
how much more humane is the practice which
converts the national capital into a mart for the
sale of unoffending human beings, than that which
exposes a band of men-stealers to the doom of
vassalage? The public sentiment, which con-
demns the chief of a band of kidnappers to death,
and his comrades to slavery, is certainly as good
as the public sentiment on the same subject, in this
land of light and liberty. The inhumanity and
cruelty of American kidnappers, soul-drivers, and
slaveholders, might be urged to show that white
men are destitute of kindness and humanity, with
as much propriety as the existence of slavery and
the slave-trade in Africa can be urged against the
general character of the blacks. How strangely
does prejudice pervert the moral feelings of men!
What horror is felt towards those barbarous African
outlaws, who sell their own countrymen into hope-
less bondage! But a white American may be a
noblehearted, generous, humane, and hospitable
man, though, forsooth, he sell his own children to
be chained and driven like brutes to the soul-
market!
(8.) Gratitude. No trait of character is more
conspicuous in the African than this. If any one
requires proof of it, let him go among the colored
people, and treat them kindly, and he will be satis-
5*
54
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
fied. Stedman says that the gratitude of the
blacks is such that they often expose their lives
to save their benefactors. But, perhaps, I can-
not give a better example than the description
which the faithful Vassa gives of his feelings,
when his master, after holding him more than
three years in bondage, in compliance with a
promise made without the expectation that Vassa
could so soon obtain the means, reluctantly per-
mitted him to purchase his freedom. 'These
words of my master,' says he, 'were like a voice
from heaven to me. In an instant, all my trepe-
dation was turned into unutterable bliss. I
most reverently bowed myself with gratitude,
unable to express my feelings, but by the over-
flowing of my eyes, and a heart replete with
thanks to God. As soon as the first transports
of my joy were over, and that I had expressed
my thanks to these my worthy friends, in the
best manner I was able, I rose with a heart full
of affection and reverence, and left the room, in
order to obey my master's joyful mandate, of
going to the register's office, to get my manumis-
sion drawn up. As I was leaving the house, I
called to mind the words of the Psalmist, in the
126th Psalm, and like him, "I glorified God in
my heart, in whom I trusted." My imagination
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
55
was all rapture, as I flew to the Register's Office;
and in this respect, like the Apostle Peter, whose
deliverance from prison was so sudden and extra-
ordinary that he thought he was in a vision, I
could scarcely believe I was awake. Heavens!
who could do justice to my feelings at this mo-
ment! Not conquering heroes themselves, in
the midst of a triumph; not the tender mother,
who has just regained her long lost infant, and
presses it to her heart; not the weary, hungry
mariner, at the sight of the desired friendly port;
not the lover, when he once more embraces his
beloved mistress, after she has been ravished from
his arms! All within my breart was tumult, wild-
ness, and delirium! My feet scarcely touched
the ground, for they were winged with joy, and
like Elijah, as he rose to heaven, they were with
lightning sped as I went on. Every one I met I
told of my happiness, and blazed about the virtue
of my amiable master and captain.’
I suppose this to be a true specimen of the
colored man's feelings. It accords with all that
we know of his character. He is emphatically a
man of feeling. What, then, must be the aggre-
gate amount of suffering, among the millions in
slavery, in whose bosoms is pent up this ceaseless
longing after liberty! What benevolent heart
56
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
would not wake up these emotions in the breasts
of two millions and a half of his countrymen in
bondage? And if, on receiving his freedom, all
his past wrongs are swallowed up in gratitude for
this one act of justice, where is the danger of
immediate emancipation?
But this man's gratitude was not confined to
mere expressions of feeling. He had long earn-
estly desired to return to England, where he had
resided with a former master; and now he had
obtained his freedom, he was bent upon it. In
regard to this, he says, 'My worthy captain and
his owner, my late master, finding that the bent of
my mind was towards London, said to me, "We
hope that you won't leave us, but that you will
still be with the vessels." Here gratitude bowed
me down; and none but the generous mind can
judge of my feelings, struggling between inclina-
tion and duty. However, notwithstanding my
wish to be in London, I obediently answered my
benefactors that I would go in the vessel and not
leave them. My intention was to make a voyage
or two, entirely to please these my honored pat-
rons.' Can any thing be discovered, in this man's
feelings and conduct, to justify the fears of those
who apprehend danger from immediate abolition ?
It is all on the other side-all gratitude and desire
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
57
to benefit those whom he had served while a
slave.
Facts like this might be multiplied; but it is
unnecessary. I will allude to but one more.
This trait of character was most conspicuously
manifested during the great fire in New York;
where the colored people rushed in a body to the
store of the Messrs. Tappan, and rescued their
goods, even at the risk of their lives. And why
did they do this? Because these gentlemen had
advocated their rights, and showed themselves the
friends of the colored man.
C
(9.) Respect for the object of their worship,
and for their parents and superiors, is also charac-
teristic of the unsophisticated native of Africa.
Vassa says, I remember we never polluted the
name of the object of our adoration; on the
contrary, it was always mentioned with the great-
est reverence; and we were totally unacquainted
with swearing, and all those terms of abuse and
reproach, which find their way so readily and co-
piously into the language of more civilized people.'
Adanson, speaking of the natives of Senegal,
which he visited in 1754, says, 'They have gener-
ally preserved an estimable simplicity of manners.
They are distinguished by their tenderness for
their parents, and great respect for the aged.'
58
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
(
.
Robin mentions a slave of Martinico, who, hav-
ing obtained money enough for his ransom, pur-
chased with it his mother's freedom. The most
horrible outrage that can be committed against a
negro,' says Long, is to curse his father or his
mother, or to speak of either with contempt.'
‹‹‹ Strike me,” said a slave to his master,
curse not my mother." So says Mungo Park.
Cassau relates that a negro seeing a white man
abuse his father, said, carry away the child of
this monster, that it may not learn to imitate his
conduct.'
C
'
" but
(10.) Modesty and Chastity. Rev. John
Newton, who was employed, before his conver-
sion, nine years in the slave trade, says of the
African females, often we must admire traits of
modesty and delicacy among them, of which a
virtuous English woman might be proud.' And
this accords with the account which Vassa gives
of the customs of his native land.
He says,
'Our women were, in my eye, at least uncom-
monly graceful, alert, and modest to a degree of
bashfulness; nor do I remember to have heard of
an instance of incontinence among them before
marriage.' How ought this to shame this Chris-
tian land, where thousands of such instances may
be found every day, in all our cities and large
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
59
.
towns! Again, he says, ' Adultery was punished
with slavery or death; a punishment which, I be-
lieve, is inflicted on it throughout most of the na-
tions of Africa.' What a rebuke to come up from
heathen nations, to this land of light, where pub-
lic sentiment is too feeble, in favor of good mor-
als, to secure any legal punishment against this
odious crime! But, alas! how much does this
native sentiment, in favor of purity, enhance the
misery of those wretched females, whose chastity
is constantly exposed to the unbridled lust of li-
centious masters and brutal overseers! Yet, is
not this feeling wholly extinct. Instances have
come to the knowledge of the writer, in which
they have effectually resisted the importunities of
the one, and the lash of the other.
(11.) The last trait of character which I shall
mention under this head, is Patience and capacity
of Endurance. This is so manifest, in whatever
situation we find the colored man, that it hardly
requires illustration. Where is the white man to
be found, who would not sink under the accumu-
lated burdens of American slavery? Where is
the white man, who would suffer in silence the
indignities cast upon the free colored man of the
North? Yet, they suffer patiently. Seldom is
their voice heard in complaint; and much less
60
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
frequently are they known to retaliate their wrongs.
It is often said that the number of colored persons
in prison, is vastly disproportioned to their num-
bers. But, it will generally be found, upon exam-
ination, where this is the case, that most of their
crimes are petit larcenies; a crime to which the
condition of slavery holds out peculiar tempta-
tions, under circumstances of great palliation.
Condemned to toil unrequited, with an allowance
of the coarsest food, barely sufficient to sup-
port nature, is it astonishing that they should
take from the proceeds of their own labor, wherev-
er they can find it, to satisfy the cravings of hun-
ger? And when this pilfering spirit becomes ha-
bitual, is it surprising that something of the same
propensity should cleave to them, after they be-
come free? But, it is certainly very seldom that
a colored man is convicted of a breach of the
peace, assault and battery, man-slaughter, cr mur-
der. Does not this fact argue greatly in favor of
their character, as patient, peaceable, and quiet,
when viewed in connection with the repeated and
continual insult to which they are exposed?
Bosman says of the natives of Cabomonte and
Fido, that they know how to support pain with
a courage truly heroic.' History,' says Gregoire,
C
C
is full of examples of African intrepidity. Pun-
ishments of the most horrible description, multi-
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
61
plied by the cruelty of the whites, have afforded
proof of this. Slaves have been seen, after many
days of uninterrupted torture, and almost in the
grasp of death, to converse calmly among them-
selves, and even to smile at torture. A negro at
Martinique, condemned to be burned, begged to
have a lighted cigar put in his mouth; which he
continued to smoke, even after his body was at-
tacked by fire. In 1750, the negroes of Jamaica
revolted; but their tyrants being conquerors, con-
demned many of them to the flames. They
marched gaily to punishment. One of them,
without emotion, saw his limbs reduced to ashes;
but the flame having loosed the cord which bound
one of his hands, he seized a burning brand, and
darted it against the face of the executioner.'
When the Spaniards first settled in South Amer-
ica, they enslaved the Indians. But, accustomed
to the free range of their native mountains, they
sunk under the yoke. Their spirits could not
brook slavery. Their place was supplied by
Africans, because they were more capable of en-
during the yoke of bondage, and more patient
under it.
It may be said that the individual cases I have
cited, do not prove that the mass of the African
6
62
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
race are intelligent and virtuous. I answer, that
this is not my object; and had it been my object
to prove that the mass of white men are intelligent
and virtuous, I could not have done it. I could
only prove that they are susceptible of intelligence
and virtue. That the blacks are equally so, has
been my object here to show. And, if I have
brought forward examples of individuals, far re-
moved from each other, and under a great variety
of circumstances, (in most instances calculated to
depress and to impede imprevement,) who have
exhibited talents and virtues equal to what we
see exhibited by white men, under similar circum-
stances, I think I have established the position,
that color is no mark of inferiority. I leave the
reader to judge the correctness of my conclu-
sions.
4. The next argument I shall advance, in sup-
port of the position assumed at the commence-
ment of this chapter, is, that prejadice against
color is not natural. A child never manifests
aversion to colored people, until taught by others
to despise them. This fact has come under my
observation; and it is corroborated by the fact,
that even the children of slaveholders often receive
their nutriment from the breasts of black women,
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
63
and grow up in daily intercourse with colored
children.
•
5. This prejudice not universal. It has never
appeared to exist, as all history will testify, when
the blacks have taken precedence of the whites,
in civilization, science, and political power. The
black Prince Memnon, who served among the
Trajan auxiliaries at the siege of Troy, is con-
stantly spoken of, by the Greek and Latin authors,
as a person of extraordinary beauty.' Herodotus
says, 'the Ethiopians excel all other nations in
personal beauty.' And even the wisest man that
ever lived was captivated with an African beauty.*
Should any of my readers start back with horror,
as though this were encouraging amalgamation, it
may be some consolation to them to recollect that
the wise king himself probably belonged to a
tawny race.
Ideas of beauty are capricious; being affected
by prevailing tastes and prejudices. We are apt
to suppose that colored people consider their color
as a misfortune, and a mark of degredation. But
this is by no means the case in their own country;
and if the feeling exists any where, it is because
their color is made an apology for their oppression,
* 1 Kings, 3: 1.
64
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
and not because they consider their color in itself
degrading. Vassa says, 'Ideas of beauty are
wholly relative. I remember while in Africa to
have seen three negro children who were tawny,
and another quite white, who were universally re-
garded by myself and the natives in general, as
far as related to their complexions, as deformed.'
Gregoire says that different black tribes, when
thy wish to represent the devil in the most un-
favorable light, paint him white.
Whiteness,
when first beheld, is shocking to them. They
attribute it to disease. A charitable old negro
woman, who afforded Park a meal and a lodging,
on the banks of the Niger, could not refrain, even
in the midst of her kindness, from exclaiming,
"God preserve us from the Devil!""
This prejudice does not now exist, in those
countries where color has not been made the
badge of slavery. Colored men have been em-
ployed as teachers and professors of literary insti-
tutions in Germany and in Portugal. Among the
Turks, black men sometimes arrive at the most
eminent offices. A black man named Hannibal,
became lieutenant general and director of artillery
in the Russian army, under Peter.
Dr. Philip,
* Yaradee, p. 56.
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
65
a most estimable Christian missionary in South
Africa, says, 'It gives us a frightful view of hu-
man nature, that the injuries we have done to that
race of men, should be the ground of our hatred
against them; and that that hatred should be evi-
dent in proportion to the cruelty and injustice they
have suffered at our hands.' * * * 'As our chil-
dren, it is hoped,' he continues, will be more
innocent of the crimes committed against Africa,
than we are, so we hope they will cherish towards
Africa a more kindly feeling than we. There
was no prejudice against color when Egypt was
the cradle of literature and science, nor in the
days when the Grecian and Roman republics
were in their glory; and these prejudices will,
most certainly, pass away, as the principles of the
gospel prevail.'
It is the universal testimony of travellers in
Europe, that the prejudice against color, which
prevails here, is not known there. In conversa-
tion, some years since, with a clergyman, who
had been travelling in England and Scotland, he
remarked to me, that he was surprised to discover
the state of feeling on this subject. It was no un-
cemmon thing, he said, to see gentlemen of the
first respectability walking with colored ladies.
I will add here the testimony of Rev. Mr. Choules,
6*
66
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
6
of New Bedford, on his return from a visit to
Europe: There was one thing they could not
comprehend in England; the aversion with which
the whites regard the blacks in this country.
They have their prejudices of rank and caste in
England, but they can't understand, for their lives,
why our prejudice is so great against color.
never saw a man in England I could make com-
prehend it.'
And, as an example of the contrast of Ameri-
can and English feeling, on this subject, I will
here introduce an anecdote, which exhibits the
aristocratic feelings of a republican lady, in ludic-
rous opposition to the liberality of the British
Prince Regent :
I
'A wealthy American citizen was residing in
London for a season, at the time the famous Prince
Saunders was there. The London breakfast hour
is very late; and Mr. Saunders happened to call on
the American while his family were taking their
morning repast. Politeness and native good feelings
prompted the good lady to ask their guest to take a
cup of coffee; but then, the prejudices of society-
how could she get over them? True, he was a
gentleman in character, manners, and dress-but he
had a black skin, and how could she sit at the same
table with him! His skin being black, it was alto-
gether out of the question, although it is possible a
black character is not always so great a difficulty in
the way of asking a man to eat with one! So the
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINed.
67
lady sipped her coffee, and Prince Saunders sat at
the window, occasionally speaking in reply to the
conversation addressed to him. At last, all others
having retired from the breakfast table, the lady,
with an affected air of sudden recollection, said, "I
forgot to ask if you had breakfasted, Mr. Saunders;
won't you allow me to give you a cup of coffee?
"I thank you, Madam," was the reply, with a digni-
fied bow, "I am engaged to breakfast with the Prince
Regent, this morning.
Having shown, as I think conclusively, that
color is not in itself odious; is no ground of de-
merit; and no mark of inferiority; and that the
prevailing prejudice against it is neither natural
nor universal: it must follow that the real ground
of this prejudice is not color. We must look for
it some where else. And where shall we find it?
It doubtless originates in the genius of slavery.
If slavery had not degraded the black man, in
the
eye of the law, and of depraved public senti-
ment, to the condition of a brute, a mere chattel,
this prejudice against him would probably never
have been known. It is the true spirit of CASTE.
Bacause the black man, in this land of liberty,
has been doomed to serve, republican aristocratic
* Yaradee, p. 176.
68
PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR EXAMINED.
feeling has decreed that he shall never rise above
the condition of a servant; and that he shall sit at
his master's footstool, or in a corner, even in the
temple of the living God!
CHAPTER III.
CASTE, IN INDIA AND AMERICA, COMPARED: Descriptions of
the Customs of Caste in India. Colored people excluded from
equal privileges, in schools, in business, in public conveyances.
Comparison of Customs of Caste, in Religious Worship, in Ame-
rica and Hindoostan. Separate seats in House of God. Distinc-
tions at Communion. Separate places in Burial Grounds.
'Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am
holier than thou. These,' (that is, those who thus
think and speak,) are a smoke in my nose, a fire
that burneth all the day.' ISIAH lxv. 5.
I HAVE said, in the preceding chapter, that it is
not color, but caste, which creates the feeling of
aversion to the people of color, so common in this
country. And I think I have proved, to the satis-
faction of the candid reader, that there is nothing
in color itself, to create this feeling. I will here
add the testimony of the Hon. Alexander H.
Everett, contained in his able work on the situa-
tion of America. It is directly in point, to the
question before us. "Nations and races,' says he,
' like individuals, have their day, and seldom have
a second. The blacks had a long and glorious
70
CASTE, IN INDIA AND AMERICA,
one; and after what they have been and done, it
argues not so much a mistaken theory, as sheer
ignorance of the most notorious historical facts, to
pretend that they are naturally inferior to the whites.
It would seem indeed, that if any race have a right
claim to a sort of pre-eminence over others, on the
fair and honorable ground of talents displayed, and
benefits conferred, it is precisely this very one,
which we take upon us, in the pride of a tempo-
rary superiority, to stamp with the brand of essen-
tial degradation. It is hardly necessary to add,
that while the blacks were the leading race in
civilization and political power, there was no pre-
judice among the whites against their color. On
the contrary, we find that the early Greeks regard-
ed them as a superior variety of the human spe-
cies, not only in intellectual and moral qualities,
but in outward appearance. "The Ethiopians,"
says Herodotus, "surpass all other men in longe-
vity, stature, and personal beauty.'
,,,
Having, as I suppose, shown that color is not
the real ground of the prejudice against this class
of our population; I now proceed to substantiaate
the position, that it is the offspring of the spirit of
caste, by instituting a comparison between the sys-
tem of artificial orders and distinctions, as it pre-
vails in perfection in Hindoostan; and the same
COMPARED.
71
<
principle, as it exists here, by the force of a de-
praved public sentiment. The Hindoos were
originally divided into four castes or tribes, viz.,
the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas or Ketras, the Vai-
syas or Bices, and the Sudras or Sooders, each of
which is again subdivided into a large number of
different branches.' Every individual remains in-
variably in the caste in which he was born, practi-
ces its duties, and is debarred from ever aspiring
to a higher, whatever may be his merit or his
genius.' The members of each tribe, must ad-
here invariably to the profession of their ancestors,
and continue from generation to generation, to
pursue one uniform walk of life. In consequence
of this unnatural distinction of cast, all motives to
exertion, inquiry, or improvement, are completely
extinguished among the Hindoos; for the most
honorable actions, the most beneficial discoveries,
the most virtuous conduct, secure no respect or
advantage to a person of inferior caste.'*The
Chitties live by trade, and the Vellallas by culti-
vating the land. The smiths and carpenters' caste
is inferior to the Vellallas. Washermen, shoe-
makers, and barbers, are still inferior. The Tod-
dy-man, Paraya, &c., are still lower. The Too-
C
* See Spirit of British Missions,' p. 121. Malte Brun, vol. 2,
p. 231.
72
CASTE, IN INDIA AND AMERICA,
roompen, (which signifies a man that is not worth
more than a rush,) is the lowest. This last is so
low a caste, that people of the high castes often
strike them, if they come in contact with them.
None of the high castes will eat with any of the
low castes.' * The fourth and most numerous
caste, are the Sudras or Sooders. Their business
is servile labor; and whenever the original spirit
of the institution has not been infringed on, by a
train of political accidents, their degradation is in-
human. They are compelled to work for the
bramins, being considered as created solely for
their use. They are not, by the laws of Menu,
allowed to collect property, 'because such a spec-
tacle would give pain to the Bramins.' To them
the Vedas, or sacred books, must never be read;
and whoever shall dare to instruct them in the
mode of expiating sin, is doomed to sink with them
into Asamvrita, one of the hells with which the
world of spirits is provided.' How striking the
resemblance between this and American slavery!
There is, also, a race of most degraded and uni-
versally insulted ontcasts, called Parayas. In
many places, their very approach is sufficient to
pollute a whole neighborhood. They must not
* Journal of Gabriel Tissera, a converted native, in appen-
dix of Report of American Board, 1823.
COMPARED.
73
When
enter a street where the Brahmins live.
they transgress, the higher castes will not assault
them, for it is pollution even to touch them with
a long pole; but through the medium of others,
they often beat them at pleausure, and have often
put them to death, without dispute or inquiry.'*
For every species of labor, there is in India a
particular class of men. This division of labor is
regulated according to caste. The divisions of
the former, however, are so much more extensive
than the nominal grades of the latter, that differ-
ent individvals of the same caste are engaged in
different occupations. Still, whatever be a man's
capacities, he can neither rise above, nor fall be-
neath, the calling of his father. He will perform
only that kind of labor to which his own subdivi-
sion of his caste are accustomed. One man of
low caste may be a dobee or washerman, and another
of the same caste, a coolie or carrier of burdens,
and a third, a palanquin bearer. But a dobee
would scorn to act as a coolie. Even the foot
pedler will not carry his own packs of goods;
nor will the Hindoo servant, who provides for his
master's table, bring from the market a piece of
meat, or a basket of vegetables. He must em-
* Malte Brun, pp. 238, 240.
7
74
CASTE, IN INDIA AND AMERICA,
ploy a coolie.
The coolie in his turn can do
nothing that does not come within the sphere of
his business.' *
Who does not recognize, in these descriptions,
the same feeling and principle which creates the
barrier between the whites and blacks in this
country? Although regulated by law, and more
certain and general in its influence, yet it is no
more oppressive in Hindoostan than it is in Amer-
ica, when fully carried out. Even in this land of
republican equality, white people generally feel
as much horror at the thought of sitting and eating
with the blacks, as the Hindoos at the idea of as-
sociating in the same way with those of a lower
caste; and the black man, whatever may be his
talents, acquirements, or moral worth, can seldom
rise above the condition of servile labor. If he
obtains a liberal education, the learned professions.
are shut against him. If he turns his attention to
trade, he cannot rise above the condition of a
dealer in old clothes. If he possess a mechanical
genius, the shops are closed against him. And
why should not this extinguish all motives to ex-
ertion, inquiry, or improvement,' in the bosom of
the colored man of America, as well as in the low
(
* Journal of Rev. Hollis Read, Missionary Herald, vol. 28, p.
182.
COMPARED.
75
caste of Hindoostan.
A clergyınan recently re-
lated to the author an affecting instance of the influ-
ence of this feeling, in the case of an interesting
colored man, who was a class-mate of his, in col-
lege. He completed a thorough education. But
he did not possess the supports of religion, and
therefore could not bear up under the crushing in-
fluence of prejudice. The learned professions
were shut against him; and his sensibilities were
too refined for menial employments. He sunk
under the weight, and fell a victim to intemper-
ance. But it is with great difficulty that colored
youth can gain access to the halls of science; and
then it is generally in the character of menials.
I believe there are but two collegiate institutions in
our land, which publicly announce their admission
upon an equal footing with whites; and many
painful circumstances have occurred, in some of
our old institutions, as well as in connection with
efforts to establish schools of a high order for
colored youth.* Whole towns have been thrown
into commotion, by the establishment, or the at-
tempt to establish these schools. In one instance,
even in the enlightened state of Connecticut, a
respectable and pious lady was incarcerated in the
common jail, for such an attempt; and in another
* See Mrs. Child's Appeal, pp. 198, 200,
76
CASTE, IN INDIA AND AMERICA,
in the same state, an academy was removed into
a swamp by a mob, because colored youth were
admitted to its privileges. And, however refined,
intelligent, and worthy he may be, the colored
man's money will not secure him a seat in a stage
coach, or a berth on board a steamboat.* A
very respectable missionary of the American
Board, his face slightly tinged with the hated stain,
was travelling from Boston to New York, by the
way of Providence. To secure him from indignity
on the steamboat, the Secretary of the Board gave
him a letter to the captain, informing him of the
gentleman's character and standing, and commend-
ed him to the captain's kindness. The passengers
being numerous, the dinner tables were filled be-
fore our missionary and his brother, and some
clergymen with whom he was conversing, found a
seat. But when the bell rang for the second table,
they all proceeded to the cabin together, and
were quietly eating their dinner. But some true
American, who had dined, observed the 'mixture,'
and hastened to the captain, exclaiming Capt.
6
C
do you allow niggers to eat in your cabin?'
'No, indeed,' was the reply. Well, there is one
at the table.' The captain ran down the cabin
stairs, and came up to the missionary, Why are
C
*See Mrs. Childs's Appeal, pp. 202, 205.
COMPARed.
77
you here, sir? I have no niggers at my table-
move, sir!' at the same time laying his hand on
his shoulder. The clergymen, among whom was
the president of a Southern college, remonstrated,
and testified to the worth and standing of their as-
sociate, but to no purpose. The poor man's heart
was grieved, that this is the tale he has to carry
from Christian America to heathen Africa.' *
Although a digression from our subject, I cannot
refrain from remarking, that, if these clergymen
had possessed the genuine feelings of Christian
love towards this brother, in a proper degree, they
would not have permitted him to suffer alone.
They would not have remained at the table from
which he was excluded.
ence.
Facts of similar import might be multiplied; but
the feeling is so general, that we require argu-
ments to show its impropriety rather than its exist-
No one, however, who will candidly draw
the comparison, can fail to discern the resemblance
between this sentiment and the prevailing preju-
dice of caste, in Hindoostan. The only thing,
therefore, which remains to be done, in this con-
nection, is to show that they both proceed from
a similar cause. And what is this cause, in
* New York Evangelist, Jan. 14, 1837.
7*
78
CASTE, IN INDIA, AND AMERICA,
Hindoostan? It is the spirit of despotism-of
SLAVERY. There, no differences of color mark
the lines of caste. These distinctions are created
by that spirit of despotism, which raises an insur-
mountable barrier between the patrician and ple-
bian races. The mandate of caste is, that those
who have been doomed, for successive generations,
to the performance of menial services, shall never
rise above the condition of menials. Slavery,
then, and not color, is at the bottom of the deep-
rooted prejudice, which would confine the liberated
African, and his descendants to all generations, to
the performance of the same offices which he exe-
cuted while a slave. Had slavery never existed,
in this land, we should probably never have heard
of this prejudice; and had the enslaved been from
Ireland, or Germany, or any other part of the
globe, probably this prejudice would have been
equally oppressive.
But I design more particularly, in this chapter,
to call the attention of the reader to the resem-
blance between the customs of caste, in religious
worship, in Hindoostan and America. Gabriel
Tissera says,
'The low castes are kept out of the
They have their temples, exclusively
temple.
for themselves, which are poor ones, and unattend-
COMPARED.
79
ed by any brahmin.' * Mr. Ramsay also relates,
that, in addressing the people in a heathen temple,
he saw some standing outside, and inquired why
they did not come in. He was told that it was
not their custom to have them come in; they
were of low caste, and would defile the temple.†
How much do these facts remind us of things that
occur continually in republican and Christian
America! It is a notorious and immemorial cus-
tom of New-England and other parts of our land,
to assign certain seats, generally in an obscure
corner of the gallery, to the colored people. And
this custom has operated effectually to exclude the
great body of them from Christian temples; so
that, like the low castes of Hindoostan, they also
have their temples by themselves. And so gen-
eral seems to be the fear that Christian temples
will be polluted by the presence of this low caste,
that instances have occurred where no member of
a congregation would rent a pew, because a colored
man had sat in it! And whole societies have
been thrown into excitement, because colored men
have purchased pews. ‡ In one instance, a colored
man was actually excommunicated, in conse-
quence of his son's purchasing a seat for the fam-
*Rep. Am. Board, 1823, p. 152.
† Ramsay's Journal, p. 134.
See Mrs. Child's Appeal, p. 202.
80
CASTE, IN INDIA AND AMERICA,
ily. This case has already been extensively pub-
lished; I shall not, therefore, repeat the circum-
stances. The reader will find them detailed at
length, in Mrs. Child's Oasis, p. 54. I understand,
also, that very recently, church meetings have
been called, and considerable excitement pro-
duced, in one of the churches in this city, be-
cause one of the members, from a momentary im-
pulse of kindness, introduced an intelligent and
worthy colored man into his own seat.
But let us extend the comparison a little fur-
ther. The first missionaries in Southern India
undertook, like many Christian Doctors in this
land, to accommodate Christianity to the pre-
vailing prejudices of the people. Rev. Hollis
Read, American missionary at Ahmednugger,
speaking of Southern India, says, 'They have not,
it is feared, in that part of the country, embraced
Christianity, but Christianity has been made to
embrace them; and instead of imparting her
purity and simplicity, as she is wont to do, she
has been loaded with the filthy rags of impure
rites, and customs, and caste, prejudice and super-
stition; and she is now exhibited throughout those
regions of darkness more in the form of a ludicrous
comedian, than as an angel of light. The prosti-
tution is lamentable. The Abbe Dubois, a Jesuit,
COMPARED.
81
is censured, and most justly too, for asserting that
Christianity could not be propagated in India, un-
less it be allowed to bend to the prejudices of the
natives, and to the usages of caste. Protestants
condemn this time-serving policy; while a large
society of Protestant missionaries, who have under
their care many thousands of Hindoo converts,
have, ever since the days of Schwartz, allowed
caste, the most exceptionable feature of Hindooism,
to appear in full vigor at the communion table!"*
This missionary, who has travelled extensively
among the Hindoos, regards caste as the most
exceptionable feature of Hindooism;' and the
Bishop of Calcutta has become so well convinced
of its utter inconsistency with Christianity, that he
has addressed two charges to the missionaries of
the church of England, requiring them no longer
to tolerate the distinctions of caste, in the native
churches. The main barrier to all permanent
improvement,' says he, 'is, the heathen usages of
caste, in the Christian churches.' Now, let us
compare these usages, as described by Bishop
Corrie, with the usages of caste, in the Christian
churches of this land, and see if we do not discover
the same principle, in both cases. He says, 'The
different castes sat on different mats, on different
p. 138.
* Christian Brahmin, vol. II.
82
CASTE, IN INDIA AND AMERICA,
sides of the church, to which they entered by dif-
ferent doors; they approached the Lord's table
at different times, and had once different cups, or
managed to get the catechists to change the cup
before the lower castes began to communicate :
even the missionary clergyman was persuaded to
receive the holy supper last; they would allow
no persons at baptism, of an inferior caste; they
had separate divisions in the burial grounds.'
It is true, that here the tree of caste has not
grown up to such dimensions as in Hindoostan ;
and as but one class of people are subject to its
oppressive influence, and they possess a patient,
submissive spirit, it stands out less prominently
before us.
But let us give it a close examination :
Where is the difference in principle, between seat-
ing different castes on different mats, on different
sides of the Church, and seating the privileged
ones in the pews, in the body of the house, while
the despised caste are crowded away into an ob-
scure corner of the gallery, often at an inconve-
nient distance from the speaker, and sometimes
out of sight of him? Surely, if there is any dif
ference, it is in favor of the Hindoo practice, ast
more equal in operation. It would permit the
aged, decrepid, deaf brother, to sit, on one side or
the other, near enough to the minister to hear the
COMPARED.
83
sound of his voice.
But not so with American
caste. No matter how old, decrepid, or deaf, a
man or woman may be, if he has a dark skin and
a woolly head, he must hobble up gallery, and
seat himself in the negro's corner, though perad-
venture, he may be unable there to unite with
any of the exercises of public worship. But,
alas! he must be a meeker man than often wears
a white skin, if he can unite in the worship of
those who despise him, (though he bears his Mas-
ters image,) on account of the color which God
gave him.
But again, Bishop Corrie says, 'they approached
the Lord's table at different times.' On the an-
nouncement of this fact, every true Christian will
doubtless feel an involuntary emotion of repug-
nance, at a practice so obviously inconsistent with
Christian fellowship and communion; and so sub-
versive of the feelings of kindness, affection, and
equal privileges, which reigned upon the hallowed
occasion which it commemorates. His mind will
involuntarily revert to those scenes of extrava-
gance, in which the corrupt Christians at Corinth
abused this sacred ordinance, by taking 'one be-
fore another his own supper.' Yet, why are we
so insensible to the incongruity of the same prac-
tice, existing in our own churches, in this land of
84
CASTE, IN INDIA AND AMERICA,
republican equality and gospel light? Even in
this city, where is the 'cradle of liberty,' where
was the centre of Puritan influence, the colored
disciple may be seen coming up alone to the altar,
to partake of the crumbs left by his more favored
brethren; or seated in the broad aisle, receiving
the cup last of all, lest he should violate the laws
of caste, and pollute the Christian temple!
An anecdote contained in a little book published
by Rev. Mr. Holt, corresponding secretary of the
Southern Board of Missions, shows the heathen
custom of caste, in a light rather more favorable
than our own. A Brahmin in Calcutta asked a
European gentleman, "What is your order of
society in Great Britain? Are you divided into
castes, or do you eat and drink together, accord-
ing to circumstances?" The European replied,
"We deem it an honor to demean ourselves as
brethren in the participation of food at one table,
as providence permits." The Brahmin rejoined,
"That appears to me to be an offence against
good morals and good conduct." The gentleman
answered, "I think I can prove it to you, by a
practice of your own, that you are in error. How
do you act in the field of Juggernaut? Do you
not eat there with the lowest caste of India?
There, you know no distinction of caste, but all
COMPARED.
85
feed at one board." The Brahmin replied, I can
screen myself from the imputation you bring
against us, for there we are in the presence of
our god, there Juggernaut is in our midst, and
there we can feast together." "Ah!" said the
gentleman," and I can justify the Christian prac-
tice, on your own principles, for we are every
where in the presence of our God."
So it seems
the Hindoos throw aside the distinctions of caste,
when eating in the immediate presence of their
god. But it is strange the author did not reflect
what a rebuke this anecdote was bringing upon
the churches around him. How many Southern
churches can be found, who, even in the immedi-
ate presence of their God, 'know no distinction of
caste, but all feed at one board?'
But again, the Bishop says, 'they had separate
divisions in the burial grounds.' I have just re-
ceived the account of the burial of a large num-
ber of persons who perished in the recent ship-
wreck, near New York, which says, 'The bodies
having been decently enwrapped in shrouds and
laid in separate coffins, were, wITH THE EXCEP-
TION OF THREE COLORED BODIES, interred in one
capacious grave, the coffins being placed side by
side, in a continuous row. The colored bodies
were committed to the care of the colored people
8
86
CASTE, IN INDIA AND AMERICA,
6
of the neighborhood, and interred at the same
time, and within the same enclosure.' Is not here
a separate division in the burial ground?' Is
not here evidence of the same heathenish spirit,
which will not suffer the mouldering bodies of dif
ferent castes, to lie side by side in the same grave,
lest they should pollute each other?
Wherever the distinctions of caste exist, in
heathen lands, the missionaries find them the great-
est obstacle in the way of converting the heathen.
To this is doubtless chiefly to be attributed the
slow progress which Christianity has made in In-
dia. Can the existence of the same principle
here, be any more friendly to the progress of sound
and vital Christianity? It is certainly throwing
the greatest possible obstacles in the way of the
improvement and conversion of the people of color.
Hear the testimony of one of them: How can
we contend against these prejudices? The color-
ed man is even excluded from the house of God.
Even at the communion table, he can only par-
take the crumbs offered to him after others have
been served. This prejudice drives the colored
man away from religion. I have often heard
my brethren say they would have nothing to do
with such a religion. They are driven away and
* Rev. T. S. Wright, of New York.
COMPARED.
87
go to infidelity; for even the infidels at Tammany
Hall, make no distinctions on account of color.'
And, will this unhallowed distinction have no
effect upon the white man's piety? Can his soul
thrive, while he harbors an unjust, arbitrary, and
cruel prejudice towards his brother, and carries it
even to the communion table? Will it have no
influence, in preventing the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon our congregations? Will the Lord
pour out his blessing upon those who despise his
'little ones?' These are solemn questions, of
serious import to our beloved Zion; especially
now, when her ways do mourn.' If the mis-
sionaries have found it necessary to set their face
against the spirit of caste, in heathen lands, ought
not Christian ministers to do the same, in this land
of civilization, refinement, intelligence, and gospel
light?
CHAPTER IV.
DISTINCTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD UNSCRIPTURAL,
'If there come unto your assembly a man with a
gold ring, in goodly apparel; and there come in also
a poor man, in vile raiment; and ye have respect to
him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him,
sit thou here, in a good place; and say to the poor,
stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool. Are
ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become
judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved breth-
ren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich
in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath
promised to them which love him? But ye have de-
spised the poor? If ye fulfil the royal law, accord-
ing to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself, ye do well: But, if ye have respect to per-
sons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as
transgressors.' JAMES ii, 2-6, 8, 9.
THE following principles are plainly deduced
from the passage above quoted, viz:
1. We are not to regard or treat men accord- -
ing to their outward appearance. Whether this
appearance, or outward show, which takes our
fancy, be a 'gold ring and goodly apparel, or a
DISTINCTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD &C. 89
white skin and features and proportions which suit
our taste; or, on the other hand, whether it be
poverty and vile raiment, or an ebony colored
skin and African features, which displease us; it
makes no difference: the principle is the same.
If a man is not to be despised, on account of his
vile raiment, why should he be, on account of his
dark skin? We have already shown that this
color is of itself no mark of degradation. It is
very probable that proud worldlings and fashiona-
ble Christians would feel as much repugnance to
being seated by the side of a poor man in vile
raiment,' as they manifest to being placed in simi-
lar relations to the man with a black skin and
woolly hair. It is not that his being thus near
them, is so repulsive; for they feel no such aver-
sion to the presence of a black waiter, even though
he stand at their elbows at the public table. But
their dignity is offended at the idea of being placed
on a level with negroes! But is this Christianity?
Is this thinking soberly' of ourselves? 'For
C
who maketh thee to differ from another? And
what hast thou, that thou didst not receive?
Now, if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory,
as if thou hadst not received it?
2. God regards men according to their MORAL
CHARACTERS, and would have us so regard them.
*8
90
DISTINCTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD
He has also special regard for the poor and de-
pressed, and requires the exercise of the same
disposition by us, v. 5. 'He accepteth not the
persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more
than the poor, for they all are the work of his
hands.' Does God despise the workmanship of
his own hands? And will he suffer us to despise
it, especially when it is the tabernacle he has pre-
pared for the residence of his own image? And,
if he regards not the rich more than the poor, can
we suppose that he regards one color more than
another? Has he not made them all? And has
he ever informed us that one color is more honor-
able than another? Is it in the power of any one
to show what was the original color which he gave
to our species? Facts and analogies all tend to
the conclusion that it was not white. Yet, we
have set this up as our standard, assuming that
every other color is a mark of deformity and de-
gradation!
}
The colored people in this country are emphati-
cally the poor of the land. They have been rob-
bed and despoiled of their rights, ever since their
fathers set foot upon our shores. They are now
trodden down, despised, and cast out of society.
The road to elevation and improvement is closed
against them. They are debarred even from the
J
UNSCRIPTURAL.
91
house of God, unless they will submit to an indig-
nity which God has forbidden to be exercised to-
wards the 'poor man in vile raiment.' Let us
now hear what God says respecting those who
thus treat the poor: The wicked in his pride
doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the
devices which they have imagined.'
What an
C
C
awful malediction! Let those who seek to tram-
ple in the dust the poor colored man, think of
this and take warning. For the oppression of
the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I
arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety
from him that puffeth at him.' How many, who
are regarded as Christian's, puff at the black man's
claim to equal Christian privileges! He shall
judge the poor of the people, he shall save the
children of the needy, and shall break in pieces
the oppressor.' Is he not an oppressor, who seeks
to deprive a man of a respectable seat in God's
house? What would a white man think of the
Christians of Abyssinnia, if, on going into their
congregations, he should find a wall of separation
between himself and the rest of the worshippers,
because of his white skin? Then let the white
man, who would thrust the negro into a corner,
fear Him who has declared that he will break in
pieces the oppressor.'
92
DISTINCTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD
But, listen again, to the mandate of Jehovah :
'God standeth in the congregation of the mighty:
how long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the
persons of the wicked?' Is it not judging un-
justly, to despise the negro, on account of his
color? Is it not accepting the persons of the
wicked, to give the most honorable seats in the
house of God to rich worldlings, while the colored
man, though he may be an humble follower of Je-
sus, is shut up in a box, contemptuously styled the
negro pew? But the Lord commands us to 'De-
fend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the
afflicted and needy;' and 'he will maintain the
cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.'
Again he says, 'Whoso stoppeth his ears at the
cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall
not be heard.' Has not the cry of the poor
colored man come up to us? Hear him plead his
cause: 'We do not ask you to break down any of
the rules of society. Treat us just according to
our moral worth, and nothing more. We want
you to treat us as honest people. Leave us the
same chance to find our level in society that other
men have.'*
If the church stops her ears at this
cry, which is coming up from every quarter of
our land, will the Lord answer her prayers? Has
* Speech of Rev. T. S. Wright.
1
UNSCRIPTURAL.
93
he not, even now, a controversy with the Ameri-
can church? Where are now those extensive
revivals, which once shed their refreshing and
genial influence over the length and breadth of
our land? What could the church do more cal-
culated to grieve the Holy Ghost, than to adopt
a regulation which operates to exclude any class
of the poor from the house of worship? And
how can her prayers be answered, while she re-
fuses to hear the cry, which calls for the admission
of the colored man upon equal privileges.
Again, it is written, 'He that oppresseth the
poor, reproacheth his Maker." And why? Be-
cause the Lord is the Maker of the poor; and to
despise the work of his hands, is to reproach him
for what he has made. But has he not made the
colored man? And, when we despise him for his
color, do we not also reproach Him who made him
thus ?
3. Respect to persons is a violation of the law
of love. vs. 8, 9. If we love others as ourselves,
can we despise them, or esteem or treat them
otherwise than according to their moral worth ?
God repeatedly declares that he is no respector of
persons. He also forbids us to respect persons,
or to call that common or unclean, which he has
cleansed. Whom Christ receives, we must also
94
DISTINCTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD
receive. Rom. xv. 7. But, is it not respecting
persons, to say that the black man shall not sit in
the house of God, unless he will occupy the negro
pew? Is it receiving him, as God requires, in
Christian fellowship, to require him to sit by him-
self at the Lord's table, or to wait and receive the
crumbs?
If these views are correct, then the church, as
such, wherever these practices prevail, is guilty of
countenancing, upholding, and perpetuating what
the Apostle James pronounces A SIN! If ye
have respect to persons, YE COMMIT SIN.' How
then can she expect the blessing of God, till she
repents, and puts away the sin of debarring the
colored man of equal privileges?
4. Distinctions in assemblies for religious wor-
ship, on account of the outward condition of men,
are peculiarly offensive in the sight of God. This
proposition is drawn from the general scope of the
passage, and is corroborated by many other pas-
sages. In Isaiah, the Lord speaks with unmingled
abhorrence of those, who manifest this spirit:
These are a smoke in my nose;' an odor of ill
flavor, disgusting and hateful. Christ rebukes,
with great severity, the disposition of the scribes
and pharisees to choose for themselves the chief
seats in the synagogues; and when his own disci-
UNSCRIPTURAL.
95
ples began to discuss the question, which of them
should be the greatest, their conduct met his de-
cided disapprobation. He that is greatest among
you shall be your servant.' And, of so great im-
portance did he regard this feeling of equality
among his disciples, that he set them an example
by washing their feet.
This leveling principle, is the grand feature,
which renders the Gospel the antagonist of every
system of despotism. This is what creates the
affinity between Christianity and free governments.
How strange that such a principle should be over-
looked by Christians, in a republican government!
And, how odious and hateful, in the sight of God,
must be an assembly of sinners, all unworthy of
the least of his mercies, who appear in His pres-
ence, so much puffed up with pride and conscious
superiority, that they will not suffer their fellow
sinner, of a darker skin, to appear on a level with
themselves, but thrust him away into a corner!
And will he not regard the publican's cry, though it
comes up from the negro pew, in preference to
this proud Pharisaical spirit? Surely, 'God resist-
eth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.'
'Take heed,' says Christ, that ye despise not
one of these little ones.' Is the church in no dan-
ger of despising Christ's little ones, by the man-
6
96
DISTINCTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF GOD, &C.
ner in which she treats the people of color? Can
any thing be found, in the example, precepts, or
spirit of Christ's teaching, to justify the introduc-
tion of the negro seat into the house of God?
Who will plead in favor of this unjust and un-
christian distinction? Let us hear, if this heathen-
ish custom can be justified? If not, let it no lon-
ger disgrace our Christian temples. Whatever
distinctions may be made by the world, let us
meet upon a level in the house of God, where we
all appear as a company of miserable sinners.
Can that be an humble and contrite heart, which
scorns to sit in the sanctuary, by the side of a
Christian brother, because God has given him a
complexion different from his own? Though
the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the
lowly: but THE PROUD HE KNOWETH AFAR OFf.'
6
CHAPTER V.
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
HAVING established, as I suppose, the principles
of equality which ought to govern assemblies for
religious worship, this chapter will be occupied
with answering some of the common objections
against carrying out these principles.
OBJECTION 1.There must be orders in so-
ciety.'
ANSWER. It will be admitted, that God has
ordained certain orders or ranks in society. But
upon what principles are these distinctions found-
ed? Is it upon the different colors of different
races of men? Far otherwise. These distinc-
tions are founded upon the nature and fitness of
things. There must of necessity be rulers and
citizens, pastors and parishioners, teachers and
pupils, parents and children, masters and servants,
(not slaves.) But nobody thinks of rearing up
the barriers of caste between all these different
orders of society; nor of designating any one of
9
98
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
them, more degraded than the rest, as unfit to sit
in the house of God with the respective families.
to which they belong. Who ever heard of a ser-
vants' pew, in a
in a church? And what a general
burst of just indignation would be manifest among
that portion of society, if an attempt should be
made to set them off by themselves, as unfit to
mingle with the rest of the congregation! Would
not such a regulation effectually exclude the poor
from the sanctuary? Yet, it is only carrying
out the principle upon which this objection is
founded.
OBJ. 2. The colored people are too ignorant
and degraded to sit promiscuously with the whites.'
ANS. It is admitted that the colored people,
as a body, are comparatively ignoraut; and that
many of them are vicious. But, if we consider
the circumstances of depression under which they
have always labored, with their slender opportuni-
ties for intellectual elevation, we shall rather be
surprised that they are not more ignorant still.
And, probably, those who despise them for their
ignorance, would be very much surprised to dis-
cover the amount of intelligence which actually
exists among them. The author was, six years
ago, no little chagrined at being foiled in argument
by two aged colored men, whom he undertook to
convince that it was a most magnificent scheme of
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
99
pure benevolence, which proposed to send them
to Africa. They had discovered, what he had
not, that they were native born American citizens,
with as good a claim as any body else to this land,
as their country and their home. They viewed
it, in its true light, as an oppressive scheme of ex-
patriation. And, it is very remarkable that the
colored people, with all their ignorance, have un-
derstood this matter from its commencement, in
the light in which it is beginning now to be view-
ed by unprejudiced Christian philanthropists. And,
as to the viciousness of their character, we are
willing to compare them, as a body, with any cor-
responding body of whites, in the same condition
in life.
But, even admitting that they are as ignorant.
and vicious as they are represented to be, does this
furnish an apology for setting them off by them-
selves, in assemblies for religious worship? Is this
the way to elevate their character? Because a
man, who has fallen in the dust, is weak and una-
ble to rise, shall we trample him under our feet,
instead of helping him up? But, if this be the
real principle upon which the negro pew is set up,
let us have it so, and not confound the evil with
the good. Let the seats be labelled 'Pews for
ignorant and degraded people;' and then all who
are conscious of bearing this character will know
100
OPJECTIONS ANSWERED.
where to go.
This will at least have the advan-
tage of operating equally upon all; and it certainly
would no more effectually operate to the exclusion
of all such people from the house of God, than
the present regulation does to the exclusion of the
people of color.
C
ОвJ. 3. Why, would you have us associate,
on terms of equality, with colored people! Would
you have us interchange visits, and other civilities
of social life, with the negroes!'
ANS. No individual has a claim to the private
social intercourse of another. This is a privilege
under every one's control, which he has a right to
extend to whom he pleases; and no one can just-
ly complain, because it is withheld from him. We
are not to be compelled to hold social intercourse
with those with whom we feel no congeniality, or
whose manners or tastes or want of intelligence,
render them disagreeable companions. We are
not, therefore, under the necessity of holding fa-
miliar intercourse with all those whom we admit
to equal privileges in society; because all may not
make such improvement of these privileges, as to
render themselves fit associates for intelligent and
virtuous men. Yet, we have no right to make
color the ground of exclusion from social inter-
course, unless we can show that it is invariably
associated with some quality mental, moral, or so-
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
101
cial, that renders its possessor unworthy of our
society. To do so, would be to punish a man for
what is no ground of demerit, and which he had
no agency in producing. Suppose a society of
people determine to exclude a certain person from
all their assemblies for social intercourse, because
he has a humped back: that society would be
justly abhorred, by all noble minded men, as pos-
sessing a mean and ignoble spirit. Yet they would
have more cause for their conduct than we have
for excluding men from our society on account of
their color; for a humped back is a real deformity,
while color is not. There never was a more nar-
row-minded, ignoble, and despicable sentiment
than the prevailing prejudice against color. There
is no magnanimity, no elevation, no noble-hearted-
ness about it. It is a little, mean, contemptible,
feeling, fit for no place in the universe, save, per-
adventure, the heart of a despot, an aristocrat, or
a fop. It does not, however, follow, that we must
maintain social intercourse with every person who
is admitted to equal privileges in the church.
There are multitudes of white people, who are
never admitted into refined society, for the simple
reason that they are not qualified for it. Yet, we
never think of setting off a particular portion of
the church for the use of the vulgar.
9*
102
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
OBJ. 4. Nature has implanted in the breasts
of white people, such a feeling of aversion to
blacks, as to create an inseparable barrier between
the two races."
ANS. This is not true in fact. This aversion
is not natural. It is the fruit of an unjust preju-
dice. It is not felt by children, until they have
been taught it by the example of others. The
children of slaveholders, feel no aversion to re-
ceiving nourishment from the breasts of black
nurses. This aversion is not felt towards blacks,
in the capacity of servants, nor towards the color
of black, except when it appears in the skin. A
man may go into any society with a black coat,
and no questions are asked. This repugnance is
confined to those countries where black people are
held as slaves, or employed only as menials.
OBJ. 5. 'Amalgamation! You would break
down all the barriers between the two races, and
promote intermarriages !'
ANS. Were it certain that this would be the
result, it would be no argument against removing
the negro pew, and the hateful prejudice. What
justice demands must be done, regardless of con-
sequences. But, if there is such a natural aver-
sion against the color of black, as has been suppos-
ed, that of itself would be a sufficient protection.
against the scare-crow of Amalgamation. If this
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
103
aversion is not natural, but the creature of circum-
stance, the subject assumes much less importance.
Those who make these objections are welcome to
choose the horn of this dilemma, which best suits
their taste.
6
But the process of amalgamation is now going
on with a most fearful rapidity, which would hor-
rify a certain class of persons, if there were any
sincerity in their outcry of Amalgamation!' It
is making such rapid strides at the south, that it
may soon be difficult to define the limits of the
Even now, it is perfectly possible for
a person essentially white, to be born of a slave
mother, and of course enslaved; for avarice has
no natural affection. It will even permit men to
make merchandize of the fruit of their own loins.
two races.
Take a case: A young physician went to the
south, where he became acquainted with a worthy
young woman, who was at service, without having
the slightest suspicion that there was a drop of
African blood in her veins. They were married,
and had lived happily together for some time, when
a gentleman called, took him aside, and informed
him that the woman was his property! The as-
tonished husband was obliged either to pay the
man his price for his own wife, or have her expos-
ed at public sale. He chose the former. On in-
forming his wife of the circumstance, she remark-
104
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
ed, with tears, that she had supposed the gentle-
man, seeing her well provided for, would not
molest her, ESPECIALLY AS HE WAS HER FATHER!!
The process of amalgamation is also going on
rapidly, through illicit intercourse, at the north;
yet no one manifests any alarm at this. It is only
at the idea of intermarriage, that certain alarmists
are horror-stricken. Now, if people really desire
to prevent the amalgamation of the two races, let
them pursue rational measures for accomplishing
their object, by removing the motives to such con-
nexions. In the first place, abolish slavery; re-
move colored females from under the arbitrary
power of licentious men; and enact laws for the
protection of their chastity; and the chief source
of amalgamation will be dried up. Again, so long
as the present cruel prejudice against color exists,
it furnishes a strong motive for colored persons,
who may be a little weak or vain, to seek connex-
ions, by intermarriage with whites; and, if they
have some claim to respectability, with a little
property, they may easily find white persons, be-
neath them in character, who will be ready enough
to unite with them. But break down the barriers,
and place all upon a footing of equal privileges,
and this motive is removed. Then every one will
be left to the operation of his own taste; and it
will be found, where there is no degradation attach-
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
105
ed to it, the black man prefers his own color. It
cannot, therefore, be pretended, with any show of
reason, that the destruction of the negro pew, and
the treating of colored persons as men and women,
will have any tendency to promote amalgamation.
OBJ. 6. It is not expedient for the church to
take a stand which will outrage public sentiment.'
ANS. This is the most specious form of objec-
tion against acknowledging the colored man's
rights. And, perhaps it is this, rather than the
prejudice itself, which influences the conduct of
many good men, who really suppose they desire
the colored man's best interests. But, it embraces
one of the most mischievous doctrines of the age;
and one which is perhaps doing more than all
others to corrupt the fountains of truth. The
church should lead, not follow public sentiment;
and that timid and time-serving policy, which asks,
'what will the world say to this?' in matters
which involve principles of right and wrong, must
inevitably lower the standard of Christianity; and
ultimately bring the church under the influence and
control of the world. If, as has already been
shown, the missionaries in heathen lands find it
necessary to repudiate this worldly policy, can it
be safely tolerated here? Where they had adopt-
ed this policy, in regard to the very customs which
we are combatting, they have discovered that pure
106
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
<
(
Christianity can make no progress. Bishop Cor-
rie says, in regard to the missions where caste had
been allowed, The judgment of all my brethren,
and the whole body of Christian Protestant mis-
sionaries, concurs with my own, that nothing but
the total abolition of all heathen usages, connect-
ed with this anti-Christian, anti-social system,
can save these missions.' This system, he calls,
an isthmus cast up between Christ and Belial; a
bridge left standing for a retreat to paganism; a
citadel kept erect within the Christian enclosure,
for the great adversary's occupation.'* Can the
same system be any better in christian than in
heathen lands? And, can there be any more rea-
son for bowing to the mandate of a depraved pub-
lic sentiment, in a land where intelligence and
christian principle have a strong hold upon the
general mind, than in a land sunk in the depths of
ignorance and superstition? The difficulties from
this source, attending the step taken by the mis-
sionaries, were far more formidable than we have
reason to apprehend from the general abolition of
caste in the churches of this country. The bish-
op's charge, to which allusion has been made,
read in all the churches, and received with such
general indignation, that the most sober part of the
members, even the deacons and elders, joined with
* Christian Brahmin, p. 140.
' was
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
107
the more daring in their attempts to prevent the
minister from reading it, by coughing, spitting, hiss-
ing, and scraping with the feet.* (A graphic de-
scription, indeed, of scenes which sometimes occur
in Christian assemblies in this land, where the same
subject is presented.)
The idea that we must never do any thing to
outrage public sentiment, is tantamount to saying
that we must never preach the gospel, unless it
happens to fall in with the prevailing taste of the
times. In some parts of our land, public senti-
ment is grievously outraged by preaching the ne-
cessity of faith, repentance, and evangelical piety.
Must ministers, in such places, accommodate their
preaching to the taste of the people?
Christ and the Apostles, outraged public sentiment
by their preaching; and wherever they went, the
people were excited, and the great men raised the
cry of opposition.
(
C
Jesus
But,' says one, we are weak, and scarcely
able to support the Gospel. If we allow negroes
to hold pews, or sit promiscuously with white peo-
ple, it will drive away all our wealthy men, and
we shall then be unable to maintain public wor-
ship.' There is, perhaps, nothing which, at the
present day, so much parlizes the energies of the
* Christian Brahmin, p. 144.
108
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
church, as the habit of depending upon the world
for supporting the institutions of the gospel. It
augurs great want of faith, to compromise Christian
principle, in order to secure the support of worldly
men.
There is, also, too much calculation upon influ-
ence, drawn from worldly considerations. The fear
of losing influence, often operates to deter men
from pursuing an upright, straight-forward, Chris-
tian course of conduct. But influence, which is
not founded upon divine truth, is of no account to
the cause of Christ. Men of extensive influence,
it is true, may do more good than those who move
in a narrow sphere, provided their influence is
exerted upon strictly Christian principles. But,
if there is any mixture of worldly policy, any
compromising with worldly principles, their influ-
ence must be detrimental to the cause of Christ.
One poor humble saint, who lives near his Sa-
viour, and breathes the breath of prayer, is worth
more to the church than a thousand of these time-
serving, policy-seeking Christians, who seem to
think the church of Christ wonderfully indebted
to them for the influence they exert in favor of
religion! Alas, when will the church learn where
her true strength lies! THE FEAR OF MAN
BRINGETH A SNARE: BUT WHOSO PUTTETH HIS
TRUST IN THE LORD SHALL BE SAFE.'
Bar Code is frost.