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 BRUCE COTTEN 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINiANA 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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 http://archive.org/details/walkersappealinfwalk 
 
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 WALKER'S 
 
 APPEAL, 
 
 IN FOUR ARTICLES; 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 jX WmMAWWWMc> 
 
 COLOURED CITIZENS OF THE WORLD, 
 
 BUT IN PARTICULAR, AND VERY EXPRESSLY, TO THOSE OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 WRITTEN IN BOSTON, STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
 SEPTEMBER 28, 1829. 
 
 THIRD AND LAST EDITION, 
 
 WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, CORRECTIONS, &C. 
 
 tfoston: 
 
 REVISED AND PUBLISHED BY DAVID WALKER. 
 
 1830, 
 

 
 Cd= It will be recollected, that I, in the first edition of my ** Appeal,"* 
 promised to demonstrate in the course of which, viz. in the course of my Ap- 
 peal, to the satisfaction of the most incredulous mind, that we Coloured Peo- 
 ple of these United States, are, the most wretched, degraded and abject set of 
 beings that over lived since the world began, down to the present day, and, 
 that, the white Christians of America r who hold us in slavery, (or, more prop- 
 erly speaking, pretenders to Christianity,) treat us more cruel and barbarous 
 than any Heathen nation did any people whom it had subjected, or reduced 
 to the same condition, that the Americans (who are, notwithstanding, looking 
 for the Millennial day) have us. All I ask is, for a candid and careful perusal 
 of this the third and last edition of my Appeal, where the world may see that 
 we, the Blacks or Coloured People, are treated more cruel by the white Chris- 
 trans of America, than devils themselves ever treated a set of men, women and 
 children on this earth.-dj) 
 
 0Cf=- It is expected that all coloured men, women and children,! of every nation, 
 language and tongue under heaven, will try to procure a copy of this Appeal 
 and read it, or get some one to read it to them, for it is designed more particu- 
 larly for them. Let them remember, that though our cruel oppressors and mur- 
 derers, may (if possible) treat us more cruel, as Pharoah did the children of 
 Israel, yet the God of the Etheopeans r has been pleased to hear our moans in 
 consequence of oppression - y and the day of our redemption from abject 
 wretchedness draweth near, when we shall be enabled, in the most extended 
 sense of the word, to stretch forth our hands to the Lord our God, but there 
 must be a willingness on our part, for God to do these things for us, for we 
 may be assured that he will not take us by the hairs of our head against our 
 will and desire, and drag us from our very, mean, low and abject condition. =£$ 
 
 *See my Preamble in first edtition, first page. See also 2d edition, Article 1, page 9. 
 
 t Who are not too deceitful, abject, and servile to resist the cruelties and murders inflicted 
 upon us by the white slave holders, our enemies by nature. 
 
APPEAL, &c 
 
 i 
 
 PREAMBLE. 
 
 My dearly beloved Brethren and Fellow Citizens. 
 
 Having travelled over a considerable portion 
 of these United States, and having, in the course of 
 my travels, taken the most accurate observations of 
 things as they exist — the result of my observations 
 has warranted the full and unshaken conviction, 
 that we, (coloured people of these United States,) 
 are the most degraded, wretched, and abject set of 
 beings that ever lived since the world began ; and 
 I pray God that none like us ever may live again 
 until time shall be no more. They tell us of the 
 Israelites in Egypt, the Helots in Sparta, and of the 
 Roman Slaves, which last were made up from al- 
 most every nation under heaven, whose sufferings 
 under those ancient and heathen nations, were, in 
 comparison with ours, under this enlightened and 
 Christian nation, no more than a cypher — or, in 
 other words, those heathen nations of antiquity, had 
 but little more among them than the name and form 
 of slavery ; while wretchedness and endless mise- 
 ries were reserved, apparently in a phial, to be pour- 
 ed out upon our fathers, ourselves and our children, 
 by Christian Americans ! 
 
 These positions I shall endeavour, by the help of 
 the Lord, to demonstrate in the course of this Jlppeal, 
 to the satisfaction of the most incredulous mind — 
 and may God Almighty, who is the Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, open your hearts to understand 
 and believe the truth. 
 
 The causes, my brethren, which produce our 
 wretchedness and miseries, are so very numerous 
 and aggravating, that I believe the pen only of a 
 Josephus or a Plutarch, can well enumerate and ex- 
 plain them. Upon subjects, then, of such incompre- 
 
4 PREAMBLE. 
 
 hensible magnitude, so impenetrable, and so notori- 
 ous, I shall be obliged to omit a large class of, and 
 content myself with giving you an exposition of a 
 few of those, which do indeed rage to such an alarm- 
 ing pitch, that they cannot but be a perpetual source 
 of terror and dismay to ever) r reflecting mind. 
 
 I am fully aware, in making this appeal to my 
 much afflicted and suffering brethren, that I shall 
 not only be assailed by those whose greatest earth- 
 ly desires are, to keep us in abject ignorance and 
 wretchedness, and who are of the firm conviction 
 that Heaven has designed us and our children to be 
 slaves and beasts of burden to them and their chil- 
 dren. I say, I do not only expect to be held up to 
 the public as an ignorant, impudent and restless dis- 
 turber of the public peace, by such avaricious crea- 
 tures, as well as a mover of insubordination — and 
 perhaps put in prison or to death, Cor giving a superfi- 
 cial exposition of our miseries, and exposing tyrants. 
 But I am persuaded, that many of my brethren, par- 
 ticularly those who are ignorantly in league with 
 slave-holders or tyrants, who acquire their daily 
 bread by the blood and sweat of their more ignorant 
 brethren — and not a few of those too, who are too 
 ignorant to see an inch beyond their noses, will rise 
 up and call me cursed — Yea, the jealous ones among 
 us will perhaps use more abject subtlety, by affirm- 
 ing that this work is not worth perusing , that we 
 are well situated, and there is no use in trying to 
 better our condition, for we cannot. I will ask one 
 question here. — Can our condition be any worse ? — 
 Can it be more mean and abject? If there are any 
 changes, will they not be for the better, though they 
 may appear for the worst at first '] Can they get us 
 any lower? Where can they get us? They are 
 afraid to treat us worse, for they know well, the day 
 they do it they are gone. But against all accusa- 
 tions which may or can be preferred against me, I 
 appeal to Heaven for my motive in writing — who 
 knows that my object is, if possible, to awaken in 
 
PREAMBLE. 
 
 the breasts of my afflicted, degraded and slumber- 
 ing brethren, a spirit of inquir}^ and investigation 
 respecting our miseries and wretchedness in this 
 Republican Land of Liberty ! ! ! ! ! ! 
 
 The sources from which our miseries are derived, 
 and on which I shall comment, I shall not combine 
 in one, but shall put them under distinct heads and 
 expose them in their turn ; in doing which, keeping 
 truth on my side, and not departing from the strict- 
 est rules of morality, 1 shall endeavour to penetrate, 
 search out, and lay them open for your inspection. 
 If you cannot or will not profit by them, I shall 
 have done my duty to you, my country and my God. 
 
 And as the inhuman system of slavery, is the 
 source from which most of our miseries proceed, I 
 shall begin with that curse to nations^ which has 
 spread terror and devastation through so many na- 
 tions of antiquity, and which is raging to such a pitch 
 at the present day in Spain and in Portugal. It had 
 one tug in England, in France, and in the United 
 States of America ; yet the inhabitants thereof, do 
 not learn wisdom, and erase it entirely from their 
 dwellings and from all with whom they have to do. 
 The fact is, the labour of slaves comes so cheap to 
 the avaricious usurpers, and is (as they think) of such 
 great utility to the country where it exists, that those 
 who are actuated by sordid avarice only, overlook 
 the evils, which will as sure as the Lord lives, follow 
 after the good. In fact, they are so happy to keep 
 in ignorance and degradation, and to receive the 
 homage and the labour of the slaves, they forget that 
 God rules in the armies of heaven and among the in- 
 habitants of the earth, having his ears continually 
 open to the cries, tears and groans of his oppressed 
 people ; and being a just and holy Being will at one 
 day appear fully in behalf of the oppressed, and ar- 
 rest the progress of the avaricious oppressors ; for 
 although the destruction of the oppressors God may 
 not effect by the oppressed, yet the Lord our God 
 will bring other destructions upon them — for not 
 
6 PREAMBLE. 
 
 unfrequently will he cause them to rise up one 
 against another, to be split and divided, and to op- 
 press each other, and sometimes to open hostilities 
 with sword in hand.- Some may ask, what is the 
 matter with this united and happy people 1 — Some 
 say it is the cause of political usurpers, tyrants, op- 
 pressors, &c. But has not the Lord an oppressed 
 and suffering people among them 1 Does the Lord 
 condescend to hear their cries and see their tears 
 in consequence of oppression ? Will he let the op- 
 pressors rest comfortably and happy always ? Will 
 he not cause the very children of the oppressors to 
 rise up against them, and oftimes put them to death 1 
 " God works in many ways his wonders to per- 
 form." 
 
 I will not here speak of the destructions which 
 the Lord brought upon Egypt, in consequence of 
 the oppression and consequent groans of the op- 
 pressed — of the hundreds and thousands of Egyp- 
 tians whom God hurled into the Red Sea for afflict- 
 ing his people in their land — of the Lord's suffering 
 people in Sparta or Lacedemon, the land of the truly 
 famous Lycurgus — nor have I time to comment upon 
 the cause which produced the fierceness with which 
 .Sylla usurped the title, and absolutely acted as dic- 
 tator of the Roman people — the conspiracy of Cat- 
 saline — the conspiracy against, and murder of Caesar 
 rin the Senate house — the spirit with which Marc 
 .Antony made himself master of the commonwealth 
 — his associating Octavius and Lipidus with himself 
 in power — their dividing the provinces of Rome 
 among themselves — their attack and defeat, on the 
 plains of Phillippi, of the last defenders of their lib- 
 erty, (Brutus and Cassius) — the tyranny of Tibe- 
 rius, and from him to the final overthrow of Con- 
 stantinople by the Turkish Sultan, Mahomed II. 
 A. D. 1453. I say, I shall not take up time to 
 speak of the causes which produced so much wretch- 
 edness and massacre among those heathen nations, 
 for I am aware that you know too well, that God is 
 
PREAMBLE. 7 
 
 just, as well as merciful ! — I shall call your attention a 
 few moments to that Christian nation, the Spaniards 
 — while I shall leave almost unnoticed, that avari- 
 cious and cruel people, the Portuguese, among 
 whom all true hearted Christians and lovers of Jesus 
 Christ, must evidently see the judgments of God 
 displayed. To show the judgments of God upon 
 the Spaniards, I shall occupy but a little time, leav- 
 ing a plenty of room for the candid and unpre- 
 judiced to reflect. 
 
 All persons who are acquainted with history, and 
 particularly the Bible, who are not blinded by the 
 God of this world, and are not actuated solely by 
 avarice — who are able to lay aside prejudice long 
 enough to view candidly and impartially, things as 
 they were, are, and probably will be — who are wil- 
 ling to admit that God made man to serve Him alone v 
 and that man should have no other Lord or Lords, 
 but Himself — that God Almighty is the sole proprie- 
 tor or master of the whole human family, and will 
 not on any consideration admit of a colleague, be- 
 ing unwilling to divide his glory with another — 
 and who can dispense with prejudice long enough 
 to admit that we are men, notwithstanding our im- 
 prominent noses andwoolly heads, and believe that we 
 feel for our fathers, mothers, wives and children,, 
 as well as the whites do for theirs.— I say, all who are 
 permitted to see and believe these things, can easily 
 recognize the judgments of God among the Span- 
 iards. Though others may lay the cause of the 
 fierceness with which they cut each other's throats,, 
 to some other circumstance, yet they who believe 
 that God is a God of justice, will believe that 
 Slavery is the principal cause. 
 
 While the Spaniards are running about upon the 
 field of battle cutting each other's throats, has not 
 the Lord an afflicted and suffering people in the 
 midst of them, whose cries and groans in consequence 
 of oppression are continually pouring into the ears 
 of the God of justice? Would they not cease to cut 
 
PREAMBLE. 
 
 each other's throats, if they could? But how can 
 they ? The very support which they draw from 
 government to aid them in perpetrating such enor- 
 mities, does it not arise in a great degree from the 
 wretched victims of oppression among them? And 
 yet they are calling for Peace! — Peace!! Will 
 any peace be given unto them ? Their destruction 
 may indeed be procrastinated awhile, but can it 
 continue long, while they are oppressing the Lord's 
 people? Has He not the hearts of all men in His 
 hand? Will he suffer one part of his creatures to 
 go on oppressing another like brutes always, with 
 impunity ? And yet, those avaricious wretches are 
 calling for Peace ! ! ! ! I declare, it does appear to 
 me, as though some nations think God is asleep, or 
 that he made the Africans for nothing else but to 
 dig their mines and work their farms, or they cannot 
 believe history, sacred or profane. I ask every man 
 who has a heart, and is blessed with the privilege of 
 believing — Is not God a God of justice to all his 
 creatures ? Do you say he is? Then if he gives peace 
 and tranquillity to tyrants, and permits them to keep 
 our fathers, our mothers, ourselves and our children 
 in eternal ignorance and wretchedness, to support 
 them and their families, would he be to us a God of 
 justice ? I ask, O ye Christians ! ! ! who hold us 
 and our children in the most abject ignorance and 
 degradation, that ever a people were afflicted with 
 since the world began — I say, if God gives you 
 peace and tranquillity, and suffers you thus to go on 
 afflicting us, and our children, who have never giv- 
 en you the least provocation — would he be to us 
 a God of justice ? If you will allow that we are 
 men, who feel for each other, does not the blood of 
 our fathers and of us their children, cry aloud to the 
 Lord of Sabaoth against you, for the cruelties and 
 murders with which you have, and do continue to 
 afflict us. But it is time for me to close my re- 
 marks on the suburbs, just to enter more fully into 
 the interior of this system of cruelty and oppression. 
 
AX APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE OF SLAVERY. 
 
 My beloved brethren : — The Indians of North 
 and of South America— the Greeks — the Irish, sub- 
 jected under the king of Great Britain — the Jews, 
 that ancient people of the Lord — the inhabitants of 
 the islands of the sea — in fine, all the inhabitants of 
 the earth, (except however, the sons of Africa) are 
 called men, and of course are, and ought to be free. 
 But we, (coloured people) and our children are 
 brutes ! ! and of course are, and ought to be Slaves 
 to the American people and their children forever ! ! 
 to dig their mines and work their farms ; and thus 
 go on enriching them, from one generation to an- 
 other with our blood and our tears ! ! ! ! 
 
 I promised in a preceding page to demonstrate to 
 the satisfaction of the most incredulous, that we, 
 (coloured people of these United States of America) 
 are the most wretched, degraded and abject set of 
 beings that ever lived since the world began, and 
 that the white Americans having reduced us to the 
 wretched state of slavery, treat us in that condition 
 more cruel (they being an enlighted and Christian 
 people,) than any heathen nation did any people 
 whom it had reduced to our condition. These affir- 
 mations are so well confirmed in the minds of all 
 unprejudiced men, who iiave taken the trouble to 
 read histories, that they need no elucidation from 
 me. But to put them beyond all doubt, I refer 
 you in the first place to the children of Jacob, or 
 of Israel in Egypt, under Pharaoh and liis people. 
 Some of my brethren do not know who Pharaoh 
 and the Egyptians were — I know it to be a fact, 
 that some of them take the Egyptians to have been 
 a gang of devils, not knowing any better, and that 
 they (Egy ptians) having got possession of the 5 Lord's 
 people, treated them marly as cruel as Christian 
 3 
 
10 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 Americans do us, at the present day. For the in- 
 formation of such, I would only mention that the 
 Egyptians, were Africans or coloured people, such 
 as we are — some of them yellow and other* dark — 
 a mixture of Ethiopians and the natives of Egypt — 
 about the same as you see the coloured people of 
 the United States at the present day. — I say, I call 
 your attention then, to the children of Jacob, while 
 I point out particularly to you his son Joseph, 
 among the rest, in Egypt. 
 
 " And Pharaoh, said unto Joseph, thou shalt be 
 "over my house, and according unto thy word 
 " shall all my people be ruled : only in the throne 
 " will I be greater than thou."* 
 
 " And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I have set 
 _•* thee over all the land of Egypt."f 
 
 " And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, 
 " and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or 
 " foot in all the land of Egypt." J 
 
 Now I appeal to heaven and to earth, and par- 
 ticularly to the American people themselves, who 
 cease not to declare that our condition is not hard, 
 and that we are comparatively satisfied to rest in 
 wretchedness and misery, under them and their 
 children. Not, indeed, to show me a coloured Pre- 
 sident, a Governor, a Legislator, a Senator, a May- 
 or, or an Attorney at the Bar. — But to show me a 
 man of colour, who holds the low office of a Con- 
 stable, or one who sits in a Juror Box, even on a 
 case of one of his wretched brethren, throughout 
 this great Republic ! ! — But let us pass Joseph the 
 son of Israel a little farther in review, as he existed 
 with that heathen nation. 
 
 " And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath- 
 " paaneah ; and he gave him to wife Asenath the 
 " daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph 
 " went out over all the land of Egypt."§ 
 
 Compare the above, with the American institu- 
 tions. Do they not institute laws to prohibit us from 
 
 * See Genesis, chap. xli. f xli. 4.4. § xli. 45, 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 11 
 
 marrying among the whites ? I would wish, can- 
 didly, however, before the Lord, to be understood, 
 that I would not give a pinch of snuff to be mar- 
 ried to any white person I ever saw in all the days 
 of my life. And I do say it, that the black man, or 
 man of colour, who will leave his own colour (pro- 
 vided he can get one, who is good for any thing) and 
 marry a white woman, to be a double slave to her, 
 just because she is white, ought to be treated by her 
 as he surely will be, viz : as a jviger ! ! ! ! It is not, 
 indeed, what I care about inter-marriages with the 
 whites, which induced me to pass this subject in re- 
 view ; for the Lord knows, that there is a day com- 
 ing when they will be glad enough to get into the 
 company of the blacks, notwithstanding, we are, in 
 this generation, levelled by them, almost on a level 
 with the brute creation : and some of us they treat 
 even worse than they do the brutes that perish. I 
 only made this extract to show how much lower we 
 are held, and how much more cruel we are treated 
 by the Americans, than were the children of Jacob, 
 by the Egyptians. — We will notice the sufferings of 
 Israel some further, under heathen Pharaoh, compar- 
 ed with ours under the enlightened Christians of 
 America. 
 
 " And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, thy 
 " father and thy brethren are come unto thee :" 
 
 " The land of Egypt is before thee : in the best 
 " of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell ; 
 " in the land of Goshen let them dwell : and if thou. 
 " knowest any men of activity among them, then 
 " make them rulers over my cattle."* 
 
 I ask those people who treat us so well, Oh ! I 
 ask them, where is the most barren spot of land 
 which they have given unto us? Israel had the 
 most fertile land in all Egypt. Need I mention the 
 very notorious fact, that I have known a poor man 
 of colour, who laboured night and day, to acquire a 
 little money, and having acquired it, he vested it in 
 a small piece of land, and got him a house erected 
 
 * Genesis, chap, xlvii. 5. 6. - - - 
 
12 AN APPEAL, ETC 
 
 thereon, and having paid for the whole, he moved 
 his family into it, where' he was suffered to remain 
 but nine months, when he was cheated out of his 
 property by a white man, and driven out of door ! 
 And is not this the case generally 1 Can a man of 
 colour buy a piece of land and keep it peaceably? 
 Will not same white man try to get it from him, even 
 if it is in a mud hole? I need not comment any 
 farther on a subject, which all, both black and 
 white, will readily admit. But I must, really, ob- 
 serve that in this very city, when a man of colour 
 dies, if he owned any real estate it most generally 
 fails into the hands of some white person. The 
 wife and children of the deceased may weep and 
 lament if they please, but the estate will be kept 
 snug enough by its white possessor. 
 
 But to prove farther that the condition of the Is- 
 raelites was better under the Egyptians than ours is 
 under the whites. I call upon the professing Chris- 
 tians, I call upon the philanthropist, I call upon the 
 very tyrant himself, to show me a page of history, 
 either sacred or profane, on which a verse can be 
 found, which maintains, that the Egyptians heaped 
 the insupportable insult upon the children of Israel, 
 by telling them that they were not of the human 
 family. Can the whites deny this charge 1 Have 
 they not, after having reduced us to the deplorable 
 condition of slaves under their feet, held us up as 
 descending originally from the tribes of Monkeys or 
 Orang- Ouiangs ? O S my God ! I appeal to every 
 man of feeling — is not this insupportable? Is it not 
 heaping the most gross iusult upon our miseries, be- 
 cause they have got us under their feet and we can- 
 not help ourselves ? Oh ! pity us we pray thee, Lord 
 Jesus, Master. — Has Mr. Jefferson declared to the 
 world, that we are inferior to the whites, both in the 
 endowments of our bodies and of minds 1 It is in- 
 deed surprising, that a man of such great learning, 
 combined with such excellent natural parts, should 
 speak so of a set of men in chains. I do not know 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 13 
 
 what to compare it to, unless, like putting one wild 
 deer in an iron cage, where it will be secured, and 
 hold another by the side of the same, then let it go, 
 and expect the one in the cage to run as fast as the 
 one at liberty. So far, my brethren, were the 
 Egyptians from heaping these insults upon their 
 slaves, that Pharoah's daughter took Moses, a son of 
 Israel for her own, as will appear by the following. 
 
 " And Pharoah's daughter said unto her, [Moses' 
 " mother] take this child away, and nurse it for me, 
 " and I will pay thee thy wages. And the woman 
 " took the child [Moses] and nursed it. 
 
 " And the child grew, and she brought him unto 
 " Pharoah's daughter and he became her son. And 
 " she called his name Moses : and she said because 
 " I drew him out of the water."* 
 
 In all probability, Moses would have become 
 Prince Regent to the throne, and no doubt, in pro- 
 cess of time but he would have been seated on the 
 throne of Egypt. But he had rather suffer shame, 
 with the people of God, than to enjoy pleasures with 
 that wicked people for a season. Q ! that the col- 
 oured people were long since of Moses' excellent 
 disposition, instead of courting favour with, and tel- 
 ling news and lies to our natural enemies, against 
 each other — aiding them to keep their hellish chains 
 of slavery upon us. Would we not long before this 
 time, have been respectable men, instead of such 
 wretched victims of oppression as we are ? Would 
 they be able to drag our mothers, our fathers, our 
 wives, our children and ourselves, around the world 
 in chains and hand-cuffs as they do, to dig up gold 
 and silver for them and theirs 1 This question, my 
 brethren, I leave for you to digest ; and may God 
 Almighty force it home to your hearts. Remember 
 that unless you are united, keeping your tongues 
 within your teeth, you will be afraid to trust your 
 secrets to each other, and thus perpetuate our mis- 
 eries under the Christians I I ! ! ! $&> Addition. — ■ 
 
 * See Exodus, chap. ii. 9, 10. 
 
14 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 Remember, also to lay humble at the feet of our 
 Lord and Master Jesus Christ, with prayers and 
 fastings. Let our enemies go on with their butch- 
 eries, and at once fill up their cup. Never make an 
 attempt to gain our freedom or natural right, from 
 under our cruel oppressors and murderers, until you 
 see your way clear* — when that hour arrives and you 
 move, be not afraid or dismayed ; for be you assur- 
 ed that Jesus Christ the King of heaven and of earth 
 who is the God of justice and of armies, will surely 
 go before you. And those enemies who have for 
 hundreds of years stolen our rights, and kept us ig- 
 norant of Him and His divine worship, he will re- 
 move. Millions of whom, are this day, so ignorant 
 and avaricious, that they cannot conceive how God 
 can have an attribute of justice, and show mercy to 
 us because it pleased Him to make us black — which 
 colour, Mr. Jefferson calls unfortunate !!!!!! As 
 though we are not as thankful to our God, for having 
 made us as it pleased himself, as they, (the whites,) 
 are for having made them white. They think be- 
 cause they hold us in their infernal chains of slavery, 
 that we wish to be white, or of their color — but they 
 are dreadfully deceived — we wish to be just as it 
 pleased our Creator to have made us, and no avari- 
 cious and unmerciful wretches, have any business 
 to make slaves of, or hold us in slavery. How would 
 they like for us to make slaves of, and hold them 
 in cruel slavery, and murder them as they do us? — 
 
 * It is not to be understood here, that I mean for us to wait until 
 God shall take us by the hair of our heads and drag us out of abject 
 wretchedness and slavery, nor do I mean to convey the idea for us 
 to wait until our enemies shall make preparations, and call us to 
 seize those preparations, take it away from them, and put every 
 thing before us to death, in order to gain our freedom which God 
 has given us. For you must remember that we are men as well as 
 they. God has been pleased to give us two eyes, two hands, two 
 feet, and some sense in our heads as well as they. They have no 
 more right to hold us in slavery than we have to hold them, we 
 have just as much right, in the sight of God, to hold them and their 
 children in slavery and wretchedness, as they have to hold us, and 
 no more. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. \6 
 
 But is Mr. Jefferson's assertions true 1 viz. " that it 
 is unfortunate for us that our Creator has been pleas- 
 ed to make us black" We will not take his say so, 
 for the fact. The world will have an opportunity 
 to see whether it is unfortunate for us, that our 
 Creator has made us darker than the whites. 
 
 Fear not the number and education of our enemies, 
 against whom we shall have to contend for our law- 
 ful right ; guaranteed to us by our Maker ; for 
 why should we be afraid, when God is, and will 
 continue, (if we continue humble) to be on our side? 
 
 The man who would not fight under our Lord and 
 Master Jesus Christ, in the glorious and heavenly 
 cause of freedom and of God — to be delivered from 
 the most wretched, abject and servile slavery, that 
 ever a people was afflicted with since the founda- 
 tion of the world, to the present day — ought to 
 be kept with all of his children or family, in slave- 
 ry, or in chains, to be butchered by his cruel ene- 
 mies. «#g 
 
 I saw a paragraph, a few years since, in a South 
 Carolina paper, which, speaking of the barbarity of 
 the Turks, it said : " The Turks are the most bar- 
 " barous people in the world — they treat the Greeks 
 " more like brutes than human beings." And in 
 the same paper was an advertisement, which said i 
 " Eight well built Virginia and Maryland Negra 
 "fellows and four wenches will positively be sold 
 " this day, to the highest bidder /" And what aston- 
 ished me still more was, to see in this same humane 
 paper ! ! the cuts of three men, with clubs and 
 budgets on their backs, and an advertisement offer- 
 ing a considerable sum of money for their appre- 
 hension and delivery. I declare, it is really so 
 amusing to hear the Southerners and Westerners of 
 this country talk about barbarity, that it is positive- 
 ly, enough to make a man smile. 
 
 The sufferings of the Helots among the Spartans, 
 were somewhat severe, it is true, but to say that 
 theirs, were as severe as ours among the Americans, 
 
16 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 I do most strenuously deny — for instance, can any 
 man show me an article on a page of ancient history 
 which specifies, that, the Spartans chained, and 
 hand-cuffed the Helots, and dragged them from their 
 wives and children,, children from their parents, 
 mothers from their suckling babes, wives from their 
 husbands, driving them from one end of the country 
 to the other? Notice the Spartans were heathens, 
 who lived long before our Divine Master made his 
 appearance in the flesh. Can Christian Americans 
 deny these barbarous cruelties? Have you not, 
 Americans, having subjected us under you, added 
 to these miseries, by insulting us in telling us to 
 our face, because we are helpless, that we are not of 
 the human family 3 I ask you, O ! Americans, I 
 ask you, in the name of the Lord, can you deny 
 these charges? Some perhaps may deny, by say- 
 ing, that they never thought or said that we were 
 not men. But do not actions speak louder than 
 words? — have they not made provisions for the 
 Greeks, and Irish ? Nations who have never done 
 the least thing for them, while ive, who have en- 
 riched their country with our blood and tears — have 
 dug up gold and silver for them and their children, 
 from generation to generation, and are in more mis- 
 eries than any other people under heaven, are not 
 seen, but by comparatively, a handful of the Amer- 
 ican people ? There are indeed, more ways to kill a 
 dog, besides choking it to death with butter. Fur- 
 ther- — The Spartans or Lacedemonians, had some 
 frivolous pretext, for enslaving the Helots, for they 
 (Helots) while being free inhabitants of Sparta, 
 stirred up an intestine commotion, and were, by the 
 Spartans subdued, and made prisoners of war. Con- 
 sequently they and their children were condemned 
 to perpetual slavery.* 
 
 I have been for years troubling the pages of his- 
 torians, to find out what our fathers have done to 
 
 * See. Dr. Goldsmith's History of Greece— page 9. See also, 
 Plutarch's Lives. The Helots subdued by Agjs, king of Sparta. 
 
AX APPEAL, ETC. 17 
 
 the white Christians of America, to merit such con- 
 dign punishment as they have inflicted on them, and 
 do continue to inflict on us their children. But I 
 must aver, that my researches have hitherto been to 
 no effect. I have therefore, come to the immovea- 
 ble conclusion, that the} r (Americans) have, and do 
 continue to punish us for nothing else, but for en- 
 riching them and their country. For I Cannot con- 
 ceive of any thing else. Nor will I ever believe 
 otherwise, until the Lord shall convince me. 
 
 The world knows, that slavery as it existed among 
 the Romans, (which was the primary cause of their 
 destruction) was, comparatively speaking, no more 
 than a cypher, when compared with ours under the 
 Americans. Indeed I should not have noticed the 
 Roman slaves, had not the very learned and pene- 
 trating Mr. Jefferson said, " when a master was mur- 
 dered, all his slaves in the same house, or within 
 hearing, were condemned to death."* — Here let me 
 ask Mr. Jefferson, (but he is gone to answer at the 
 bar of God, for the deeds done in his body while 
 living,) I therefore ask the whole American people, 
 had I not rather die, or be put to death, than to be 
 a slave to any tyrant, who takes not only my own, 
 but my wife and children's lives by the inches 1 
 Yea, would I meet death Avith avidity far ! far ! ! 
 in preference to such servile submission to the mur- 
 derous hands of tyrants. Mr. Jefferson's very se- 
 vere remarks on Us have been so extensively argued 
 upon by men whose attainments in literature, I 
 shall never be able to reach, that I would not have 
 meddled with it, were it not to solicit each of my 
 brethren, who has the spirit of a man, to buy a copy 
 of Mr. Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia," and put it 
 in the hand of his son. For let no one of us sup- 
 pose that the refutations which have been written 
 by our white friends are enough — they are whites — 
 we are blacks. We, and the world wish to see the 
 
 * See his Notes on Virginia, page 219. 
 
 3 
 
18 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 charges of Mr. Jefferson refuted by the blacks 
 themselves, according to their chance ; for we must 
 remember that what the whites have written re- 
 specting this subject, is other men's labours, and did 
 not emanate from the blacks. I know well, that 
 there are some talents and learning among the col- 
 oured people of this country, which we have not a 
 chance to develope, in consequence of oppression ; 
 but our oppression ought not to hinder us from ac- 
 quiring all we can. For we will have a chance to 
 develope them by and by. God will not suffer us, 
 always to be oppressed. Our sufferings will come 
 to an end, in spite of all the Americans this side of 
 eternity. Then we will want all the learning and 
 talents among ourselves, and perhaps more, to 
 govern ourselves. — " Every dog must have its day," 
 the American's is coming to an end. 
 
 But let us review Mr. Jefferson's remarks re- 
 specting us some further. Comparing our misera- 
 ble fathers, with the learned philosophers of Greece, 
 he says : " Yet notwithstanding these and other dis- 
 " cpu raging circumstances among the Romans, their 
 " slaves were often their rarest artists. They ex- 
 " celled too, in science, insomuch as to be usually 
 "employed as tutors to their master's children; 
 "Epictetus, Terence and Phaedrus, were slaves, — 
 " but they were of the race of whites. It is not 
 " their condition then, but nature, which has pro- 
 " duced the distinction."* See this, my brethren 1 . I 
 Do you believe that this assertion is swallowed by 
 millions of the whites ? Do you know that Mr. 
 Jefferson was one of as great characters as ever lived 
 among the whites? See his writings for the world, 
 and public labours for the United States of America. 
 Do you believe that the assertions of such a man, 
 will pass away into oblivion unobserved by this 
 people and the world ? If you do you are much mis- 
 taken — See how the American people treat us— 
 have we souls in our bodies 1 Are we men who have 
 
 *See his Notes on Virginia, page 211. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 19 
 
 any spirits at all? I know that there are many 
 swell-bellied fellows among us, whose greatest object 
 is to fill their stomachs. Such I do not mean — I 
 am after those who know and feel, that we are men, 
 as well as other people ; to them, I say, that unless 
 we try to refute Mr. Jefferson's arguments respect- 
 ing us, we will only establish them. 
 
 But the slaves among the Romans. Every body 
 who has read history, knows, that as soon as a slave 
 among the Romans obtained his freedom, he could 
 rise to the greatest eminence in the State, and there 
 was no law instituted to hinder a slave from buying 
 his freedom. Have not the Americans instituted 
 laws to hinder us from obtaining our freedom ? Do 
 any deny this charge ? Read the laws of Virginia, 
 North Carolina, &c. Further : have not the Amer- 
 icans instituted laws to prohibit a man of colour 
 from obtaining and holding any office whatever, un- 
 der the government of the United States of Ameri- 
 ca? Now, Mr. Jefferson tells us, that our condi- 
 tion is not so hard, as the slaves were under the 
 Romans !!!!!! 
 
 It is time for me to bring this article to a close. 
 But before I close it, I must observe to my breth- 
 ren that at the close of the first Revolution in this 
 country, with Great Britain, there were but thirteen 
 States in the Union, now there are twenty-four, 
 most of which are slave-holding States, and the 
 whites are dragging us around in chains and in hand- 
 cuffs, to their new States and Territories to work 
 their mines and farms, to enrich them and their 
 children — and millions of them believing firmly that 
 we being a little darker than they, w^re made by 
 our Creator to be an inheritance to them and their 
 children for ever — the same as a parcel of brutes. 
 
 Are we men! ! — I ask you, O my brethren ! are 
 we MEN? Did our Creator make us to be slaves 
 to dust and ashes like ourselves? Are they not dy- 
 ing worms as well as we? Have they not to make 
 their appearance before the tribunal of Heaven, to 
 
20 AN APPEAL, ECT. 
 
 answer for the deeds done in the body, as well as 
 we? Have we any other Master but Jesus Christ 
 alone? Is he not their Master as well as ours? — 
 What right then, have we to obe} T and call any other 
 Master, but Himself? How we could be so submis- 
 sive to a gang of men, whom we cannot tell whether 
 they are as good as ourselves or not, I never could 
 conceive. However, this is shut up with the Lord, 
 and we cannot precisely tell — but I declare, we 
 judge men by their works. 
 
 The whites have always been an unjust, jealous, 
 unmerciful, avaricious and blood-thirsty set of be- 
 ings, always seeking after power and authority. — 
 We view them all over the confederacy of Greece, 
 where they were first known to be any thing, (in 
 consequence of education) we see them there, cut- 
 ting each other's throats — trying to subject each 
 other to wretchedness and misery — to effect which, 
 they used all kinds of deceitful, unfair, and unmer- 
 ciful means. We view them next in Rome, where 
 the spirit of tyranny and deceit raged still higher. 
 We view them in Gaul, Spain, and in Britain. — 
 In fine, we view them all over Europe, together 
 with what were scattered about in Asia and Africa, 
 as heathens, and we see them acting more like devils 
 than accountable men. But some may ask, did not 
 the blacks of Africa, and the mulattoes of Asia, go 
 on in the same way as did the whites of Europe. I 
 answer, no — they never were half so avaricious, de- 
 ceitful and unmerciful as the whites, according to 
 their knowledge. 
 
 But we will leave the whites or Europeans as 
 heathens, and take a view of them as Christians, in 
 which capacity we see them as cruel, if not more so 
 than ever. In fact, take them as a body, they are 
 ten times more cruel, avaricious and unmerciful than 
 ever they were ; for while they were heathens, they 
 were bad enough it is true, but it is positively a fact 
 that they were not quite so audacious as to go and 
 take vessel loads of men, women and children, and 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 21 
 
 in cold blood, and through devilishness, throw them 
 into the sea, and murder them in all kind of Ways. 
 While they were heathens, they were too ignorant 
 for such barbarity. But being Christians, enlight- 
 ened and sensible, they are completely prepared 
 for such hellish cruelties. Now suppose God were 
 to give them more sense, what would they do ? If 
 it were possible, would they not dethrone Jehovah 
 and seat themselves upon his throne ? I therefore, 
 in the name and fear of the Lord God of Heaven 
 and of earth, divested of prejudice either on the 
 side of my colour or that of the whites, advance my 
 suspicion of them, whether they are as good by na- 
 ture as we are or not. Their actions, since they 
 were known as a people, have been the reverse, I 
 do indeed suspect them, but this, as I before oberv- 
 ed, is shut up with the Lord, we cannot exactly 
 tell, it will be proved in succeeding generations. — 
 The whites have had the essence of the gospel as it 
 was preached by my master and his apostles — the 
 Ethiopians have not, who are to have it in its me- 
 ridian splendor — the Lord will give it to them to 
 their satisfaction. I hope and' pray my God, that 
 they will make good use of it, that it may be well 
 with them.* 
 
 * It is my solemn belief that if ever the world becomes Chris- 
 tianized, (which must certainly take place before long) it will be 
 through the means, under God of the Blacks, who are now held in 
 wretchedness, and degradation, by the white Christians of the 
 world, who before they learn to do justice to us before our Ma- 
 ker — and be reconciled to us, and reconcile us to them, and by 
 that means have clear consciencies before God and man. — Send 
 out Missionaries to convert the Heathens, many of whom after 
 they cease to worship gods, v/hich neither see nor hear, become 
 ten times more the children of Hell, then ever they were, why 
 what is the reason ? Why the reason is obvious, they must learn 
 to do justice at home, before they go into distant lands, to dis- 
 play their charity, Christianity, and benevolence; when they learn 
 to do justice, God will accept their offering, (no man may think 
 that I am against Missionaries for I am not 3 my object is to see 
 justice done at home, before we go to convert the Heathens.) 
 
22 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE OF IGNO- 
 RANCE. 
 
 Ignorance, my brethren, is a mist, low down into 
 the very dark and almost impenetrable abyss in 
 which, our fathers for many centuries have been 
 plunged. The Christians, and enlightened of Eu- 
 rope, and some of Asia, seeing the ignorance , and 
 consequent degradation of our fathers, instead of 
 trying to enlighten them, by teaching them that re- 
 ligion and light with which God had blessed them, 
 they have plunged them into wretchedness ten thou- 
 sand times more intolerable, than if they had left 
 them entirely to the Lord, and to add to their miser- 
 ies, deep down into which they have plunged them 
 tell them, that they are an inferior and distinct race 
 of beings, which they will be glad enough to recal 
 and swallow by and by. Fortune and misfortune, 
 two inseparable companions, lay rolled up in the 
 wheel of events, which have from the creation of 
 the world, and will continue to take place among 
 men until God shall dash worlds together. 
 
 When we take a retrospective view of the arts 
 and sciences — the wise legislators — the Pyramids, 
 and other magnificent buildings — the turning of the 
 channel of the river Nile, by the sons of Africa or 
 of Ham, among whom learning originated, and was 
 carried thence into Greece, where it was improved 
 upon and refined. Thence among the Romans, and 
 all over the then enlightened parts of the world, 
 and it has been enlightening the dark and benighted 
 minds of men from then, down to this day. I say, 
 when I view retrospectively, the renown of that 
 once mighty people, the children of our great pro- 
 genitor I am indeed cheered. Yea further, when I 
 view that mighty son of Africa, Hannibal, one of 
 the greatest generals of antiquity, who defeated and 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 23 
 
 cut off so many thousands of the white Romans or 
 murderers, and who carried his victorious arms, to 
 the very gate of Rome, and I give it as my candid 
 opinion, that had Carthage been well united and 
 had given him good support, he would have carried' 
 that cruel and barbarous city by storm. But they 
 were dis-united, as the coloured people are now, in 
 the United States of America, the reason our nat- 
 ural enemies are enabled to keep their feet on our 
 throats. 
 
 Beloved brethren — here let me tell you, and be- 
 lieve it, that the Lord our God, as true as he sits 
 on his throne in heaven, and as true as our Saviour 
 died to redeem the world, will give you a Hannibal, 
 and when the Lord shall have raised him up, and 
 given him to you for your possession, O my suffer- 
 ing brethren ! remember the divisions and conse- 
 quent sufferings of Carthage and of Hayti. Read 
 the history particularly of Hayti, and see how they 
 were butchered by the whites, and do you take 
 warning. The person whom God shall give you, 
 give him your support and let him go his length, and 
 behold in him the salvation of your God. God will 
 indeed, deliver you through him from your deplora- 
 ble and wretched condition under the Christians of 
 America. I charge you this day before my God to 
 lay no obstacle in his way, but let him go. 
 
 The whites want slaves, and want us for their 
 slaves, but some of them will curse the day they 
 ever saw us. As true as the sun ever shone in its 
 meridian splendor, my colour will root some of them 
 out of the very face of the earth. They shall have 
 enough of making slaves of, and butchering, and 
 murdering us in the manner which they have. No 
 doubt some may say that I write with a bad spirit, 
 and that I being a black, wish these things to occur. 
 Whether I write with a bad or a good spirit, I say 
 if these things do not occur in their proper time, it 
 is because the world in which we live does not exist, 
 and we are deceived with reeard to its existence. — 
 
24 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 It is immaterial however to me, who believe, or who 
 refuse — though I should like to see the whites re- 
 pent peradventure God may have mercy on them, 
 some however, have gone so far that their cup must 
 be filled. 
 
 But what need have I to refer to antiquity, when 
 Hayti, the glory of the blacks and terror of tyrants, 
 is enough to convince the most avaricious and stu- 
 pid of wretches — which is at this time, and I am 
 sorry to say it; plagued with that scourge of na- 
 tions, the Catholic religion ; but I hope and pray 
 God that she may yet rid herself of it, and adopt 
 in its stead the Protestant faith ; also, I hope that 
 she may keep peace within her borders and be 
 united, keeping a strict look out for tyrants, for if 
 they get the least chance to injure her, they will 
 avail themselves of it, as true as the Lord lives in 
 heaven. But one thing which gives me joy is, that 
 they are men who would be cut off to a man, be- 
 fore they would yield to the combined forces of the 
 whole world — in fact, if the whole world was com- 
 bined against them, it could not do any thing with 
 them, unless the Lord delivers them up. 
 
 Ignorance and treachery one against the other — a 
 grovelling servile and abject submission to the lash of 
 tyrants, we see plainly, my brethren, are not the na- 
 tural elements of the blacks, as the Americans try to 
 make us believe ; but these are misfortunes whiehGod 
 has suffered our fathers to be enveloped in for many 
 ages, no doubt in consequence of their disobedience 
 to their Maker, and which do, indeed, reign at this 
 time among us, almost to the destruction of all other 
 principles : for I must truly say, that ignorance, the 
 mother of treachery and deceit, gnaws into our very 
 vitals. Ignorance, as it now exits among us, pro- 
 duces a state of things, Oh my Lord ! too horrible 
 to present to the world. Any man who is curious to 
 see the full force of ignorance developed among the 
 coloured people of the United States of America, 
 has only to go into the southern and western states 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 25 
 
 of this confederacy, where, if he is not a tyrant, but 
 has the feelings of a human being, who can feel for 
 a fellow creature, he may see enough to make his 
 very heart bleed ! He may see there, a son take 
 his mother, who bore almost the pains of death to 
 give him birth, and by the command of a tyrant, 
 strip her as naked as she came into the world, and 
 apply the cow-hide to her, until she falls a victim to 
 death in the road ! He may see a husband take his 
 dear wife, not unfrequently in a pregnant state, and 
 perhaps far advanced, and beat her for an unmerci- 
 ful wretch, until his infant falls a lifeless lump at 
 her feet ! Can the Americans escape God Almigh- 
 ty? If they do, can he be to us a God of Justice 1 
 God is just, and I know it — for he has convinced 
 me to my satisfaction — I cannot doubt him. My 
 observer may see fathers beating their sons, mothers 
 their daughters, and children their parents, all to 
 pacify the passions of unrelenting tyrants. He may 
 also^ see them telling news and lies, making mis- 
 chief one upon another. These are some of the 
 productions of ignorance, which he will see prac- 
 tised among my dear brethren, who are held in un- 
 just slavery and wretchedness, by avaricious and 
 unmerciful tyrants, to whom, and their hellish deeds, 
 I would suffer my life to be taken before I would 
 submit. And when my curious observer comes to 
 take notice of those who are said to be free, (which 
 assertion I deny) and who are making some frivo- 
 lous pretentions to common sense, he will see that 
 branch of ignorance among the slaves assuming a 
 more cunning and deceitful course of procedure. — 
 He may see some of my brethren in league with 
 tyrants, selling their own brethren into hell upon 
 earth, not dissimilar to the exhibitions in Africa, but 
 in a more secret, servile and abject manner. Oh 
 Heaven ! I am full ! ! ! I can hardly move my 
 pen ! ! ! and as I expect some will try to put me to 
 death, to strike terror into others, and to obliterate 
 from their minds the notion of freedom, so as to 
 4 
 
26 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 keep my brethren the more secure in wretchedness, 
 where they will be permitted to stay but a short 
 time (whether tyrants believe it or not) — I shall give 
 the world a development of facts, which are already 
 witnessed in the courts of heaven. My observer 
 may see some of those ignorant and treacherous 
 creatures (coloured people) sneaking about in the 
 large cities, endeavouring to find out all strange col- 
 oured people, where they work and where they re- 
 side, asking them questions, and trying to ascertain 
 whether they are runaways or not, telling them, at 
 the same time, that they always have been, are, and 
 always will be, friends to their brethren ; and, per- 
 haps, that they themselves are absconders, and a 
 thousand such treacherous lies to get the better in- 
 formation of the more ignorant ! ! ! There have been 
 and are at this da) r in Boston, New-York, Philadel- 
 phia, and Baltimore, coloured men, who are in 
 league with tyrants, and who receive a great portion 
 of their daily bread, of the moneys which they ac- 
 quire from the blood and tears of their more misera- 
 ble brethren, whom they scandalously delivered 
 into the hands of our natural enemies ! ! ! ! ! ! 
 
 To show the force of degraded ignorace and de- 
 ceit among us some farther, I will give here an ex- 
 tract from a paragragh, which may be found in the 
 Columbian Centinel of this city, for September 9, 
 1829, on the first page of which, the curious may 
 find an article, headed 
 
 "AFFRAY AND MUI1DER." 
 
 " Portsmouth, (Ohio) Aug. 22, 1829. 
 
 "".A most shocking outrage was committed in 
 ! " Kentucky, about eight miles from this place, 
 " on 14th iust.. A negro driver, by the name of 
 " Gordon, who had purchased in May land about 
 " sixty negroes, was taking them, assisted by an 
 " associate named Allen, and the wagoner who con- 
 " veyed the baggage, to the Mississippi. The men 
 " were hand-culled and chained together, in the 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 27 
 
 "usual manner for driving those poor wretches, 
 " while the women and children were suffered to 
 " proceed without incumbrance. It appears that, 
 " by means of a file the negroes, unobserved, had suc- 
 " ceeded in separating the iron which bound their 
 " hands, in such a way as to be abla to throw them 
 " off at any moment. About 8 o'clock in the morn- 
 " iug, while proceeding on the state road leading 
 " from Greenup to Vanceburg, two of them dropped 
 " their shackles and commenced a fight, when the 
 " wagoner (Petit) rushed in with his whip to com- 
 " pel them to desist. At this moment, every negro 
 " was found to be perfectly at liberty ; and one of 
 " them seizing a club, gave Petit a violent blow on 
 " the head, and laid him dead at his feet ; and Allest, 
 " who came to his assistance, met a similar fate, 
 " from the contents of a pistol fired by another of 
 " the gang. Gordon was then attacked, seized and 
 " held by one of the negroes, whilst another fired 
 " twice at him with a pistol, the ball of which each 
 " time grazed his head, but not proving effectual, 
 " he was beaten with clubs, and left for dead. They 
 " then commenced pillaging the wagon, and with an 
 " axe split open the trunk of Gordon, and rifled it 
 " of the money, about $2,400. Sixteen of the ne- 
 " groes then took to the woods ; Gordon, in the 
 " mean time, not being materially injured, was 
 " enabled, by the assistance of one of the women, 
 " to mount his horse and flee; pursued, however, 
 " by one of the gang on another horse, with a drawn 
 " pistol ; fortunately he escaped with his life barely, 
 "arriving at a plantation, as the negro came in 
 " sight; who then turned a&ottt and retreated. 
 
 " The neighbourhood was immediately rallied, 
 "and a hot pursuit given — which, we understand^ 
 " has resulted in the capture of the whole gan-g and 
 "the recovery of the greatest, part of the money. 
 "Seven of the negro men and one woman, it is said 
 " were engaged in the murders, and will be brought 
 •" to trial at the next couii in Greeiiupsburg." 
 
28 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 Here my brethren, I want you to notice particu- 
 larly in the above article, the ignorant and deceitful 
 actions of this coloured woman. I beg you to view 
 it candidly, as for eternity ! ! ! ! Here a notorious 
 lorctch, with two other confederates had sixty of 
 them in a gang, driving them like brutes — the men 
 ail in chains and hand-cuffs, and by the help of God 
 they got their chains and hand-cuffs thrown off, and 
 caught two of the wretches and put them to death, 
 and beat the other until they thought he was dead, 
 and left him for dead ; however, he deceived them, 
 and rising from the ground, this servile tvoman help- 
 ed him upon his horse, and he made his escape. 
 Brethren, what do you think of this ? Was it the 
 natural fine feelings of this- woman, to save such a 
 wretch alive ? I know that the blacks, take them 
 half enlightened and ignorant, are more humane and 
 merciful than the most enlightened and refined Eu- 
 ropean that can be found in all the earth. Let no 
 one say that I assert this because I am prejudiced 
 on the side of my colour, and against the whites or 
 Europeans. For what I write, I do it candidly, 
 for my God and the good of both parties : Natural 
 observations have taught me these things ; there is 
 a solemn awe in the hearts of the blacks, as it res- 
 pects murdering men :* whereas the whites, (though 
 they are great cowards) where they have the advan- 
 tage, or think that there are any prospects of getting 
 it, they murder all before them, in order to subject 
 men to wretchedness and degradation under them. 
 This is the natural result of pride and avarice. But 
 I declare, the actions of this black woman are really 
 insupportable. For my own part, I cannot think it 
 was any thing but servile deceit, combined with the 
 most gross ignorance : for we must remember that 
 humanity, kindness and the fear of the Lord, does 
 not consist in protecting devils. Here is a set of 
 wretches, who had sixty of them in a gang, driving 
 
 * Which is the reason the whites take the advantage of us. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 29 
 
 them around the country like brutes, to dig up gold 
 and silver for them, (which they will get enough of 
 yet.) Should the lives of such creatures be spared 1 
 Are God and Mammon in league? What has the 
 Lord to do with a gang of desperate wretches, who 
 go sneaking about the country like robbers — light 
 upon his people wherever they can get a chance, 
 binding them with chains and hand-cuffs, beat and 
 murder them as they would rattle-snakes? Are 
 they not the Lord's enemies ? Ought they not to 
 be destroyed? Any person who will save such 
 wretches from destruction, is fighting against the 
 Lord, and will receive his just recompense. The 
 black men acted like blockheads. Why did they 
 not make sure of the wretch 1 He would have made 
 sure of them, if he could. It is just the way with 
 black men — eight white men can frighten fifty of 
 them ; whereas, if you can only get courage into 
 the blacks, I do declare it, that one good black man 
 can put to death six white men ; and I give it as a 
 fact, let twelve black men get well armed for battle, 
 and they will kill and put to flight fifty whites. — 
 The reason is, the blacks, once you get them started, 
 they glory in death. The whites have had us under 
 them for more than three centuries, murdering, and 
 treating us like brutes ; and, as Mr. Jefferson wisely 
 said, they have never found us out — they do not 
 know, indeed, that there is an unconquerable dis- 
 position in the breasts of the blacks, which, when it 
 is fully awakened and put in motion, will be subdu- 
 ed, only with the destruction of the animal exis- 
 tence. Get the blacks started, and if you do not 
 have a gang of tigers and lions to deal with, I am a 
 deceiver of the blacks and of the whites. How sixty 
 of them could let that wretch escape unkilled, I 
 cannot conceive — they will have to suffer as much 
 for the two whom, they secured, as if they had put 
 one hundred to death : if you commence, make sure 
 work — do not trifle, for they will not trifle with you 
 — they want us for their slaves, and think nothing 
 
30 An appeal, etc. 
 
 of murdering us in order to subject us to that wretch- 
 ed condition— therefore, if there is an attempt made 
 by us, kill or be killed. Now, I ask you, had you 
 not rather be killed than to be a slave to a tyrant, 
 who takes the life of your mother, wife, and dear 
 little children ? Look upon your mother, wife and 
 children, and answer God Almighty ; and believe 
 this, that it is no more harm for you to kill a man, 
 who is trying to kill you, than it is for you to take a 
 chink of water when thirsty ; in fact, the man who 
 will stand still and let another murder him, is worse 
 than an infidel, and, if he has common sense, ought 
 not to be pitied. The actions of this deceitful and 
 ignorant coloured woman, in saving the life of a 
 desperate wretch, whose avaricious and cruel object 
 was to drive her, and her companions in miseries, 
 through the country like cattle, to make his fortune 
 on their carcasses, are but too much like that of 
 thousands of our brethren in these states : if any 
 tiling is whispered by one, which has any allusion 
 to the melioration of their dreadful condition, they 
 run and tell tyrants, that they may be enabled to 
 keep them the longer in wretchedness and miseries. 
 Oh ! coloured people of these United States, I ask 
 you, in the name of that God who made us, have 
 •we, iii consequence of oppression, nearly lost the 
 spirit of man, and, in no very trifling degree, adopt- 
 ed that of brutes? Do you answer, no? — 1 ask 
 you, then, what set of men can you point me to, in 
 all the world, who are so abjectly employed by 
 their oppressors, as we are by our natural enemies ? 
 How can, Oh ! how can those enemies but say that 
 we and our children are not of the human family, 
 but were made by our Creator to be an inheritance 
 to them and theirs forever? How can the slave- 
 holders but say that they can bribe the best colour- 
 ed person in the country, to sell his brethren for a 
 tricing sum of money, and take that atrocity to con- 
 linn them in their avaricious opinion, that we were 
 made to he slaves to them and their children ? How 
 
AS APPEAL, ETC. 31 
 
 could Mr. Jefferson but say, *" I advance it there- 
 "fore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether 
 "originally a distinct race, or made distinct by 
 " time and circumstances, are inferior to the whites 
 " in the endowments both of body and mind '?" — 
 " It," says he, " is not against experience to sup- 
 " pose, that different species of the same genius, or 
 " varieties of the same species, may possess differ- 
 " ent qualifications." [Here, my brethren, listen 
 to him.] §&>" Will not a lover of natural history, 
 " then, one who views the gradations in all the ra- 
 " ces of animals with the eye of philosophy, excuse 
 " an effort to keep those in the department of man 
 " as distinct as nature has formed them ?" — I hope 
 " you will try to find out the meaning of this verse 
 — its widest sense and all'its bearings : whether you 
 do or not, remember the whites do. This very 
 verse, brethren, having emanated from Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, a much greater philosopher the world never af- 
 forded, has in truth injured us more, and has been 
 as great a barrier to our emancipation as any thing 
 that has ever been advanced against us. I hope 
 you will not let it pass unnoticed. He goes on fur- 
 ther, and says : " This unfortunate difference of 
 "colour, and perhaps of faculty, is a powerful obsta- 
 cle to the emancipation of these people. Many 
 " of their advocates, while they wish to vindicate the 
 " liberty of human nature are anxious also to pre- 
 " serve its dignity and beauty. Some of these, em- 
 " barrassed by the question, ' What further is to be 
 " done with them V join themselves in opposition 
 "with those who are actuated by sordid avarice 
 " only." Now I ask you candidly, my suffering 
 brethren in time, who are candidates for the eternal 
 worlds, how could Mr. Jefferson but have given the 
 world these remarks respecting us, when we are so 
 submissive to tliem, and so much servile deceit pre- 
 vail among ourselves — when we so meanly submit 
 
 *See his Notes on Virginia,, page 213. 
 
32 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 to their murderous lashes, to which neither the In- 
 dians nor any other people under Heaven would 
 submit 1 No, they would die to a man, before they 
 would suffer such things from men who are no bet- 
 ter than themselves, and perhaps not so good. Yes, 
 how can our friends but be embarrassed, as Mr. 
 Jefferson says, by the question, " What further is 
 to be done with these people V' For while they are 
 working for our emancipation, we are, by our treach- 
 ery, wickedness and deceit, working against our- 
 selves and our children — helping ours, and the ene- 
 mies of God, to keep us and our dear little children 
 in their infernal chains of slavery ! ! ! Indeed, our 
 friends cannot but relapse and join themselves 
 "with those who are actuated by sordid avarice 
 only ! ! ! !" For my own part, I am glad Mr. Jef- 
 ferson has advanced his positions for your sake ; for 
 you will either have to contradict or confirm him 
 by your own actions, and not by what our friends 
 have said or done for us ; for those things are other 
 men's labours, and do not satisfy the Americans, who 
 are waiting for us to prove to them ourselves, that 
 we are men, before they will be willing to admit the 
 fact ; for I pledge you my sacred word of honour, 
 that Mr. Jefferson's remarks respecting us, have 
 sunk deep into the hearts of millions of the whites, 
 and never will be removed this side of eternity. — 
 For how can they, when we are confirming him 
 every day, by our groveling submissions and treach- 
 ery ? I aver, that when I look over these United 
 States of America, and the world, and see the 
 ignorant deceptions and consequent wretchedness 
 of my brethren, I am brought oftimes solemnly to 
 a stand, and in the midst of my reflections I ex- 
 claim to my God, " Lord didst thou make us to be 
 slaves to our brethren, the whites V But when I 
 reflect that God* is just, and that millions of my 
 wretched brethren would meet death with glory — 
 yea, more, would plunge into the very mouths of 
 cannons and be torn into particles as minute as the 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 3$ 
 
 atoms which compose the elements of the earth, in 
 preference to a mean submission to the lash of ty- 
 rants, I am with streaming eyes, compelled to shrink 
 back into nothingness before my Maker, and ex- 
 claim again, thy will be done, O Lord God Al- 
 mighty- 
 Men of colour, who are also of sense, for you 
 particularly is my appeal designed. Our more ig- 
 norant brethren are not able to penetrate its value. 
 I call upon you therefore to cast your eyes upon the 
 wretchedness of your brethren, and to do your ut- 
 most to enlighten them — go to work and enlighten 
 your brethren ! — Let the Lord see you doing what 
 you can to rescue them and yourselves from degra- 
 dation. Do any of you say that you and your fam- 
 ily are free and happy, and what have you to do 
 with the wretched slaves and other people ? So can 
 I say, for I enjoy as much freedom as any of you, if 
 I am not quite as well off as the best of you. Look 
 into our freedom and happiness, and see of what 
 kind they are composed ! ! They are of the very 
 lowest kind — they are the very dregs ! — they are 
 the most servile and abject kind, that ever a people 
 was in possession of ! If any of you wish to know 
 how free you are, let one of you start and go 
 through the southern and western States of this coun- 
 try, and unless you travel as a slave to a white man 
 (a servant is a slave to the man whom he serves) or 
 have your free papers, (which if you are not careful 
 they will get from you) if they do not take you up 
 and put you in jail, and if you cannot give good evi- 
 dence of your freedom, sell you into eternal slavery, 
 I am not a living man : or any man of colour, im- 
 material who he is, or where he came from, if he is 
 not the fourth from the negro race ! ! (as we are 
 called) the white Christians of America will serve 
 him the same they will sink him into wretchedness 
 and degradation for ever while he lives. And yet 
 some of you have the hardihood to say that you are 
 free and haopv ! May God have mercy on your 
 5 
 
34 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 freedom and happiness ! ! I met a coloured man 
 in the street a short time since, with a string of 
 boots on his shoulders ; we fell into conversation, 
 and in course of which, I said to him, what a mis- 
 erable set of people we are ! He asked, why 1 — 
 Said I, we are so subjected under the whites, that 
 we cannot obtain the comforts of life, but by clean- 
 ing their boots and shoes, old clothes, waiting on 
 them, shaving them &c. Said he, (with the boots 
 on his shoulders) " I am completely happy ! ! ! I 
 never want to live any better or happier than when 
 I can get a plenty of boots and shoes to clean ! ! !" 
 Oh ! how can those who are actuated by avarice 
 only, but think, that our Creator made us to be an 
 inheritance to them for ever, when they see that our 
 greatest glory is centered in such mean and low ob- 
 jects 1 Understand me, brethren, I do not mean to 
 speak against the occupations by which we acquire 
 enough and sometimes scarcely that, to render our- 
 selves and families comfortable through life. I am 
 subjected to the same inconvenience, as you all. — 
 My objections are, to our glorying and being happy 
 in such low employments ; for if we are men, we 
 ought to be thankful to the Lord for the past, and 
 for the future. Be looking forward with thankful 
 hearts to higher attainments than ivielding the razor 
 and cleaning boots and shoes. The man whose as- 
 pirations are not above, and even below these, is in- 
 deed, ignorant and wretched enough. I advance it 
 therefore to you, net as a problematical, but as an un- 
 shaken and for ever immoveable faet 4 that your full 
 glory and happiness, as well as all other coloured 
 people under Heaven, shall never be fully consum- 
 mated, but with the entire emancipation of your en- 
 slaved brethren all oner the world. You may there- 
 fore, go to work and do what you can to rescue, or 
 join in with tyrants to oppress them and yourselves, 
 until the Lord shall come upon you ail like a thief 
 in the night. For I believe it is the will of the Lord 
 that our greatest happiness shall consist in working 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 35 
 
 for the salvation of our whole body- When this is 
 accomplished a burst of glory will shine upon you, 
 which will indeed astonish you and the world. Do 
 any of you say this never will be done ? I assure 
 you that God will accomplish it — if nothing else 
 will answer, he will hurl tyrants and devils into 
 atoms and make way for his people. But O my 
 brethren ! I say unto you again, you must go to 
 work and prepare the way of the Lord. 
 
 There is a great work for you to do, as trifling as 
 some of you may think of it. You have to prove 
 to the Americans and the world, that we are men, 
 and not brutes, as we have been represented, and by 
 millions treated. Remember, to let the aim of your 
 labours among your brethren, and particularly the 
 youths, be the dissemination of education and reli- 
 gion.* It is lamentable, that many of our children 
 go to school, from four until they are eight or ten, 
 and sometimes fifteen years of age, and leave school 
 knowing but a little more about the grammar of their 
 language than a horse does about handling a mus- 
 ket — and not a few of them are really so ignorant, 
 that they are unable to answer a person correctly, 
 general questions in geography, and to hear them 
 read, would only be to disgust a man who has a 
 taste for reading ; which, to do well, as trifling as 
 it may appear to some, (to the ignorant in particu- 
 lar) is a great part of learning. Some few of them, 
 may make out to scribble tolerably well, over a half 
 sheet of paper, which I believe has hitherto been a 
 powerful obstacle in our way, to keep us from ao 
 
 * Never mind what the ignorant ones among us may say, many of 
 whom when you speak to them for their good, and try to enlighten 
 their minds, laugh at you, and perhaps tell you plump to your face, 
 that they want no instruction from you or any other Niger, and all 
 such aggravating language. Now if you are a man of understand- 
 ing and sound sense, I conjure you in the name of the Lord, and 
 of all that is good, to impute their actions to ignorance, and wink 
 at their follies, and do your very best to get around them some way 
 or other, for remember they are your brethren ; aud I declare to 
 you that it is for your interests to teach and enlighten them. 
 
56 AN APPEAI -, ETC. 
 
 quiring knowledge. An ignorant father, who knows 
 no more than what nature has taught him, together 
 with what little he acquires by the senses of hear- 
 ing and seeing, finding his son able to write a neat 
 hand, sets it down for granted thai, he has as good 
 learning as any body ; the young, ignorant gump, 
 hearing his rather or mother, who perhaps may be 
 ten times more ignorant, in point of literature, than 
 himself, extolling his learning, struts about, in the 
 full assurance, that his attainments in literature are 
 sufficient to take him through the world, when, in 
 fact, he has scarcely any learning at all ! ! ! ! 
 
 I promiscuously fell in conversatson once, with 
 an elderly coloured man on the topics of education, 
 and\of the great prevalency of ignorance among us : 
 Said he, " I know that, our people are very ignorant 
 " but my son has a good education : I spent a great 
 " deal of money on his education : he can write as 
 " well as any white man, and I assure you that no 
 u one can fool him," &c. Said I, what else can your 
 son do, besides writing a good hand 1 Can he post 
 a set of books in a mercantile manner 1 Can he 
 write a neat piece of composition in prose or in 
 verse 1 To these interogations he answered in the 
 negative. Said I, did your son learn, while he was 
 at school, the width and depth of English Grammar 1 
 To which he also replied in the negative, telling me 
 his son did not learn these things. Your son, said 
 I, then, has hardly any learning at all — he is almost 
 as ignorant, and more so, than many of those who 
 never went to school one day in all their lives. My 
 friend got a little put out, and so walking off, said 
 that his son could write as well as any white man. 
 Most of the coloured people, when they speak of the 
 education of one among us who can write a neat 
 hand, and who perhaps knows nothing but to scrib- 
 ble and puff pretty fair on a small scrap of paper, 
 immaterial whether his words are grammatical, or 
 spelt correctly, or not ; if it only looks beautiful, 
 they say he has as good an education as any white 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 37 
 
 man — he can write as well as any white man, &c. 
 The poor, ignorant creature, hearing, this, he is 
 ashamed, forever after, to let any person see him 
 humbling himself to another for knowledge but going 
 about trying to deceive those who are more ignorant 
 than himself, he at last falls an ignorant victim to 
 death in wretchedness. I pray that the Lord may 
 undeceive my ignorant brethren, and permit them 
 to throw away pretensions, and seek after the sub- 
 stance of learning. I would crawl on my hands 
 and knees through mud and mire, to the feet of a 
 learned man, where I would sit and humbly suppli- 
 cate him to instil into me, that which neither devils 
 nor tyrants could remove, only with my life — for col- 
 ored people to acquire learning in this country, makes 
 tyrants quake and tremble on their sandy founda- 
 tion. Why, what is the matter 1 Why, they know 
 that their infernal deeds of cruelty will be made 
 known to the world. Do you suppose one man of 
 good sense and learning would submit himself, his 
 father, mother, wife and children, to be slaves to a 
 wretched man like himself, who, instead of compen- 
 sating him for his labours, chains, hand-cuffs and 
 beats him and family almost to death, leaving life 
 enough in them, however, to work for, and call him 
 master? No ! no ! he would cut his devilish throat 
 from ear to ear, and well do slave-holders know it. 
 The bare name of educating the coloured people, 
 scares our cruel oppressors almost to death. But if 
 they do not have enough to be frightened for yet, it 
 will be, because they can always keep us ignorant, 
 and because God approbates their cruelties, with 
 which they have been for centuries murdering us. 
 The whites shall have enough of the blacks, yet, as 
 true as God sits on his throne in Heaven. 
 
 Some of our brethren are so very full of learning, 
 that you cannot mention any thing to them which 
 they do not know better than yourself! ! — nothing is 
 strange to them ! !-they knew every thing years ago ! 
 — if any thing should be mentioned in company 
 
38 AN APPEAL, ECT. 
 
 where they are, immaterial how important it is re- 
 specting us or the world, if they had not divulged 
 it ; they make light of it, and affect to have known 
 it long before it was mentioned and try to make all 
 in the room, or wherever you may be, believe that 
 your conversation is nothing ! ! — not worth hearing ! 
 All this is the result of ignorance and ill-breeding ; 
 for a man of good-breeding, sense and penetration, 
 if he had heard a subject told twenty times over, and 
 should happen to be in company where one should 
 commence telling it again, he would wait with pa- 
 tience on its narrator, and see if he would tell it as 
 it was told in his presence before — paying the most 
 strict attention to what is said, to see if any more 
 Jight will be thrown on the subject : for all men are 
 not gifted alike in telling, or even hearing the most 
 simple narration. These ignorant, vicious, and 
 wretched men, contribute almost as much injury to 
 our body as tyrants themselves, by doing so much 
 for the promotion of ignorance amongst us; for 
 thejs making such pretensions to knowledge, such 
 of our youth as are seeking after knowledge, and 
 can get access to them, take them as criterions to go 
 .by, who will lead them into a channel, where, un- 
 
 | less the Lord blesses them with the privilege of see- 
 ing their folly, they will be irretrievably lost for- 
 ever, while in time ! ! ! 
 
 ! I must close this article by relating the very heart- 
 arending fact, that I have examined school-boys and 
 young men of colour in different parts of the coun- 
 try, in the most simple parts of Murray's English 
 Grammar, and not more than one in thirty was able 
 to give a correct answer to my interrogations. If 
 
 ] tany one contradicts me, let him step out of his door 
 into the streets of Boston, New- York, Philadelphia, 
 or Baltimore, (no use to mention any other, for the 
 Christians are too charitable further south or west !) 
 — I say, let him who disputes me, step out of his 
 door into the streets of either of those four cities, 
 and promiscuously collect one hundred school-boys, 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 39 
 
 or young men of colour, who have been to school, 
 and who are considered by the coloured people to 
 have received an excellent education, because, per- 
 haps, some of them can write a good hand, but who, 
 notwithstanding their neat writing, may be almost 
 as ignorant, in comparison, as a horse. — And, I say 
 it, he will hardly find (in this enlightened day, and 
 in the midst of this charitable people) five in one 
 hundred, who, are able to correct the false grammar 
 of their language. — The cause of this almost uni- 
 versal ignorance among us, I appeal to our school- 
 masters to declare. Here is a fact, which I this 
 very minute take from the mouth of a young col- 
 oured man, who has been to school in this state 
 (Massachusetts) nearly nine years, and who knows 
 grammar this day, nearly as well as he did the day 
 he first entered the school-house, under a white 
 master. " This young man says : "My master 
 would never allow me to study grammar." I ask- 
 ed him, why 1 " The school committee," said he 
 "forbid the coloured children learning grammar 
 " — they would not allow any but the white children- 
 " to study grammar." It is a notorious fact, that 
 the major part of the white Americans, have, ever 
 since we have been among them, tried to keep us: 
 ignorant, and make us believe that God made us and' 
 our children to be slaves to them and theirs. Oh £ 
 my God, have mercy on Christian Americans ! ! ! 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE 
 PREACHERS OF THE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST; 
 
 Religion, my brethren, is a substance of deep 
 consideration among all nations of the earth. The 
 Pagans have a kind, as well as the Mahometans, 
 the Jews and the Christians. But pure and unde- 
 nted religion, such as was preached by Jesus Christ 
 
40 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 and his apostles, is hard to be found in all the earth. 
 God, through his instrument, Moses, handed a dis- 
 pensation of his Divine will, to the children of Israel 
 after they had left Egypt for the land of Canaan or 
 of Promise, who through hypocrisy, oppression and 
 unbelief, departed from the faith. — He then, by his 
 apostles, handed a dispensation of his, together with 
 • the will of Jesus Christ, to the Europeans in Eu- 
 rope, who, in open violation of which, have made 
 merchandise of us, and it does appear as though 
 they take this very dispensation to aid them in their 
 infernal depredations upon us. Indeed, the way in 
 which religion was and is conducted by the Euro- 
 peans and their descendants, one might believe it 
 was a plan fabricated by themselves and the devils 
 to oppress us. But hark ! My master has taught 
 me better than to believe it — he has taught me that 
 his gospel as it was preached by himself and his 
 apostles remains the same, notwithstanding Europe 
 has tried to mingle blood and opression with it. 
 
 It is well known to the Christian world, that Bar- 
 tholomew Las Casas, that very very notoriously ava- 
 ricious Catholic priest or preacher, and adventurer 
 with Columbus in his second voyage, proposed to 
 his countrymen, the Spaniards in Hispaniola to im- 
 port the Africans from the Portuguese settlement 
 in Africa, to dig up gold and silver, and work their 
 plantations for them, to effect which, he made a 
 voyage thence to Spain, and opened the subject to 
 his master, Ferdinand then in declining health, who 
 listened to the plan : but who died soon after, and 
 left it in the hand of his successor, Charles V.* 
 This wretch, ("Las Casas, the Preacher,") suc- 
 ceeded so well in his plans of oppression, that in 
 1503, the first blacks had been imported into the 
 new world. Elated with this success, and stimulated 
 by sordid avarice only, he importuned Charles V. in 
 
 * See Butler's History of the United States, vol. 1, page 24 
 See also, page 25. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 41 
 
 1511, to grant permission to a Flemish merchant, to 
 import 4000 blacks at one time.* Thus we see, 
 through the instrumentality of a pretended preacher 
 of the gospel of Jesus Christ our common master, 
 our wretchedness first commenced in America — 
 where it has been continued from 1503, to this day, 
 1829. A period of three hundred and twenty-six 
 years. But two hundred and nine, from 1620 — 
 when twenty of our fathers were brought into James- 
 town, Virginia, by a Dutch man of war, and sold off 
 like brutes to the highest bidders ; and there is not 
 a doubt in my mind, but that tyrants are in hope 
 to perpetuate our miseries under them and their 
 children until the final consumation of all things. — 
 But if they do not get dreadfully deceived, it will be 
 because God has forgotten them. 
 
 The Pagans, Jews and Mahometans try to make 
 proselytes to their religions, and whatever human 
 beings adopt their religions they extend to them 
 their protection. But Christian Americans, not on- 
 ly hinder their fellow creatures, the Africans, but 
 thousands of them will absolutely beat a coloured 
 person nearly to death, if they catch him on his 
 knees, supplicating the throne of grace. This bar- 
 barous cruelty was by all the heathen nations of an- 
 tiquity, and is by the Pagans, Jews and Mahometans 
 
 * It is not unworthy of remark, that the Portuguese and Span- 
 iards, were amor.j, if not the very first Nations upon Earth, about 
 three hundred and fifty or sixty years ago — But see what those Chris- 
 tians have come to now in consequence of afflicting our fathers and 
 us, who have never molested, or disturbed them or any other of the 
 white Christians, but have they received one quarter of what the 
 Lord will yet bring upon them, for the murders they have inflicted 
 upon us 1 — They have had, and in some degree have now, sweet times 
 on our blood "and groans, the time however, of bitterness have some- 
 time since commenced with them. — There is a God the Maker and 
 preserver of all things, who will as sure as the world exists, give all 
 his creatures their just recompense of reward in this and in the 
 world to come, — we may fool or deceive, and keep each other in 
 the most profound ignorance, beat murder and keep each other out 
 of what is our lawful rights, or the rights of man, yet it is impossi- 
 ble for us to deceive or escape the Lord Almighty^ 
 
 6 
 
42 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 of the present day, left entirely to Christian Ameri- 
 cans to inflict on the Africans and their descendants, 
 that their cup which is nearly full may be completed, 
 I have known tyrants or usurpers of human liberty in 
 different parts of this country to take their fellow crea- 
 tures, the coloured people, and beat them until they 
 would scarcely leave life in them ; what for? Why 
 they say " The black devils had the audacity to be 
 " found making prayers mid supplications to the 
 " God ivho made them!!!!" Yes, I have known 
 small collections of coloured people to liave con- 
 vened together, for no other purpose than to wor- 
 ship God Almighty, in spirit and in truth, to the 
 best of their knowledge ; when tyrants, calling 
 themselves patrols, would also convene and wait 
 almost in breathless silence for the poor coloured 
 people to commence singing and praying to the 
 Lord our God, as soon as they had coinmenced, 
 the wretches would burst in upon them and drag 
 them out and commence beating them as they would 
 rattle-snakes — many of whom, they Would beat so 
 unmercifully, that they would hardly be able to 
 crawl for weeks and sometimes for months, Yet 
 the American minister send out missionaries to 
 convert the heathen, while they keep us and our 
 children sunk at tl*eir feet in the most abject igno- 
 rance and wretchedness that ever a people was af- 
 flicted with since the world began. Will the Lord 
 suffer this people to proceed much longer ? Will he 
 not stop them in their career ? Does he regard the 
 heathens abroad, more # than the heathens among the 
 Americans ? Surely the Americans must believe 
 that God is partial, notwithstanding his Apostle Pe- 
 ter, declared before Cornelius and othersihat he has 
 no respect to persons, but in every nation he that 
 feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted 
 with him. — " The word," said he, " which God 
 u Rent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace, 
 " by Jesus Christ, (he is Lord of all."*') Have 
 
 * See Acts of the Apostles, chap. x. v. — 25 — 37. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 43 
 
 not the Americans the Bible in their hands? Do 
 they believe it? Surely they do not. See how they 
 treat us in open violation of the Bible ! ! They no 
 doubt will be greatly offended with me, but if God 
 does not awaken them, it will be, because they are 
 superior to other men, as they have represented 
 themselves to be. Our divine Lord and Master said, 
 " all things whatsoever ye would that men should 
 " do unto you, do ye even so unto them." But an 
 American minister, with the Bible in is hand, holds 
 us and our children in the most abject slavery and 
 wretchedness. Now I ask them, would they like 
 for us to hold them and their children in abject 
 slavery and wretchedness? No says one, that ne- 
 ver can be done — your are too abject and ignorant 
 to do it — -you are not men — your were made to be 
 slaves to us, to dig up gold and silver for us and 
 our children. Know this, my dear sirs, that although 
 you treat us and our children now, as you do your 
 domestic beast — yet the final result of all future 
 events are known but to God Almighty alone, who 
 rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabi- 
 tants of the earth, and who dethrones one earthly 
 king and sits up another, as it seemeth good in his 
 holy sight. We may attribute these vicissitudes to 
 what we please, but the God of armies and of jus^- 
 tice Tides in heaven and in earth, and the whole 
 American people shall «ee and know it yet, to their 
 satisfaction. I have known pretended preachers of 
 the gospel of m} r Master, who not onty held us as 
 their natural inheritance, but treated us with as 
 much rigor as any Infidel or Deist in the world — 
 just as though they were intent only on taking our 
 blood and groans to glorify the Lord Jesus JJhrisi. 
 The wicked and ungodly, seeing their preachers 
 treat us with so much cruelly, they say : our preach- 
 ers, who must be right, if any body are, treat them 
 like brutes, and why cannot we ? — They think it is 
 no harm to keep them in slavery and put the whip 
 to them, and why cannot we do the same !— They 
 
44 Ay APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 being preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, if it 
 were any harm, the}^ wcmld surely preach against 
 their oppression and do their utmost to erase it from 
 the country ; not only in one or two cities, but one 
 continual cry would be raised in all parts of this 
 confederacy, and would cease only with the com- 
 plete overthrow of the system of slavery, in every 
 part of the country. But how far the American 
 preachers are from preaching against slavery and 
 oppression, which have carried their country to the 
 brink of a precipice ;. to save them from plunging 
 down the side of which, will hardly be affected, will 
 appear in the sequel of this paragraph, which I 
 shall narrate just as as it transpired. I remember a 
 Camp Meeting in South Carolina, for which I em- 
 barked in a Steam Boat at Charleston, and having 
 been five or six hours on the water, we at last arriv- 
 ed at the place of hearing, where was a very great 
 concourse of people, who were no doubt, collected 
 together to hear the word of God, (that some had 
 collected barely as spectators to the scene, I will 
 not here pretend to doubt, however, that is left to 
 themselves and their God.) Myself and boat com- 
 panions, having been there a little while, we were 
 all called up to hear ; I among the rest went up 
 and took my seat — being seated, I fixed myself in a 
 complete position to hear the word of my Saviour 
 and to receive such as I thought was authenticated 
 by the Holy Scriptures ; but to my no ordinary as- 
 tonishment, our Reverend gentleman got up and 
 told us (coloured people) that slaves must be obe- 
 dient to their masters — must do their duty to their 
 masters or be whipped — the whip was made for the 
 backs of fools. &c. Here I pause for a moment, to 
 give the world time to consider what was my sur- 
 prise, to hear such preaching from a minister of my 
 Master, whose very gospel is that of peace and not 
 of blood and whips, as this pretended preacher tried 
 to make us believe. What the American preachers 
 can think of us, I aver this day before my God, I 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 45 
 
 have never been able to define. They have news- 
 papers and monthly periodicals, which they receive 
 in continual succession, but on the pages of which, 
 you will scarcely ever find a paragraph respecting 
 slavery, which is ten thousand times more injurious 
 to this country than all the other evils put together ; 
 and which will be the final overthrow of its govern- 
 ment, unless something is very speedily done ; for 
 their cup is nearly full. — Perhaps they will laugh at 
 or make light of this ; but I tell you Americans ! 
 that unless you speedily alter your course, you and 
 your Country are gone ! ! ! ! ! ! For God Almighty 
 will tear up the very face of the earth ! ! ! Will not 
 that very remarkable passage of Scripture be fulfill- 
 ed on Christian Americans ? Hear it Americans ! ! 
 " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still : — and he 
 " which is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that 
 " is righteous, let him be righteous still : and he 
 " that is holy, let him be holy still."* I hope that 
 the Americans may hear, but I am afraid that they 
 have done us so much injury, and are so firm in the 
 belief that our Creator made us to be an inheritance 
 to them for ever, that their hearts will be hardened, 
 so that their destruction may be sure. This lan- 
 guage, perhaps is too harsh for the American's del- 
 icate ears. But Oh Americans ! Americans ! ! I 
 warn you in the name of the Lord, (whether you 
 will hear, or forbear,) to repent and reform, or you 
 are ruined ! ! ! Do you think that our blood is hid- 
 den from the Lord, because you can hide it from the 
 rest of the world, by sending out missionaries, and 
 by your charitable deeds to the Greeks, Irish, &c. T 
 Will he not publish your secret crimes on the house 
 top ? Even here in Boston, pride and prejudice have 
 got to such a pitch, that in the very nouses erected 
 to the Lord, they have built little places for the re- 
 ception of coloured people, where they must sit dur- 
 ing meeting, or keep away from the house of God , 
 
 *See Revelation, chap. xxii. 11. 
 
48 AST APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 and the preachers say nothing about it — much less 
 go into the hedges and highways seeking the lost 
 sheep of the house of Israel, and try to bring them 
 in to their Lord and Master. There are not a 
 more wretched, ignorant, miserable, and abject set 
 ■of beings in all the world, than the blacks in the 
 Southern and Western sections of this country, un- 
 der tyrants and devils. The preachers of America 
 cannot see them, but they can send out missionaries 
 to convert the heathens, notwithstanding. Ameri- 
 cans ! unless you speedily alter your course of pro- 
 ceeding, if God Almighty does not stop you, I say 
 it in his name, that you may go on and do as you 
 please for ever, both in time and eternity — never 
 lear any evil at all ! !!!!!!' 
 
 8^ Addition. — The preachers and people of the 
 United States form societies against Free Masonry 
 and Intemperance, and write against Sabbath break- 
 ing, Sabbath mails, Infidelity, <&c. &c. But the 
 fountain head,* compared with which, all those 
 other evils are comparatively nothing, and from the 
 bloody and murderous head of which, they receive 
 no trifling support, is hardly noticed by the Amer- 
 icans. This is a fair illustration of the state of so- 
 ciety in this country — it shows what a bearing ava- 
 rice has upon a people, when they are nearly given 
 up by the Lord to a hard heart and a reprobate 
 mind, in consequence of afflicting their fellow crea- 
 tures. God suffers some to go on until they are ru- 
 ined for ever ! ! ! ! ! Will it be the case with 
 the whites of the United States of America? — 
 We hope not — we would not wish to see them 
 destroyed notwithstanding, they have and do now 
 treat us more cruel than any people have treated 
 -another, on this earth since it came from *he hands 
 of its Creator (with the exceptions of the French 
 and the Dutch, they treat us nearly as bad as the 
 Americans of the United States.) The will of God 
 must however, in spite of us, be done. 
 
 Slavery and oppression. 
 
• -5T APPEAL, ETC. 41 
 
 The English are the best friends the coloured 
 people have upon earth. Though they have op- 
 pressed us a little and have colonies now in the 
 West Indies, which oppress us sorely. — Yet not- 
 withstanding they (the English) have done one 
 hundred times more for the melioration of our con- 
 dition, than all the other nations of the earth put 
 together. The blacks cannot but respect the Eng- 
 lish as a nation, notwithstanding they have treated 
 us a little cruel. 
 
 There is no intelligent black man who knows any 
 thing, but esteems a real Englishman, let him see 
 him in what part of the world he will — for they are 
 the greatest benefactors we have upon earth. We 
 have here and there, in other nations, good friends. 
 But as a nation, the English are our friends.^ 
 
 How can the preachers and people of America 
 believe the Bible 1 Does it teach them any distinc- 
 tion on account of a man's colour *? Hearken, Amer- 
 icans ! to the injunctions of our Lord and Master, to 
 his humble followers. 
 
 * " And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, 
 "all power is given unto me in Heaven and in 
 " earth. 
 
 " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptiz- 
 " ing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
 " Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
 " I have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you 
 " alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." 
 
 I declare, that the very face of these injunctions 
 appear to be of God and not of man. They do not 
 show the slightest degree of distinction. " Go ye 
 " therefore," (says my divine Master) " and teach 
 " all nations," (or in other words, all people) " bap- 
 tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
 " Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Do you under- 
 stand the above, Americans? We are a people, not- 
 
 *.See St. Matthew's Gospel, chap, xxviii. 18, 19, 20. After Jesus 
 was risen from the dead. 
 
48 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 withstanding many of you doubt it. You have the 
 Bible in your hands, with this very injunction. — 
 Have you been to Africa, teaching the inhabitants 
 thereof the words of the Lord Jesus ? " Baptizing 
 " them in the name of the Father, and of the_ Son, 
 " and of the Holy Ghost." Have you not, on the 
 contrary, entered among us, and learnt us the art of 
 throat-cutting, by setting us to fight, one against 
 another, to take each other as prisoners of war, and 
 sell to you for small bits of calicoes, old swords, 
 knives, &c. to make slaves for you and your chil- 
 dren 1 This being done, have you not brought us 
 among you, in chains and hand-cuffs, like brutes, 
 and treated us with all the cruelties and rigour your 
 ingenuity could invent, consistent with the laws of 
 your country, which (for the blacks) are tyrannical 
 enough ? Can the American preachers appeal unto 
 God, the Maker and Searcher of hearts, and tell 
 him, with the Bible in their hands, that they make 
 no distinction on account of men's colour ? Can they 
 say, O God ! thou knowest all things — thou know- 
 est that we make no distinction between thy crea- 
 tures, to whom we have to preach thy Word ? Let 
 them answer the Lord ; and if they cannot do it in 
 the affirmative, have they not departed from the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, their master? But some may 
 say, that they never had, or were in possession of a 
 religion, which made no distinction, and of course 
 they could not have departed from it. I ask you 
 then, in the name of the Lord, of what kind can 
 your religion be ? Can it be that which was preach- 
 ed by our Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven? I be- 
 lieve you cannot be so wicked as to tell him that 
 his Gospel was that of distinction. What can the 
 American preachers and people take God to be ? 
 Do they believe his words ? If they do, do they be- 
 lieve that he will be mocked ? Or do they believe, 
 because they are whites and we blacks, that God 
 will have respect to them ? Did not God make us 
 all as it seemed best to himself ? What right, then, 
 
A1C APPEAL, ETC, 49 
 
 has one of us, to despise another, and to treat him 
 cruel, on account of his colour, which none, but the 
 God who made it can alter 1 Can there be a great- 
 er absurdity in nature, and particularly in a free re- 
 publican country ? But the Americans, having in- 
 troduced slavery among them, their hearts have be- 
 come almost seared, as with an hot iron, and God 
 has nearly given them up to believe a lie in prefer- 
 ence to the truth ! ! ! And I am awfully afraid that 
 pride, prejudice, avarice and blood, will, before long 
 prove the final ruin of this happy republic, or land 
 of liberty ! I ! 1 Can any thing be a greater mockery 
 of religion than the way in which it is conducted 
 by the Americans ] It appears as though they are 
 bent only on daring God Almighty to do his best — 
 they chain and handcuff us and our children and 
 drive us around the country like brutes, and go into 
 the house of the God of justice to return him thanks 
 for having aided them in their infernal cruelties in- 
 flicted upon us. Will the Lord suffer this people 
 to go on much longer, taking his holy name in vain *? 
 Will he not stop them, preachers and alH O 
 Americans ! Americans ! ! I call God — I call an- 
 gels — I call men, to witness, that your destruction 
 is at hand, and will be speedily consummated un^ 
 less you RFPENT, 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 OUR WRETCHEDNESS IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE 
 COLONIZING PLAN. 
 
 My dearly beloved brethren : — This is a scheme 
 on which so many able writers, together with that 
 very judicious coloured Baltimprean, have comment- 
 ed, that I feel my delicacy" about touching it. But 
 as I am compelled to do the will of my Master, I 
 declare, I will give you my sentiments upon it. — 
 Previous, however, to giving my sentiments, either 
 7 
 
50 AN APPEAL, £CT, 
 
 for or against it, I shall give that of Mr. Henry Clay, 
 together with that of Mr. Elias B. Caldwell, Esq. 
 of the District of Columbia, as extracted from the 
 National Intelligencer, by Dr. Torrey, author of a 
 series of " Essays on Morals, and the Diffusion of 
 Useful Knowledge." 
 
 At a meeting which was convened in the District 
 of Columbia, for the express purpose of agitating 
 the subject of colonizing us in some part of the 
 world, Mr. Clay was called to the chair, and having 
 been seated a little while, he rose and spake, in 
 substance, as follows : says he — *" That class of the 
 ** mixt population of our country [coloured people] 
 " was peculiarly situated ; they neither enjoyed the 
 " immunities of freemen, nor were they subjected 
 "to the incapacities of slaves, but partook, in some 
 " degree, of the qualities of both. From their con- 
 "dition, and the unconquerable prejudices result- 
 " ing from their colour, they never could amalga- 
 " mate with the free whites of this country. It was 
 " desirable, therefore, as it respected them, and the 
 " residue of the population of the country, to drain 
 " them off. Various schemes of colonization had 
 " been thought of, and a part of our continent,, it 
 " was supposed by some, might furnish a suitable 
 " establishment for them. But, for his part, Mr. C. 
 *■ said, he had a decided preference for some part of 
 " the Coast of Africa. There ample provision 
 " might be made for the colony itself, and it might 
 " be rendered instrumental to the introduction into 
 " that extensive quarter of the globe, of the arts, 
 "civilization, and Christianity." [Here I ask Mr. 
 Clay, what kind of Christianity ? Did he mean 
 such as they have among the Americans — distinc- 
 tion, whip, blood and oppression ? I pray the Lord 
 Jesus Christ to forbid it.] " There," said he, f was 
 " a peculiar, a moral fitness, in restoring them to the 
 " land of their fathers, and if instead of the evils and 
 
 * See Dr. Torrey's Portraiture of Domestic Slavery in the Unit- 
 ed States, page R5, 86. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC- ;5£ 
 
 *' sufferings which we had been the innocent cause 
 "" of inflicting upon the inhabitants of Africa, we 
 ** can transmit to her the blessings of our arts, our 
 " civilization, and our religion. May we not hojpe 
 " that America will extinguish a great portion of 
 " that moral debt which she has contracted to that 
 "unfortunate continent? Can there be a nobler 
 " cause than that which, whilst it proposes, &c. * * 
 ##**-* [you know what this means.] "contem- 
 "" plates the spreading of the arts of civilized life,, 
 "and the possible redemption from ignorance and 
 " barbarism of a benighted quarter of the globe 1" 
 
 Before I proceed any further, I solicit your no- 
 tice, brethren, to the foregoing part of Mr. Clay's 
 speech, in which he says, (#f4ook above) "and if, 
 "instead of the evils .and sufferings, which we had 
 " been the innocent cause of inflicting," &c— 
 What this very learned statesman could have been 
 thinking about, when he said in his speech, " we had 
 " been the innocent cause of inflicting," &c, I have 
 never been able to conceive. Are Mr. Clay and 
 the rest of the Americans, innocent of the blood 
 and groans of our fathers and us, -their children % — 
 Every individual may plead innocence, if he pleases, 
 but God will, before long, separate the innocent 
 from the guilty, unless someting is speedily done— < 
 which I suppose will hardly be, so that their de- 
 struction may be sure. Oh Americans ! let me tell 
 you, in the name of the Lord, it will be good for 
 you, if you listen to the voice of the Holy Ghost, 
 but if you do not, you are ruined ! ! ! Some of you 
 are good men ; but the will of my God must be 
 done. Those avaricious and ungodly tyrants among 
 you, I am awfully afraid will drag down the ven- 
 geance of God upon you. When God Almighty 
 commences his battle on the continent of America, 
 for the oppression of his people, tyrants will wish 
 they'never were born. 
 
 But to return to Mr. Clay, whence I digressed. 
 He says, " It was proper and necessary distinctly 
 
62 Atf APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 <e to state, that he understood it constituted no part 
 " of the object of this meeting, to touch or agitate 
 "in the slightest degree, a delicate question, con- 
 " nected with another portion of the coloured popu- 
 " lation of our country. It was not proposed to de- 
 " liberate upon or consider at all, any question of 
 "emancipation, or that which was connected with 
 " the abolition of slavery. It was upon that condi- 
 " tion alone, he was sure, that many gentlemen from 
 " the South and the West, whom he saw present, 
 " had attended, or could be expected to co-operate. 
 " It was upon that condition only, that he himself 
 " had attended." — That is to say, to fix a plan to get 
 those of the coloured people, who are said to be 
 free, away from among those of our brethren whom 
 they unjustly hold in bondage, so that they may be 
 enabled to keep them the more secure in ignorance 
 and wretchedness, to support them and their chil- 
 dren, and consequently they would have the more 
 obedient slaves. For if the free are allowed to stay 
 among the slaves, they will have intercourse to- 
 gether, and, of course, the free will learn the slaves 
 bad habits, by teaching them that they are .MEN, 
 as well as other people, and certainly ought and 
 must be FREE. 
 
 I presume, that every intelligent man of colour 
 must have some idea of Mr. Henry Clay, original- 
 ly of Virginia, but now of Kentucky ; they know 
 too, perhaps, whether he is a friend, or a foe to the 
 coloured citizens of this country, and of the world. 
 This gentleman, according to his own words, had 
 been highly favoured and blessed of the Lord, 
 though he did not acknowledge it ; but, to the con- 
 trary, he acknowledged men, for all the blessings 
 with which God had favoured him. At a public 
 dinner, given him at Fowler's Garden, Lexington, 
 Kentucky, he delivered a public speech to a very 
 large concourse of people — in the concluding clause 
 of which, he says, "And now, my friends and fel- 
 "low citizens, I cannot part from you, on possi- 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 53 
 
 " bly the last occasion of my ever publicly addres- 
 " sing you, without reiterating the expression of 
 " my thanks, from a heart overflowing with grati- 
 " tude. I came among you, now more than thirty 
 " years ago, an orphan boy, pennyless, a stranger to 
 " you all, without friends, without the favour of the 
 " great, you took me up, cherished me, protected 
 " me, honoured me, you have constantly poured 
 " upon me a bold and unabated stream of innumer- 
 " able favours, time which wears out every thing 
 " has increased and strengthened your affection for 
 " me. I When I seemed deserted by almost the 
 " whole world, and assailed by almost every tongue, 
 "and pen, and press, you have fearlessly and man- 
 " fully stood by me, with unsurpassed zeal and un- 
 " diminished friendship. When I felt as if I should 
 " sink beneath the storm of abuse and detraction, 
 "which was violently raging around me, I have 
 " found myself upheld and sustained by your en- 
 " couraging voices and approving smiles. I have 
 " doubtless, committed many faults and indiscre- 
 " tions, over which you have thrown the broad man- 
 " tie of your charity. But I can say, and in the 
 " presence of God and in this assembled multitude, I 
 " will say, that I have honestly and faithfully serv- 
 " ed my couutry — that I have never wronged it — 
 "and that, however unprepared, I lament that I am 
 " to appear in the Divine presence on other ac- 
 counts, I invoke the stern justice of his judgment 
 " on my public conduct, without the slightest ap- 
 " prehension of his displeasure." 
 
 Hearken to this Statesman indeed, but no philan- 
 thropist, whom God sent into Kentucky, an orphan 
 boy, pennyless, and friendless, where he not only 
 gave him a plenty of friends and the comforts of life, 
 but raised him almost to the very highest honour in 
 the nation, where his great talents, with which the 
 Lord has been pleased to bless him, has gained for 
 him the affection of a great portion of the people 
 with whom he had to do. But what has this gen- 
 
51 AN APPEAX, £TC 
 
 tleman done for the Lord, after having done so much 
 for him ? The Lord has a suffering people, whose 
 moans and groans at his feet for deliverance from 
 oppression and wretchedness, pierce the very throne 
 of Heaven, and call loudly on the God of Justice, 
 to be revenged. Now, what this gentleman, who 
 is so highly favoured of the Lord, has done to lib- 
 erate those miserable victims of oppression, shall 
 appear before the world, by his letters to Mr. Gal- 
 latin, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary to Great Britain, dated June 19, 1826. — 
 Though Mr. Clay was writing for the States, yet 
 nevertheless, it appears, from the very face of his 
 letters to that gentleman, that he was as anxious, if 
 not more so, to get those free people and sink them 
 into wretchedness, as his constituents, for whom he 
 wrote. 
 
 The Americans of North and of South America, 
 including the West India Islands — no trifling por- 
 tion of whom were, for stealing, murdering, &c. 
 compelled to flee from Europe, to save their necks 
 or banishment, have effected their escape to this 
 continent, where God blessed them with all the 
 comforts of life — He gave them a plenty of every 
 thing calculated to do them good — not satisfied with 
 this, however, they wanted slaves, and wanted us 
 for their slaves, who belong to the Holy Ghost, and 
 no other, who we shall have to serve instead of ty- 
 rants. — I say, the Americans want us, the property 
 of the Holy Ghost, to serve them. . But there is a 
 *day fast approaching, when (unless there is a uni- 
 versal repentance on the part of the whites, which 
 will scarcely .take place, they have got to be so har- 
 dened in consequence of our blood, and so wise in 
 their own conceit.) To be plain and candid with 
 *you, Americans ! I say that the day is fast approach- 
 ing, when there will be a greater time on the conti- 
 nent of America, than ever was witnessed upon this 
 earth,since it came from the hand of its Creator^ Some 
 of you have done us so much injury, that you will nev- 
 
AK APPEAL, ETC. 5& 
 
 er be able to repent. — Your cup must be filled. — You 
 want us for your slaves, and shall have enough of us 
 — God is just, who will give you your Jill of us. But 
 Mr. Henry Clay, speaking to Mr. Gallatin, respect- 
 ing coloured people, who had effected their escape 
 from the U. States (or to them hell upon earth ! ! !) 
 to the hospitable shores of Canada,* from whence it 
 would cause more than the lives of the Americans to 
 get them, to plunge into wretchedness — he says : 
 " The General Assembly of Kentucky, one of the 
 " states which is most affected by the escape of slaves 
 "into Upper Canada, has again, at their session 
 " which has just terminated, invoked the interposi- 
 " tion of the General Government. In the treaty 
 " which has been recently concluded with the Uni- 
 " ted Mexican States, and which is now under the 
 " consideration of the Senate, provision is made for 
 " the restoration of fugitive slaves. As it appears 
 " from your statements of what passed on that sub- 
 " ject, with the British Plenipotentiaries, that they 
 " admitted the correctness of the principle of resto- 
 " ration, it is hoped that you will be able to suc- 
 " ceed in making satisfactory arrangements." 
 
 There are a series of these letters, all of which are 
 to the same amount ; some however, presenting a 
 face more of his own responsibility. I wonder what 
 would this gentleman think, if the Lord should give 
 him among the rest of his blessings enough of slaves? 
 Could he blame any other being but himself? Do* 
 we not belong to the Holy Ghost ? What business 
 has he or any body else, to be sending letters about 
 the world respecting us ? Can we not go where we- 
 want to, as well as other people, only if we obey the- 
 voice of the Holy Ghost? This gentleman, (Mr. Hen- 
 ry Clay) not only took an active part in this coloniz- 
 ing plan, but was absolutely chairman of a meeting 
 held at Washington, the 21stday of December 1816,f 
 
 * Among the English, our real friends and benefactors, 
 t In the first edition of this work, it should read 181 6, as above, 
 and not 1826, as it there appears. 
 
56 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 to agitate the subject of colonizing us in Africa. — 
 Now I appeal and ask every citizen of these United 
 States and of the world, both white and black, who 
 has any knowledge of Mr. Clay's public labor for 
 these States — I want you candidly to answer the 
 Lord, who sees the secrets of our hearts. — Do you 
 believe that Mr. Henry Clay, late Secretary of State, 
 and now in Kentucky, is a friend to the blacks, fur- 
 ther, than his personal interest extends 7 Is it not 
 his greatest object and glory upon earth, to sink us 
 into miseries and wretchedness by making slaves of 
 us, to work his plantation to enrich him and his fami- 
 ly? Does he care a pinch of snuff about Africa — 
 whether it remains a land of Pagans and of blood, or 
 of Christians, so long as he gets enough of her sons 
 and daughters to dig up gold and silver for him 1 If 
 he had no slaves, and could obtain them in no other 
 way if it were not, repugnant to the laws of his coun- 
 try, which prohibit the importation of slaves (which 
 act was, indeed, more through apprehension than 
 humanity) would he not try to import a few from 
 Africa, to work his farm ? Would he work in the hot 
 sun to earn his bread, if he could make an Afri- 
 can work for nothing, particularly, if he could keep 
 him in ignorance and make him believe that God 
 made him for nothing else but to work for him 1 Is 
 not Mr. Clay a white man, and too delicate to work 
 in the hot sun ! ! Was he not made by his Creator to 
 sit in the shade, and make the blacks work without 
 remuneration for their services, to support him and 
 his family ! ! ! I have been for some time taking notice 
 of this man's speeches and public writings, but never 
 to my knowledge have I seen any thing in his writ- 
 ings which insisted on the emancipation of slavery, 
 which has almost ruined his^ country. Thus we see 
 the depravity of men's hearts, when in pursuit only of 
 gain — particularly when they oppress their fellow 
 creatures to obtain that gain — God suffers some to 
 
 o on until they are lost forever. This same Mr. 
 
 lay, wants to know, what he has done, to merit the 
 
 § c 
 
AJt APPEAL, BTC. £7 
 
 disapprobation of the American people. In a pub- 
 lic speech delivered by him, he asked : " Did I in- 
 " volve my country in an unnecessary war?" to mer- 
 it the censure of the Americans — " Did I bring 
 " obliquy upon the nation, or the people whom I 
 " represented ? — did I ever lose any opportunity to 
 " advance the fame, honor and prosperity of this 
 " State and the Union ?" How astonishing it is, 
 for a man who knows so much about God and his 
 ways, as Mr. Clay, to ask such frivolous questions'? 
 Does he believe that a man of his talents and stand- 
 ing in the midst of a people, will get along unnoticed 
 by the penetrating and all seeing eye of God, who is 
 continually taking cognizance of the hearts of men? 
 Is not God against him, for advocating the murder- 
 ous cause of slavery 7 If God is against him, what 
 can the Americans, together with the whole world 
 do for him ? Can they save him from the hand of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ? 
 
 I shall now pass in review the speech of Mr. Eli- 
 as B. Caldwell, Esq. of the District of Columbia, 
 extracted from the same page on which Mr. Clay's 
 will be found. Mr. Caldwell, giving his opinion 
 respecting us, at that ever memorable meeting, he 
 says : " The more you improve the condition of 
 " these people, the more you cultivate their minds, 
 " the more miserable you make them in their pre- 
 " sent state. You give them a higher relish for 
 " those privileges which they can never attain, and 
 " turn what we intend for a blessing into a curse." 
 Let me ask this benevolent man, what he means by 
 a blessing intended for us ? Did he mean sinking 
 us and our children into ignorance and wretched- 
 ness, to support him and his family? What he 
 meant will appear evident and obvious to the most 
 ignorant in the world fl£» See Mr. Caldwell's in- 
 tended blessings for us, O ! my Lord ! ! " No," 
 said he, " if they must remain in their present situa-. 
 " tion, keep them in the lowest state of degradation 
 " and ignorance. The nearer you bring them to 
 
58 AX APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 " the condition of brutes, the better chance do you 
 " give them of possessing their apathy" Here I 
 pause to get breath, having labored to extract the 
 above clause of this gentleman's speech, at that col- 
 onizing meeting. I presume that every body knows 
 the meaning of the word " apathy" — if any do not, 
 let him get Sheridan's Dictionary, in which he will 
 find it explained in full. I solicit the attention of 
 the world, to the foregoing part of Mr. Caldwell's 
 speech, that they may see what man will do with 
 his fellow men, when he has them under his feet. 
 To what length will not man go in iniquity when 
 given up to a hard heart, and reprobate mind, in 
 consequence of blood and oppression 1 The last 
 clause of this speech, which was written in a very 
 artful manner, and which will be taken-for the speech 
 of a friend, without close examination and deep 
 penetration, I shall now present. He says, " surely, 
 " Americans ought to be the last people on earth, 
 " to advocate such slavish doctrines, to cry peace 
 " and contentment to those who are deprived of the 
 " privileges of civil liberty, they who have so large- 
 " ly partaken of its blessings, who know so well 
 " how to estimate its value, ought to be among the 
 " foremost to extend it to others." The real sense 
 and meaning of the last part of Mr. Caldwell's speech 
 is, get the free people of colour away to Africa, 
 from among the slaves, where they may at once be 
 blessed and happy, and those who we hold in sla- 
 very, will be contented to rest in ignorance and 
 wretchedness, to dig up gold and silver for us and 
 our children. Men have indeed got to be so cun- 
 ning, these days, that it would take the eye of a 
 Solomon to penetrate and find them out. 
 
 fcf* Addition. — Our dear Redeemer said, "There- 
 " fore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness, shall 
 "be heard in the light; and that which ye have 
 " spoken in the ear in closets, shall be proclaimed 
 " upon the house tops." 
 
 How obviously this declaration of our Lord 
 
Alf APPJEAL, ETC. 59 
 
 has been shown among the Americans of the Uni- 
 ted States. They have hitherto passed among 
 some nations, who do not know any thing about 
 their internal concerns, for the most enlighten- 
 ed, humane, charitable, and merciful people upon 
 earth, when at the same time they treat us, the 
 (coloured people) secretly more cruel and unmer- 
 ciful than any other nation upon earth. — It is a fadt, 
 that in our Southern and Western States, there are 
 millions who hold us in chains or in slavery, whose 
 greatest object and glory, is centered in keeping us 
 sunk in the most profound ignorance and stupidity, 
 to make us work without remunerations for our ser- 
 vices. Many of whom if they catch a coloured per- 
 son, whom they hold in unjust ignorance, slavery 
 and degradation, to them and their children, with a 
 book in his hand, will beat him nearly to death. I 
 heard a wretch in the state of North Carolina said, 
 that if any man would teach a black person whom 
 he held in slavery, to spell, read or write, he would 
 prosecute him to the very extent of the law.-^e- 
 Said the ignorant wretch,* " a Nigar, ought not to 
 have any more sense than enough to wprk for his 
 master." May I not ask to fatten the wretch and 
 his family 1 — These and similar cruelties these 
 Christians have been for hundreds of years inflict- 
 ing on our fathers and us in the dark, God has how- 
 ever, very recently published some of their secret 
 crimes on the house top, .that the world may ga^e 
 on their Christianity and see of what kind it is com- 
 posed. — Georgia for instance, God has completely 
 shown to the world, the Christianity among its white 
 inhabitants. A law has recently passed the Legis- 
 lature of this republican State (Georgia) prohibit- 
 ing all free or slave persons of colour, from learn- 
 ing to read or write ; another law has passed the r«- 
 
 * It is a fact, that in all our Slave-holding States (in the countries) 
 there are thousands of the whites, who are almost as ignorant in 
 comparison as horses, the most they know, is to beat the coloured 
 people, which some of them shall have their hearts full of yet. 
 
60 an appeal, etc. 
 
 publican House of Delegates, (but not the Senate) 
 in Virginia, to prohibit all persons of colour, (free 
 and slave) from learning to read or write, and even 
 to hinder them from meeting together in order to 
 worship our Maker ! ! ! ! ! ! — Now I solemly appeal, 
 to the most skilful historians in the world, and all 
 those who are mostly acquainted with the histories 
 of the Antideluvians and of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 to show me a parallel of barbarity. Christians ! ! 
 Christians!!! I dare you to show me a parallel 
 of cruelties in the annals of Heathens or of Devils, 
 with those of Ohio, Virginia and of Georgia — know 
 the world that these things were before done in the 
 dark, or in a corner under a garb of humanity and 
 religion. God has however, taken of the fig-leaf 
 covering, and made them expose themselves on the 
 house top. I tell you that God works in many 
 ways his wonders to perform, he will unless they 
 repent, make them expose themselves enough more 
 yet to the world. — See the acts of the Christians in 
 FLORIDA, SOUTH CAROLINA, and KEN- 
 TUCKY — was it not for the reputation of the 
 house of my Lord and Master, I. would mention 
 here, an act of cruelty inflicted a few days since on 
 a black man, by the white Christians in the PARK 
 STREET CHURCH, in this (CITY) which is 
 almost enough to make Demons themselves quake 
 and tremble in their FIREY HABITATIONS.— 
 Oh ! my Lord how refined in iniquity the whites 
 have got to be in consequence of our blood* — what 
 kind ! ! Oh ! what kind ! ! ! of Christianity can be 
 found this day in all the earth !!!!!! 
 
 I write without the fear of man, I am writing for 
 my God, and fear none but himself; they may put 
 me to death if they choose — (I fear and esteem a 
 
 * The Blood of our fathers who have been murdered by the 
 whites, and the groans of our Brethren, who are now held in cruel 
 ignorance, wretchedness and slavery by them, cry aloud to the Ma- 
 ker of Heaven and of earth, against the whole continent of Ameri- 
 ca., for redresses. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 61 
 
 good man however, let him be black or white.) I 
 forbear to comment on the cruelties inflicted on this 
 Black Man by the Whites, in the Park Street 
 Meeting House, I will leave it in the dark ! ! ! ! ! 
 But I declare that the atrocity is really to Heaven 
 daring and infernal, that I must say that God has 
 commenced a course of exposition among the Amer- 
 icans, and the glorious and heavenly work will con- 
 tinue to progress until they learn to do justice.^) 
 
 Extract from the Speech of Mr. John Randolph, 
 of Roanoke. 
 
 Said he : — " It had been properly observed by the 
 " Chairman, as well as by the gentleman from this 
 " District (meaning Messrs. Clay and Caldwell) that 
 " there was nothing in the proposition submitted to 
 " consideration which in the smallest degree touches 
 "another very important and delicate question, 
 " which ought to be left as much out of view as possi- 
 ble, (Negro Slavery.)* 
 
 " There is no fear, Mr. R. said that this proposi- 
 " tion would alarm the slave-holders ; they had been 
 ^'accustomed to think seriously of the subject. — 
 " There was a popular work on agriculture, by John 
 " Taylor of Carolina, which was widely circulated, 
 " and much confided in, in Virginia. In that book, 
 " much read because coming from a practical man , 
 " this description of people, [referring to us half 
 " free ones] were pointed out as a great evil. They 
 " had indeed been held up as the greater bug-bear 
 " to every man who feels an inclination to eman- 
 cipate his slaves, not to create in the bosom 
 " of his country so great a nuisance. If a place 
 "could be provided for their reception, and a 
 
 * " Niger," is a word derived from the Latin, which was used by 
 the old Romans, to designate inanimate beings, which were black : 
 such as soot, pot, wood, house, &c. Also l animals which they 
 considered inferior to the human species, as a black horse, cow, 
 hog, bird, dog, &c. The white Americans have applied this term 
 to Africans, by way of reproach for our colour, to aggravate and 
 heighten our miseries, because they have their feet on our throats. 
 
62 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 *' mode of sending them hence, there were hun- 
 " dreds, nay thousands of citizens who would, by 
 " manumitting their slaves, relieve themselves from 
 " the cares attendant on their possession. The 
 " great slave-holder, Mr. R. said, was frequently a 
 " mere sentry at his own door — bound to stay on 
 ** his plantation to see that his slaves were properly 
 ■" treated, &c. Mr. R. concluded by saying, that 
 *" he had thought it necessary to make these remarks 
 "being a slave-holder himself, to shew that, so far 
 ** from being connected with abolition of slavery, 
 '" the measure proposed would prove one of the great- 
 "$, est securities to enable the master to keep in pos- 
 *" session his own property." 
 
 Here is a demonstrative proof, of a plan got up, 
 hy a gang of slave-holders to select the free people 
 of colour from among the slaves, that our more mis- 
 erable brethren may be the better secured in igno- 
 rance and wretchedness, to work their farms and 
 dig their mines, and thus go on enriching the 
 Christians with their blood and groans. What our 
 brethren could have been thinking ubout, who have 
 left their native land and home and gone away to 
 Africa, I am unable to say. This country is as much 
 ours as it is the whites, whether they will admit it 
 aiow or not, they will see and believe it by and by. 
 They tell us about prejudice — what have we to do 
 -with it .1 Their prejudices will be obliged to fall 
 like lightning to the ground, in succeeding genera- 
 tions ; not, however, with the will and consent of 
 all the whites, for some will be obliged to hold on 
 to the old adage, viz : the blacks are not men, but 
 were made to be an inheritance to us and our chil- 
 dren for ever !!!!!! I hope the residue of the col- 
 oured people, will stand still and see the salvation 
 of God and the miracle which he will work for 
 our delivery from wretchedness under the Chris- 
 tians !!!!!! 
 
 S#» Addition.— If any of us see fit to go away, 
 go to those who.have been for many years, and are 
 
AW APPEAL, ETC. 63 
 
 now our greatest earthly friends and benefactors- — 
 the English. If not so, go to our brethren, the Hay- 
 tians, who, according to their word, are bound to pro- 
 tect and comfort us. The Americans say, that we 
 are ungrateful — but I ask them for heaven's sake, 
 what should we be grateful to them for — for mur- 
 dering our fathers and mothers'? — Or do they wish 
 us to return thanks to them for chaining and hand- 
 cuffing us, branding us, cramming fire down our 
 throats, or for keeping us in slavery, and beating us 
 nearly or quite to death to make us work in igno- 
 rance and miseries, to support them and their fami- 
 lies. They certainly think that we are a gang of 
 fools. Those among them, who have volunteered 
 their services for our redemption, though we are 
 unable to compensate them for their labours, we 
 nevertheless thank them from the bottom of our 
 hearts, and have our eyes steadfastly fixed upon 
 them, and their labours of love for God and man. — 
 But do slave-holders think that we thank them for 
 keeping us in miseries, and taking our lives by the 
 inches'?^ 
 
 Before I proceed further with this scheme, I shall 
 give an extract from the letter of that truly Reve- 
 rend Divine, (Bishop Allen,) of Philadelphia, re- 
 specting this trick. At the instance of the editor 
 of the Freedom's Journal, he says, * " Dear Sir, I 
 have been for several years trying to reconcile my 
 mind to the Colonizing of Africans in Liberia, but 
 there have always been, and there still remain great 
 and insurmountable objections against the scheme. 
 We are an unlettered people, brought up in igno- 
 rance, not one in a hundred can read or write, not 
 one in a thousand has a liberal education; is there 
 any fitness for such to be sent into a far country, 
 among heathens, to convert or civilize them, when 
 they themselves are neither civilized or Christian- 
 ized ? See the great bulk of the poor, ignorant Af- 
 ricans in this country, exposed to every temptation 
 
 * See Freedom's Journal for Nov. 2d. 1827— vol. 1, No. 34. 
 
64 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 before them : all for the want of their morals being 
 refined by education and proper attendance paid 
 unto them by their owners, or those who had the 
 charge of them. It is said by the Southern slave- 
 holders, that the more ignorant they can bring up 
 the Africans, the better slaves they make, (' go and 
 come.') Is there any fitness for such people to be col- 
 onized in a far country to be their own rulers 1 Can 
 we not discern the project of sending the free peo- 
 ple of colour away from their country ? Is it not for 
 the interest of the slave-holders to select the free 
 people of colour out of the different states, and send 
 them to Liberia ? Will it not make their slaves un- 
 easy to see free men of colour enjoying liberty ? It 
 is against the law in some of the Southern States, 
 that a person of colour should receive an education, 
 under a severe penalty. Colonizationists speak of 
 America being first colonized ; but is there any 
 comparison between the two 1 America was colon- 
 ized by as wise, judicious and educated men as the 
 world afforded. William Penn did not want for 
 learning, ivisdom, or intelligence. If all the people 
 in Europe and America were as ignorant and in the 
 same situation as our brethren, what would become 
 of the world 1 Where would be the principle or 
 piety that would govern the people 1 We were 
 stolen from our mother country, and brought here. 
 We have tilled the ground and made fortunes for 
 thousands, and still they are not weary of our ser- 
 vices. But they who stay to till the ground must be 
 slaves. Is there not land enough in America, or 
 * corn enough in Egypt V Why should they send 
 us into a far country to die ? See the thousands of 
 foreigners emigrating to America every year : and 
 if there be ground sufficient for them to cultivate, 
 and bread for them to eat, why would they wish to 
 send the first tillers of the land away *? Africans 
 have made fortunes for thousands, who are yet un- 
 willing to part with their services ; but the free 
 must be sent away, and those who remain, must be 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 65 
 
 slaves. I have no doubt that there are many good 
 men who do not see as I do, and who are for send- 
 ing us to Liberia ; but they have not duly consid- 
 ered the subject — they are not men of colouri — 
 This land which we have watered with our tears 
 and our blood, is now our mother country, and we 
 are well satisfied to stay where wisdom abounds and 
 the gospel is free." 
 
 "RICHARD ALLEN, 
 " Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal 
 " Church in the United States." 
 
 I have given you, my brethren, an extract verba- 
 tim, from the letter of that godly man, as you may 
 find it on the aforementioned page of Freedom's 
 Journal. I know that thousands, and perhaps millions 
 of my brethren in these States, have never heard 
 of such a man as Bishop Allen — a man whom God 
 many years ago raised up among his ignorant and 
 degraded brethren, to preach Jesus Christ and him 
 crucified to them — who notwithstanding, had to 
 wrestle against principalities and the powers of dark- 
 ness to diffuse that gospel with which he was en- 
 dowed among his brethren — but who having over- 
 come the combined powers of devils and wicked 
 men, has under God planted a Church among us 
 which will be as durable as the foundation of the 
 earth on which it stands. Richard Allen ! O my 
 God ! ! The bare recollection of the labours of this 
 man, and his ministers among his deplorably wretch- 
 ed brethren, (rendered so by the whites) to bring 
 them to a knowledge of the God of Heaven, fills my 
 soul with all those very high emotions which would 
 take the pen of an Addison to portray. It is im- 
 possible my brethren for me to say much in this 
 work respecting that man of God. When the Lord 
 shall raise up coloured historians in succeeding gen- 
 erations, to present the crimes of this nation, to the 
 then gazing world, the Holy Ghost will make them 
 do justice to the name of Bishop Allen, of Philadel- 
 
6(> AN APPEAL, EGT. 
 
 phia. Suffice it for me to say, that the name of this 
 very man (Richard Allen) though now in obscuri- 
 ty and degradation, will notwithstanding, stand on 
 the pages of history among the greatest divines who 
 have lived since the apostolic age, and among the 
 Africans, Bishop Allen's will be entirely pre-emi- 
 nent. My brethren, search after the character and 
 exploits of this godly man among his ignorant and 
 miserable brethren, to bring them to a knowledge 
 of the truth as it is in our Master. Consider upon 
 the tyrants and false Christians against whom he 
 had to contend in order to get access to his breth- 
 ren. See him and his ministers in the States of. 
 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware 
 and Maryland, carrying the gladsome tidings of free 
 and full salvation to the coloured people. Tyrants 
 and false Christians however, would not allow him to 
 penetrate far into the South, for fear that he would 
 awaken some of his ignorant brethren, whom they 
 held in wretchedness and misery — for fear, I say it, 
 that he would awaken and bring them to a knowl- 
 edge of their Maker. O my Master ! my Master I 
 I cannot but think upon Christian Americans ! ! ! — 
 What kind of people can they be 1 Will not those 
 who were burnt up in Sodom and Gomorrah rise 
 up in judgment against Christian Americans with 
 the Bible in their hands, and condemn them? Will 
 not the Scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem, who 
 had nothing but the laws of Moses and the Prophets 
 to go by, rise up in judgment against Christian 
 Americans, and condemn them,* who, in addition to 
 these have a revelation from Jesus Christ the Son 
 of the living God? In fine, will not the Antidelu- 
 vians, together with the whole heathen world of an- 
 tiquity, rise up in judgment against Christian Amer- 
 icans and condemn them ? The Christians of Eu- 
 rope and America go to Africa, bring us away, and 
 
 * I mean those whose labours for the good, or rather destruction 
 of Jerusalem, and the Jews. Ceased before our Lord entered the 
 .Temple, and overturned the tables of the Money Changers. 
 
AIT APPEAL, ETC. 67 
 
 throw us into the seas, and in other ways murder 
 us, as they would wild beast. The Antideluvians 
 and heathens never dreamed of such barbarities. — 
 Now the Christians believe, because they have a 
 name to live, while they are dead, that God will 
 ■overlook sueh things. But if he does not deceive 
 them, it will be because he has overlooked it sure 
 enough. But to return to this godly man, Bishop 
 Allen. I do hereby openly affirm it to the world, 
 that he has done more in a spiritual sense for his ig- 
 norant and wretched brethren than any other man 
 of colour has, since the world began. And as for 
 the greater part of the whites, it has hitherto been 
 their greatest object and glory to keep us ignorant 
 of our Maker, so as to make us believe that we were 
 made to be slaves to them and their children, to dig 
 up gold and silver for them. It is notorious that 
 not a few professing Christians among the whites, 
 who profess to love our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, have assailed this man and laid all the obsta^ 
 eles in his way they possibly could, consistent with 
 their profession — and what for 7 WhVj their course 
 of proceeding and his, clashed exactly together — 
 they trying their best to keep us ignorant, that we 
 might be the better and more obedient slaves — 
 while he, on the other hand, doing his very best to 
 enlighten us and teach us a knowledge of the Lord. 
 And I am sorry that I have it to «ay, that many of 
 our brethren have joined in with our oppressors, 
 whose dearest objects are only to keep us ignorant 
 and miserable against this man to stay his hand. — 
 However, they have kept us in so much ignorance, 
 that many of us know no better than to fight against 
 ourselves, and by that means strengthen the hands 
 of our natural enemies, to rivet their infernal chains 
 of slavery upon us and our children. I have sever- 
 al times called the white Americans our natural en? 
 emies — I shall here define my meaning of the phrase,. 
 Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with their father 
 Noah and wives, I believe were not natural ene> 
 
68 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 mies to each other. When the ark rested after the 
 flood upon, Mount Arrarat, in iksia, they (eight) 
 were all the people which could be found alive in 
 all the earth — in fact if Scriptures be true, (which 
 I believe are) there were no other living men in 
 all the earth, notwithstanding some ignorant crea- 
 tures hesitate not to tell us that we, (the blacks) are 
 the s.eed of Cain the murderer of his brother Abel. 
 But where or of whom those ignorant and avaricious 
 wretches could have got their information, I am un- 
 able to declare. Did they receive it from the Bi- 
 ble ? I have searched the Bible as well as they, if 
 I am not as well learned as they are, and have never 
 seen a verse which testifies whether we are the seed 
 of Cain or of Abel. Yet those men tell us that we 
 are the seed of Cain, and that God put a dark stain 
 upon us, that we might be known as their slaves ! ! ! 
 Now, I ask those avaricious and ignorant wretches, 
 who act more like the seed of Cain, by murdering 
 the whites or the blacks? How many vessel loads 
 of human beings, have the blacks thrown into the 
 seas? How many thousand souls have the blacks 
 murdered in cold blood, to make them work in 
 wretchedness and ignorance, to support them and 
 their families?*- — However, let us be the seed of 
 Cain, Harry, Dick, or Tom ! ! ! God will show the 
 whites what we are, yet. I- say, from the begin- 
 ning, I do not think that we were natural enemies 
 to each other. But the whites having made us so 
 wretched, by subjecting us to slavery, and having 
 murdered so many millions of us, in order to make 
 us work for them, and out of devilishness — and 
 they taking our wives, whom we love as we do 
 ourselves — our mothers, who bore the pains of 
 death to give us birth — our fathers and dear lit- 
 
 * How many millions souls of the human family have the blacks 
 beat nearly to death, to keep them from learning to read the Word 
 of God, and from writing. And telling lies about them, by holding 
 them up to the world as a tribe of TALKING APES, void of IN- 
 TELLECT ! ! ! ! ! incapable of LEARNING, &c. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 69 
 
 tie children, and ourselves, and strip and beat us 
 one before the other — chain, hand-cuff, and drag us 
 about like rattle-snakes — shoot us down like wild 
 bears, before each other's faces, to make us submis- 
 sive to, and work to support them and their families. 
 They (the whites) know well, if we are men — and 
 there is a secret monitor in their hearts which tells 
 them we are — they know, I say, if we are men, 
 and see them treating us in the manner they do, 
 that there can be nothing in our hearts but death 
 alone, for them , notwithstanding we may appear 
 cheerful, when we see them murdering our dear 
 mothers and wives, because we cannot help our- 
 selves. Man, in all ages and all nations of the 
 earth, is the same. Man is a peculiar creature — he 
 is the image of his God, though he may be subject- 
 ed to the most wretched condition upon earth, yet 
 the spirit and feeling which constitute the creature, 
 man, can never be entirely erased from his breast, 
 because the God who made him after his own image, 
 planted it in his heart ; he cannot get rid of it. The 
 whites knowing this, they do not know what to do ; 
 they know that they have done us so much injury, 
 they are afraid that we, being men, and not brutes, 
 will retaliate, and woe will be to them ; there- 
 fore, that dreadful fear, together with an avaricious 
 spirit, and the natural love in them,"to be called 
 masters, (which term will yet honour them with 
 to their sorrow) bring them to the resolve that they 
 will keep us in ignorance and wretchedness, as long 
 as they possibly can,* and make the best of their 
 
 * And still hold us up with indignity as being incapable of acquir- 
 ing knowledge ! ! ! See the inconsistency of the assertions of those 
 wretches — they beat us inhumanely, sometimes almost to death, for 
 attempting to inform ourselves, by reading the Word of our Maker, 
 and at the same time tell us, that we are beings void of intellect ! ! ! ! 
 How admirably their practices agree with their professions in this 
 case. Let me cry shame upon you Americans, for such outrages 
 upon human nature ! ! ! If it were possible for the whites always 
 to keep us ignorant and miserable, and make us work to enrich 
 them and their children, and insult our feelings by representing us 
 
70 A]* APPEAL, KTC. 
 
 time, while it lasts. Consequently they, themselves, 
 (and not us) render themselves our natural enemies, 
 by treating us so cruel. They keep us miserable 
 now, and call us their property, but some of them 
 will have enough of us by and by — their stomachs 
 shall run over with us ; they want us for their slaves, 
 and shall have us to their fill. (We are all in the 
 world together I ! — I said above, because we cannot 
 help ourselves, (viz. we cannot help the whites 
 murdering our mothers and our wives) but this state- 
 ment is incorrect — for we can help ourselves ; for, 
 if we lay aside abject servility, and be determined 
 to act like men, and not brutes — the murders among 
 the whites would be afraid to show their cruel heads. 
 But O, my God ! — in sorrow I must say it, that my 
 colour, all over the world, have a mean, servile 
 spirit. They yield in a moment to the whites, let 
 them be right or wrong — -the reason they are 
 able to keep their feet on our throats. Oh ! my 
 coloured brethren, all over the world, when shall 
 we arise from this death-like apathy ?-And be men ! ! 
 You will notice, if ever we become men, I mean 
 respectable men, such as other people are,) we must 
 exert ourselves to the full. For remember, that it 
 is the greatest desire and object of the greater part 
 of the whites, to keep us ignorant, and make us work 
 to support them and their families. — Here now, in 
 the Southern and Western sections of this country, 
 there are at least three coloured persons for one 
 white, why is it, that those few weak, good-for-noth- 
 ing whites, are able to keep so many able men, one 
 of whom, can put to flight a dozen whites, in wretch- 
 edness and misery? It shows at once, what the 
 blacks are, we are ignorant, abject, servile and 
 mean — ami the whites know it— they know that we 
 
 acs talking Apes, what would they do ? But glory, honour and 
 praise to Heaven's King, that the sons and daughters of Africa, 
 will, in spite of all the opposition of their enemies, stand forth in all 
 the dignity and glory that is granted by the Lord to his creature 
 
 fflan.. 
 
AH APPEAL, JJTC. 71 
 
 are too servile to assert our rights as men — or they 
 would not fool with us as they do. Would they fool 
 with any other people as they do with us ] No, 
 they know too well, that they would get themselves 
 ruined. Why do they not bring the inhabitants of 
 Asia to be body servants to them ? They know 
 they would get their bodies rent and torn from head 
 to foot. Why do they not get the Aborigines of this 
 country to be slaves to them and their children, to 
 work their farms and dig their mines 1 They know 
 well that the Aborigines of this country, or (Indians) 
 would tear them from the earth. The Indians would 
 not rest day or night, they would be up all times of 
 night, cutting their cruel throats. But my colour, 
 (some, not all,) are willing to stand still and be mur- 
 dered by the cruel whites. In some of the West- 
 India Islands, and over a large part of South Ameri- 
 ca, there are six or eight coloured persons for one 
 white.* Why do they not take possession of those 
 
 * For instance in the two States of Georgia, and South Carolina, 
 there are, perhaps, not much short of six or seven hundred thousand 
 persons of colour ; and if I was a gambling character, I would 
 not be afraid to stake down upon the board Five Cents against 
 Ten, that there are in the single State of Virginia, five or six hun- 
 dred thousand Coloured persons. Four hundred and fifty thousand 
 of whom (let them be well equipt for war) I would put against eve- 
 ry white person on the whole continent of America. (Why ? why 
 because I know that the Blacks, once they get involved in a war, 
 had rather die than to live, they either kill or be killed.) The 
 whites know this too, which make them quake and tremble. To 
 show the world further, how servile the coloured people are, I will 
 only hold Op to view, the one Island of Jamaica, as a specimen of 
 our meanness. 
 
 In that Island, there are three hundred and fifty thousand souls 
 — of whom fifteen thousand are whites, the remainder, three hun- 
 dred and thirty-five thousand are coloured people ! and this Island is 
 ruled by the white people !!!!!!!! (15,000) ruling and tyraniz- 
 ing over 335,000 persons !!!!!!! ! — O ! coloured men ! ! O ! col- 
 oured men ! ! ! O ! coloured men ! ! ! ! Look ! ! look ! ! ! at this ! ! !! 
 and, tell me if we are not abject and servile enough, how long, O I 
 how long my colour shall we be dupes and dogs to the eruel 
 whites ? — I only passed Jamaica, and its inhabitants, in review as a 
 specimen to show the world, the condition of the Blacks at this time,, 
 now coloured people of the whole- world, I beg you to look at the 
 
72 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 places ? Who hinders them 1 It is not the avaric- 
 ious whites — for they are too busily engaged in lay- 
 ing up money — derived from the blood and tears of 
 the blacks. The fact is, they are too servile, they 
 love to have Masters too well ! ! Some of our 
 brethren, too, who seeking more after self aggran- 
 disement, than the glory of God, and the welfare of 
 their brethren, join in with our oppressors, to ridi- 
 cule and say all manner of evils falsely against our 
 Bishop. They think, that they are doing great 
 things, when they can get in company with the 
 whites, to ridicule and make sport of those who are 
 labouring for their good. Poor ignorant creatures, 
 they do not know that the sole aim and object of 
 the whites, are only to make fools and slaves of them, 
 and put the whip to them, and make them work to 
 support them and their families. But I do say, that 
 no man, can well be a despiser of Bishop Allen, for 
 his public labours among us, unless he is a despiser 
 of God and of Righteousness. Thus, we see, my 
 brethren, the two very opposite positions of those 
 great men, who have written respecting this " Colo- 
 nizing Plan." fMr. Clay and his slave-holding 
 party, J men who are resolved to keep us in eternal 
 wretchedness, are also bent upon sending us to Li- 
 beria. While the Reverend Bishop Allen, and his 
 party, men who have the fear of God, and the well- 
 fare of their brethren at heart. The Bishop, in par- 
 ticular, whose labours for the salvation of his breth- 
 ren, are well known to a large part of those, who 
 dwell in the United States, are completely opposed 
 to the plan — and advise us to stay where we are. 
 
 (15000 white,) and (Three Hundred and Thirty-five Thous- 
 and coloured people) in that Island, and tell me how can the white 
 tyrants of the world but say that we are not men, but were made to 
 be slaves and Dogs to them and their children forever !!!!!! ! — why 
 my friends only look at the thing !!!! (15000) whites keeping in 
 wretchedness and degradation (335000) viz. 22 coloured persons 
 for one white !!!!!!!!) when at the same time, an equal mumber 
 (15000) Blacks, would almost take the whole of South America, 
 because where they go as soldiers to fight death follows in their train. 
 
Alt APJMUA, ETC. 73 
 
 Now we have to determine whose advice we will 
 take respecting this all important matter, whether 
 we will adhere to Mr. Clay and his slave holding 
 party, who have always been our oppressors and 
 murderers, and who are for colonizing us, more 
 through apprehension than humanity, or to this god- 
 ly man who has done so much for our benefit, to- 
 gether with the advice of all the good and wise a- 
 
 mong us and & £$** Wm ^ ° f . us k™£f 
 homes and go to Africa 1 I hope not. *^, — v«* 
 commence their attack upon us as they did on 
 our brethren in Ohio, driving and beating us from 
 our country, and my soul for theirs, they will have 
 enough of it. Let no man of us budge one step, 
 and let slave-holders come to beat us from our 
 country. America is more our country, than it is 
 the whites — we have enriched it with our blood and 
 tears. The greatest riches in all America have a- 
 risen from our blood and tears : — and will they drive 
 us from our property and homes, which we have 
 earned with our blood? They must look sharp or 
 this very thing will bring swift destruction upon 
 them. The Americans have got so fat on our 
 blood and groans, that they have almost forgotten 
 the God of armies. But let them go on. 
 
 $^» Addition. — I will give here a very imperfect 
 list of the cruelties inflicted on us by the enlighten- 
 ed Christians of America. — First, no trifling portion 
 of them will beat us nearly to death, if they find us 
 on our knees praying to God, — They hinder us 
 from going to hear the word of God — they keep us 
 sunk in ignorance, and will not let us learn to read 
 the word of God, nor write — If they find us with a 
 book of any description in our hand, they will beat 
 us nearly to death- — they are so afraid we will learn 
 to read, and enlighten our dark and benighted minds 
 
 ♦Those who are ignorant enough to go to Africa, the coloured 
 people ought to be glad to have them go, for if they are ignorant 
 enough to let the whites fool them off to Africa, they would be no 
 aaiall injury to us if they reside in this country. 
 
 10 
 
74 AN APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 — They will not suffer us to meet together to wor- 
 ship the God who made us — they brand us with hot 
 iron — they cram bolts of fire down our throats — 
 they cut us as they do horses, bulls, or hogs — they 
 crop our ears and sometimes cut off bits of our 
 tongues — they chain and hand-cuff us, and while in 
 that miserable and wretched condition, beat us with 
 cow-hides and clubs — they keep us half naked and 
 starve us sothetimes nearly to death under their in- 
 fernal whips or lashes (which some of them shall 
 have enough of yet) — They put on us fifty -sixes 
 and chains, and make us work in that cruel situa- 
 tion, and in sickness, under lashes to support them 
 and their families. — They keep us three or four 
 hundred feet under ground working in their mines, 
 night and day to dig up gold and silver to enrich 
 them and their children. — They keep us in the 
 most death-like ignorance by keeping us from all 
 source of information, and call us, who are free men 
 and next to the Angels of God, their property !!!!!! 
 They make us fight and murder each other, many 
 of us being ignorant, not knowing any better. — 
 They take us, (being ignorant,) and put us as drivers 
 one over the other, and make us afflict each other 
 as bad as they themselves afflict us — and to crown 
 the whole of this catalogue of cruelties, they tell us 
 that we the (blacks) are an inferior race of beings ! 
 incapable of self government ! ! — We would be in- 
 jurious to society and ourselves, if tyrants should 
 loose their unjust hold on us!! ! That if we were 
 free we would not work, but would live on plunder 
 or theft ! ! ! ! that we are the meanest and laziest 
 set of beings in the world ! ! ! ! ! That they are obli- 
 ged to keep us in bondage to do us good ! ! ! ! ! ! — 
 That we are satisfied to rest in slavery to them and 
 their children ! ! ! ! ! ! — That we ought not to be set 
 free in America, but ought to be sent away to Af- 
 rica !!!!!!! ! — That if we were set free in Ameri- 
 ca, we would involve the country in a civil war, 
 which assertion is altogether at variance with our 
 
AW APPEAL, KTC. 75 
 
 feeling or design, for we ask them for nothing but 
 the rights of man, viz. for them to set us free, and 
 treat us like men, and there will be no danger, for 
 we will love and respect them, and protect our 
 country — but cannot conscientiously do these things 
 until they treat us like men. ^$ 
 
 How cunning slave-holders think they are ! ! ! — 
 How much like the king of Egyptwho, after he saw 
 plainly that God was determined to bring out his 
 people, in spite of him and his, as powerful as 
 they were. He was willing that Moses, Aaron and 
 the Elders of Israel, but not all the people should go 
 and serve the Lord. But God deceived hjm as he 
 will Christian Americans, unless they are very cau-r 
 tious how they move. What would have become of 
 the United States of America, was it not for those 
 among the whites, who not in words barely, but 
 in truth and in deed, love and fear the Lord ? — 
 Our Lord and Master said : — f " Whoso shall of*- 
 " fend one of these little ones which believe in me, 
 " it were better for him that a millstone were hang- 
 " ed about his neck, and that he were. drowned in 
 " the depth of the sea." But the Americans with 
 this very threatening of the Lord's, not only beat 
 his little ones among the Africans, but many of them 
 they put to death or murder. Now the avaricious 
 Americans, think that the Lord Jesus Christ will 
 let them off, because his words are no more than 
 the words of a man ! ! ! In fact, many of them are 
 so avaricious and ignorant, that they do not believe 
 in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Tyrants 
 may think they are so skilJ&il in State affairs is the 
 reason that the government is ^preserved. But I 
 tell you, that this country would have been given 
 up long ago, was it not for the lovers of the Lord. 
 They are indeed, the salt of the *earth. Remove 
 the people of God among the whites, from this land 
 of blood, and it will stand until they cleverly get out 
 of the way. 
 
 * See St. Mattfeew's Gospel, chap. yviii. 6. 
 
76 AX APPEAL, KTC. 
 
 I adopt the language of the Rev. Mr. S. E. Cor- 
 nish, of New York, editor of the Rights of All, and 
 say : " Any coloured man of common intelligence, 
 " who gives his countenance and influence to that 
 " colony, further than its missionary object and in- 
 " interest extend, should be considered as a traitor 
 " to his brethren, and discarded by every respecta- 
 " ble man of colour. And every member of that 
 " society, however pure his motive, whatever may 
 " be his religious character and moral worth, should . 
 " in his efforts to remove the coloured population 
 " from their rightful soil, the land of their birth and 
 " nativity, be considered as acting gratuitously un- 
 " righteous and cruel." 
 
 Let me make an appeal brethren, to your hearts, 
 for your cordial co-operation in the circulation of 
 " The Rights of All," among us. The utility of 
 such a vehicle if rightly conducted, cannot be esti- 
 mated. I hope that the well informed among us, 
 may see the absolute necessity of their co-operation 
 in its universal spread among us. If we should let 
 it go down, never let us undertake any thing of the 
 kind again, but give up at once and say that we are 
 really so ignorant and wretched that we cannot do 
 any thing at all ! ! — As far as I have seen the writ- 
 ings of its editor, I believe he is not seeking to fill 
 his pockets with money, but has the welfare of his 
 brethren truly at heart. Such men, brethren, ought 
 to be supported by us. 
 
 But to return to the colonizing trick. It will be 
 well for me to notice here at once, that I do not 
 mean indiscriminately to condemn all the members 
 and advocates of this scheme, for I believe that there 
 are some friends to the sons of Africa, who are labor- 
 ing for our salvation, not in words only but in truth 
 and in deed, who have been drawn into this plan. — 
 Some, more by persuasion than any thing else ; 
 while others, with humane feelings and lively zeal 
 for our good, seeing how much we suffer from the 
 afflictions poured upon us by unmerciful tyrants, 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 77 
 
 are willing to enroll their names in any thing which 
 they think has for its ultimate end our redemption 
 from wretchedness and miseries ; such men, with a 
 heart truly overflowing with gratitude for their past 
 services and zeal in our cause, I humbly beg to ex- 
 amine this plot minutely, and see if the end which 
 they have in view will be completely consummated 
 by such a course of procedure. Our friends who 
 have been imperceptibly drawn into this plot I view 
 with tenderness, and would not for the world injure 
 their feelings, and I have only to hope for the fu- 
 ture, that they will withdraw themselves from it ; — 
 for I declare to them, that the plot is not for the glo- 
 ry of God, but on the contrary the perpetuation of 
 slavery in this country, which will ruin them and 
 the country forever, unless something is immediate- 
 ly done. 
 
 Do the colonizationists think to send us off with- 
 out first being reconciled to us ? Do they think to 
 bundle us up like brutes and send us off, as they did 
 our brethren of the State of Ohio ?* Have they not 
 to be reconciled to us, or reconcile us to them, for the 
 cruelties with which they have afflicted our fathers 
 and us? Methinks colonizationists think they have 
 a set of brutes to deal with, sure enough. Do they 
 think to drive us from our country and homes, after 
 having enriched it with our blood and tears, and 
 keep back millions of our dear brethren, sunk in the 
 most barbarous wretchedness, to dig up gold and 
 silver for them and their children ? Surely, the 
 Americans must think that we are brutes, as some 
 
 * The great slave holder, Mr. John Randolph, of Virginia, inti- 
 mated in one of his great, happy and eloquent Harrangoes, before 
 the Virginia Convention, that Ohio is a slave State, by ranking it 
 among other Slave-holding States. This probably was done by the 
 Honorable Slave-holder to deter the minds of the ignorant ; to 
 such I would say, that Ohio always was and is now a free State, 
 that it never was and I do not believe it ever will be a Slave-holding 
 State ; the people I believe, though some of them are hard hearted 
 enough, detest Slavery too much to admit an evil into their bosom, 
 which gnaws into the very vitals, and sinews of those who are now 
 in possession of it. 
 
78 AW APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 of them have represented us to be. They think that 
 we do not feel for our brethren, whom they are mur- 
 dering by the inches, but they are dreadfully de- 
 ceived. I acknowledge that there are some deceit- 
 ful and hypocritical wretches among us, who will 
 tell us one thing while they mean another, and thus 
 they go on aiding our enemies to oppress themselves 
 and us. But I declare this day before my Lord and 
 Master, that I believe there are some true-hearted 
 sons of Africa, in this land of oppression, but pre- 
 tended liberty ! ! ! ! ! — who do in reality feel for their 
 suffering brethren, who are held in bondage by ty- 
 rants. Some of the advocates of this cunningly de- 
 vised plot of Satan represent us to be the greatest 
 set of cut-throats in the world, as though God wants 
 us to take his work out of his hand before he is ready. 
 Does not vengeance belong to the Lord 1 Is he 
 not able to repay the Americans for their cruelties, 
 with which they have afflicted Africa's sons and 
 daughters, without our interference, unless we are 
 ordered 1 It is surprising to think that the Ameri- 
 cans, having the Bible in their hands, do not believe 
 it. Are not the hearts of all men in the hands of 
 the God of battles ? And does he not suffer some, 
 in consequence of cruelties, to go on until they are 
 irrecoverably lost 1 Now, what can be more aggra- 
 vating, than for the Americans, after having treated 
 us so bad, to hold us up to the world as such great 
 throat -cutters'? It appears to me as though they 
 .are resolved to assail us with every species of afflic- 
 tion that their ingenuity can invent. #5= See the 
 ^African Repository and Colonial Journal, from its 
 commencement to the present day — see how we are 
 through the medium of that periodical, abused and 
 held up by the Americans, as the greatest nuisance 
 to society, and throat-cutters in the world.J But the 
 Lord sees their actions. Americans ! notwithstand- 
 ing you have and do continue to treat us more cruel 
 than any heathen nation ever did a people it had sub- 
 jected to the same condition that you have us. Now 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 79 
 
 let us reason — I mean you of the United States, 
 whom I believe God designs to save from destruc- 
 tion, if you will hear. For I declare to you, whether 
 you believe it or not, that there are some on the con- 
 tinent of America, who will never be able to repent. 
 God will surely destroy them, to show you his dis- 
 approbation of the murders they and you have in- 
 flicted on us. I say, let us reason ; had you not bet- 
 ter take our body, while you have it in your power, 
 and while we are yet ignorant and wretched, not 
 knowing but a little, give us education, and teach 
 us the pure religion of our Lord and Master, which 
 is calculated to make the lion lay down in peace with 
 the lamb, and which millions of you have beaten us 
 nearly to death for trying to obtain since we have 
 been among you, and thus at once, gain our affection 
 while we are ignorant? Remember Americans, 
 that we must and shall be free and enlightened as 
 you are, will you wait until we shall, under God, 
 obtain our liberty by the crushing arm of power 1 
 Will it not be dreadful for you ? I speak Ameri- 
 cans for your good. We must and shall be free I 
 say, in spite of j r ou. You may do your best to keep 
 us in wretchedness and misery, to enrich you and 
 your children, but God will deliver us from under 
 you. And wo, wo, will be to you if we have to ob- 
 tain our freedom by fighting. Throw away your 
 fears and prejudices then, and enlighten us and treat 
 us like men, and we will like you more than we do 
 now hate you,* and tell us now no more about col- 
 onization, for America is as much our country, as it 
 is yours.— Treat us like men, and there is no dan- 
 ger but we will all live in peace and happiness to- 
 gether. For we are not like you, hard hearted, un- 
 merciful, and unforgiving. What a happy country 
 this will be, if the whites will listen. What nation 
 under heaven, will be able to do any thing with us,, 
 unless God gives us up into its hand ? But Ameri- 
 
 * Yon are not astonished at my saying we hate yon, for if we are- 
 men, we cannot but hate you, while you are treating us like dogs. 
 
SO AN APPEAL., ETC. 
 
 cans, I declare to you, while you keep us and our 
 children in bondage, and treat us like brutes, to 
 make us support you and your families, we cannot 
 be your friends. You do not look for it, do you ? 
 Treat us then like men, and we will be your friends. 
 And there is not a doubt in my mind, but that the 
 whole of the past will be sunk into oblivion, and 
 we yet, under God, will become a united and hap- 
 py people. The whites may say it is impossible, 
 but remember that nothing is impossible with God. 
 
 The Americans may say or do as they please, but 
 they have to raise us from the condition of brutes 
 to that of respectable men, and to make a national 
 acknowledgement to us for the wrongs they have 
 inflicted on us. As unexpected, strange, and wild 
 as these propositions may to some appear, it is no 
 less a fact, that unless they are complied with, the 
 Americans of the United States, though they may 
 for a little while escape, God will yet weigh them 
 in a balance, and if they are not superior to other 
 men, as they have represented themselves to be, he 
 will give them wretchedness to their very heart's 
 content. 
 
 And now brethren, having concluded these four 
 Articles, I submit them, together with my Preamble, 
 dedicated to the Lord, for your inspection, in lan- 
 guage so very simple, that the most ignorant, who 
 can read at all, may easily understand — of which 
 you may make the best you possibly can.* Should 
 
 * Some of my brethren, who are sensible, do not take an interest 
 in enlightening the minds of our more ignorant brethren respecting 
 this Book, and in reading it to them, just as though they will not 
 have either to stand or fall by what is written in this book. Do they 
 believe that I would be so foolish as to put out a book of this kind 
 without strict — ah ! very strict commandments of the Lord ? — Sure- 
 ly the blacks and whites must think that I am ignorant enough. — 
 Do they fhink that I would have the audacious wickedness to take 
 the name of my God in vain ? 
 
 Notice-, I said in the concluding clause of Article 3 — I call God, 
 I call Angels, I call men to witness, that the destruction of the 
 Americans is at hand, and will be speedily consummated unless they 
 repent. Now I wonder if the world think that I would take the 
 
- 
 
 AN APPEAL, BTC. 81' 
 
 tyrants take it into their heads to emancipate any of 
 you, remember that your freedom is your natural 
 right. You are men, as well as they, and instead 
 of returning thanks to thejn for your freedom, re- 
 turn it to the Holy Ghost, who is our rightful own- 
 er. If they do not want to part with your labours, 
 which have enriched them, let them keep you, and 
 my word for it, that God Almighty, will break their 
 strong band. Do you believe this, my brethren 1 — 
 See my Address, delivered before the General Col- 
 oured Association of Massachusetts, which may be 
 found in Freedom's Journal, for Dec. 20, 1828. — 
 See the last clause of that Address. Whether you 
 believe it or not, I tell you that God will dash ty- 
 rants, in combination with devils, into atoms, and 
 will bring you out from your wretchedness and mis- 
 eries under these Christian People / ! ! ! ! ! 
 
 Those philanthropists and lovers of the human 
 family, who have volunteered their services for our 
 redemption from wretchedness, have a high claim 
 on our gratitude, and we should always view them 
 as our greatest earthly benefactors. 
 
 If any are anxious to ascertain who I am, know 
 the world, that I am one of the oppressed, degraded 
 and wretched sons of Africa, rendered so by the 
 avaricious and unmerciful, among the whites. — If 
 any wish to plunge me into the wretched incapaci- 
 ty of a slave, or murder me for the truth, know ye, 
 that I am in the hand of God, and at your disposal. 
 I count my life not dear unto me, but I am ready 
 to be offered at any moment. For what is the use 
 of living, when in fact I am dead. But remember, 
 Americans, that as miserable, wretched, degraded 
 and abject as you have made us in preceding, and 
 in this generation, to support you and your families, 
 
 name of Govl in this way in vain? What do they think I take God 
 to be ? Do they suppose that I would trifle with that God who will 
 not have his Holy name taken in vain ? — He will show you and the 
 world, in due time, whether this book is for his glory, or written by 
 me through envy to the whites, as some have represented, 
 11 
 
82 
 
 AN APPEAL, KT0. 
 
 that some of you, (whites) on the continent of Amer- 
 ica, will yet curse the day that you ever were born. 
 You want slaves, and want us for your slaves ! ! ! My 
 colour will yet, root some .of you out of the very 
 face of the earth !!!!!! You may doubt it if you 
 please. I know that thousands will doubt — they 
 think they have us so well secured in wretchedness, 
 to them and their children, that it is impossible for 
 such things to occur.* So did the antideluvians doubt 
 
 * Why do the Slave-holders or Tyrants of America and their advocates 
 fight so hard to keep my brethren from receiving and reading my Book of 
 Appeal to them ? — Is it because they treat us so well? — Is it because we are 
 satisfied to rest in Slavery to them and their children? — Is is because they are 
 treating us like men, by compensating us all over this free country ! ! for our 
 labours ?^-Bnt why are the Americans so very fearfully terrified respecting 
 my Book ? — Why do they search vessels, &c. when entering the harbours of 
 tyrannical States, to see if any of my Books can be found, for fear that my 
 brethren will get them to read. Why, I thought the Americans proclaimed 
 to the world that they are a happy, enlightened, humane and Christian people, 
 all the inhabitants of the country enjoy equal Rights ! ! America fs the Asy- 
 lum for the oppressed of all nations ! ! ! < 
 
 Now I ask the Americans to see the fearful terror they labor under for fear 
 that my brethren will get my Book and read it — and tell me if their declara- 
 tion is true — viz. if the United States of America is a Republican Govern- 
 ment ? — Is this not the most tyrannical, unmerciful, and cruel government un- 
 der Heaven — not excepting the Algerines, Turks and Arabs ? — I believe if 
 any candid person would take the trouble to go through the Southern and 
 Western sections of this country, and could have the heart to see the cruel- 
 ties inflicted by these Christians on us, he would say, that the Algerines, 
 Turks and Arabs treat their dogs a thousand times better than we are treated 
 by the Christians. — But perhaps the Americans do their very best to keep my 
 Brethren from receiving and reading my " Appeal" for fear they will find in it 
 an extract which I made from their Declaration of Independence, which says, 
 " we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," &e. 
 &c. &c. — If the above are not the causes of the alarm among the Americans, 
 respecting my Book, I do not know what to impute it to, unless they are 
 possessed of the same spirit with which Demetrius the Silversmith was pos- 
 sessed — however, that they may judge whether they are of the same avaric- 
 ious and ungodly spirit with that man, I will give here an extract from the 
 Acts of the Apostles, chapter xix.— verses 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. 
 
 " And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a cer- 
 " tain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for 
 " Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmmen ; whom he called together 
 " with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this 
 " craft we have our wealth : moreover, ye see__and hear, that not alone at 
 " Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul bath persuaded and turn- 
 " ed aw.iy much people, saying, that they be no gods which are made with 
 " hands : so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought ; but 
 " also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her 
 " magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship- 
 " peth." 
 
 I pray you Americans of North and South America, together with the whole 
 European inhabitants of the world, (I mean Slave-holders and their advocates) 
 to read and ponder over the above verses in your minds, and judge whether 
 or not you are of the infernal spirit with that Heathen Demetrius, the Silver- ' 
 emith: In fine I beg you to read the whole chapter through carefully. 
 
A1C APPEAL, ETC. 83 
 
 Noah, until the day in which the flood came and 
 swept them away. So did the Sodomites doubt, 
 until Lot had got out of the city, and God rained 
 down fire and brimstone from Heaven upon them* 
 and burnt them up. So did the king of Egypt doubt 
 the very existence of a God; he said, "who is the 
 Lord, that I should let Israel go V Did he not find 
 to his sorrow, who the Lord was, when he and all 
 his mighty men of war, were smothered to death in 
 the Red Sea ? So did the Romans doubt, many of 
 them were really so ignorant, that they thought the 
 whole of mankind were made to be slaves to them ; 
 just as many of the Americans think now, of my 
 colour. But they got dreadfully deceived. When 
 men got their eyes opened, they made the murder- 
 ers scamper. The way in which they cut their ty- 
 rannical throats, was not much inferior to the way 
 the Romans or murderers, served them, when they 
 held them in wretchedness and degradation under 
 their feet. So would Christian Americans doubt, if 
 God should send an Angel from Heaven to preach 
 their funeral sermon. The fact is, the Christians 
 having a name to live, while they are dead, think 
 that God will screen them on that ground- 
 See the hundreds and thousands of us that are 
 thrown into the seas by Christians, and murdered 
 by them in other ways. They cram us into their 
 vessel holds in chains and in hand-cuffs — men, wo- 
 men and children, all together ! ! O ! save us, we 
 pray thee, thou God of Heaven and of earth, from 
 the devouring hands of the white Christians ! 1 ! 
 
 Oh ! thou Alpha and Omega ! 
 The beginning and the end, 
 Enthron'd thou art, in Heaven above, 
 Surrounded hy An<rcls there : 
 
 From whence thou seest the miseries 
 To which we are subject ; 
 The whites have murder d us, O God I 
 And kept us ignorant of thee. 
 
84 AIV APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 Not satisfied with this, my Lard ! 
 They throw us in the seas : 
 Be pleas'd, we pray, for Jesus' sake, 
 To save us from their grasp. 
 
 We believe that, for thy glory's sake, 
 Thou wilt deliver us ; 
 But that thou may'st effect these things, 
 Thy glory must be sought. 
 
 In conclusion, I ask the candid and unprejudiced 
 of the whole world, to search the pages of histo- 
 rians diligently, and see if the Antideluvians — the 
 Sodomites— the Egyptians — the Babylonians — the 
 Ninevites— the Carthagenians — the Persians — the 
 Macedonians — the Greeks — the Romans — the Ma- 
 hometans — the Jews — or devils, ever treated a set 
 of human beings, as the white Christians of Ameri- 
 ca do us, the blacks, or Africans. I also ask the 
 attention of the world of mankind to the declaration 
 of these very American people, of the United States. 
 
 A declaration made July 4, 1776. 
 
 It isays, *" When in the course of human events, 
 " it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve 
 " the political bands which have connected them 
 " with another, and to assume among the Powers of 
 " the earth, the separate and equal station to which 
 "the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle 
 " them. A decent respect for the opinions of mankind 
 *\ requires, that they should declare the causes which 
 " impel them to the separation. — We hold these 
 " truths to be self evident — that all men are created 
 " equal, that they are endowed by their Creator 
 "with certain unalienable rights: that among these, 
 " are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that, 
 " to secure these rights, governments are instituted 
 " among men, deriving their just powers from the 
 
 * See the Declaration of Independence of the United States. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETC. 85 
 
 " consent of the governed ; that when ever any form 
 " of government becomes destructive of these ends, it 
 * is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, 
 " and to institute a new government laying its 
 " foundation on such principles, and organizing its 
 " powers in such form, as to them shall seem most 
 " likely to effect their safety and happiness. Pru- 
 " dence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long 
 "established should not be changed for light and 
 "transient causes; and accordingly all experience 
 " hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to 
 " suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right 
 " themselves by abolishing the forms to which they 
 "are accustomed. But when a long train of abu- 
 " ses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 
 " Object, evinces a design to reduce them under abso- 
 " lute despotism, it is their right it is their duty to 
 " throw off such government, and to provide new 
 " guards for their future security." See your Dec- 
 laration Americans ! ! ! Do you understand your 
 own language? Hear your language, proclaimed 
 to the world, July 4th, 1776— m* "We hold these 
 " truths to be self evident — that ALL men are 
 " created EQUAL ! ! that they are endowed by 
 "their Creator toith certain unalienable rights ; that 
 " among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
 "happiness! !" Compare your own language 
 above, extracted from your Declaration Of Inde- 
 pendence, with your cruelties and murders in- 
 flicted by your cruel and unmerciful fathers and 
 yourselves on our fathers and on us — men who have. 
 never given your fathers or you the least provoca- 
 tion !!!!! t 
 
 Hear your language further! &^»"But when a 
 " long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing 
 " invariably the same object, evinces a design to're- 
 "duce them under absolute despotism, it is their 
 " right, it is their duty, to throw off such govern - 
 " ment, and to provide new guards for their future 
 " security." 
 
86 AW APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 Now, Americans ! I ask you candidly, was your 
 sufferings under Great Britain, one hundredth part 
 as cruel and tyranical as you have rendered ours 
 under you ? Some of you, no doubt, believe that 
 we will never throw off your murderous govern- 
 ment and " provide new guards for our future se- 
 curity/* If Satan has made you believe it, will he 
 not deceive you %f Do the whites say, I being a 
 black man, ought to be humble, which I readily 
 admit 1 I ask them, ought they not to be as humble 
 as I? or do they think that they can measure arms 
 with Jehovah'? Will not the Lord yet humble 
 them'? or will not these very coloured people 
 whom they now treat worse than brutes, yet under 
 God, humble them low down enough! Some of 
 the whites are ignorant enough to tell us, that we 
 ought to be submissive to them, that they may keep 
 their feet on our throats. And if we do not submit 
 to be beaten to death by them, we are bad creatures 
 and of course must be damned, &c. If any man 
 wishes to hear this doctrine openly preached to us 
 by the American preachers, let him go, into the 
 Southern and Western sections of this country — I 
 do not speak from hear say — -what I have written, 
 is what I have seen and heard myself. No man may 
 think that my book is made up of conjecture — I 
 have travelled and observed nearly the whole of 
 those things myself, and what little I did not get by 
 my own observation, I received from those among 
 the whites and blacks, in whom the greatest confi- 
 dence may be placed. 
 
 The Americans may be as vigilant as they please, 
 but they cannot be vigilant enough for the Lord, 
 neither can they hide themselves, where he will 
 not find and bring them out. 
 
 * The Lord Isf] not taught the Americans that we will not some 
 day or other throw off their chains and hand-cuffs, from our hands 
 <am$ feet, and their devilish lashes (which some of them shall have 
 enough of yet) from off our backs. 
 
AN APPEAL, ETG. 87 
 
 1 Thy presence why withdraw'*!, Lord 1 
 
 Why hid'st thou now thy face, 
 When dismal times of deep distress 
 Call for thy wonted grace 1 
 
 2 The wicked, swell'd with lawless pride, 
 
 Have made the poor their prey ; 
 O let them fall by those designs 
 Which they for others lay. 
 
 3 For straight they triumph, if 
 Their thriving crimes attend ; 
 And sordid wretches, whom God hates, 
 Perversely they command. 
 
 4. To own a pow'r above themselves 
 Their haughty pride disdains ; 
 And, therefore, in their stubborn mind 
 No thought of God remains. • 
 
 6 Oppressive methods they pursue, 
 And all their foes they slight ; 
 Because thy judgments, unobserv'd, 
 Are far above their sight. 
 
 6 They fondly think their prosp'rous state 
 
 Shall unmolested be ; 
 They think their vain designed shall thrive, 
 From all misfortune free. 
 
 7 Vain and deceitful is their speech, 
 
 With curses fill'd, and lies ; 
 By which the mischief of their heart 
 They study to disguise. 
 
 8 Near public roads they lie conceal'd 
 
 And all their art employ, 
 The innocent and poor at once 
 To rifle and destroy. 
 
 6 Not lions, crouching in their dens, 
 
 Surprise their heedless prey 
 
 With greater cunning, or express 
 
 More savage rage than they. 
 
 10 Sometimes they act the harmless man, 
 And modest looks they wear ; 
 That so, deceiv'd the poor may less 
 Their sudden onset feaif. 
 
88 A.N APPEAL, ETC. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 11. For, God, they think, no notiee takes, 
 
 Of their unrighteous deeds ; 
 He never minds the suff 'ring poor, 
 Nor their oppression heeds. 
 
 12. But thou, O Lord, at length arise, 
 
 Stretch forth thy mighty arm, 
 And, by the greatness of thy pow'r, 
 Defend the poor from harm. 
 
 13 No longer let the wicked vaunt, 
 And, proudly boasting, say, 
 " Tush, God regards not what we do ; 
 
 " He never will repay." — Common Prayer Book. 
 
 - 
 
 m 
 
 1 Shall I for fear of feeble man, 
 The spirit's course in me restrain ? 
 Or, undismay'd in deed and word, 
 Be a true witness of my Lord. 
 
 2 Aw'd by mortal's frown, shall I 
 Conceal the word of God Mbst High ! 
 How then before thee shall I dare 
 To stand, or how thy anger bear? 
 
 3 Shall I, to soothe th' unholy throng, 
 Soften the truth, or smooth my tongue, 
 To gain earth's gilded toys or, flee 
 The cross endur'd, my Lord, by thee? 
 
 4 What then is he whose scorn I dread ? 
 Whose wrath or hate makes me afraid 
 A man ! an heir of death ! a slave 
 To sin ! a bubble on the wave ! 
 
 5 Yea, let men rage, since thou will spread 
 Thy shadowing wings around my head : 
 Since in all pain thy tender love 
 
 Will still my sure refreshment prove. 
 
 Wesleys Collection. 
 
 $5* It may not be Understood, when I say my Third and last Edition, I mean 
 to convey the idea, that there will be no more Books of this Third Edttion 
 printed, but to notify that there will be no more addition in the body of this 
 Work, or additional Notes to this " Appeal."^} 
 
THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 THE COLLECTION OF 
 NORTH CAROLINIANA 
 
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