Chapter IV: Part 4

We were now in the District of Columbia, the seat of this powerful Federal Government, and in the city of Washington, the metropolis of the United States. Here are concentrated as it were into one focus, the associations of the past, connected with the great struggle for independence, and the memory of those names and events which already belong to history. Whatever may be our political principles, or the opinions of those who like myself consider all resort to arms as forbidden under the Christian dispensation, it is impossible to recall without emotion, transactions which have exerted and will continue to exert, so marked an influence on the destinies of mankind. This city was not the scene of those events, but it was erected to be a perpetual monument of them, and in the limited district of ten miles square, in which it stands, the Government which was then called into existence reigns sole and supreme. If a stranger were to inquire here for the monuments of the fathers of the Revolution, the American would proudly point to the Capitol, with the national Congress in full session, and to the levee of the President, crowded by free citizens, and representatives of foreign nations. The United States were thirteen dependent colonies, they are now twenty-six sovereign States, rich and populous, covering the face of this vast continent, and compacted into one powerful confederacy. But notwithstanding the glowing emotions which seem naturally called forth by the locality, there is many an American who bitterly feels that the District of Columbia is the shame, rather than the glory of his country. Here is proclaimed to the whole world by the united voice of the American people, "We hold these truths to be self-evident--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights--that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;" and here also by a majority of the same people expressing their deliberate will, through their representatives, this declaration is trampled under foot, and turned into derision.[A]

[Footnote A: "Large establishments have grown up upon the national domain, provided with prisons for the safe keeping of negroes till a full cargo is procured; and should, at any time, the factory prisons be insufficient, the public ones, erected by Congress, are at the service of the dealers, and the United States Marshal becomes the agent of the slave trade."--_Judge Jay's View of the action of the Federal Government in behalf of Slavery_, _page_ 93. "But the climax of infamy is still untold. This trade in blood,--this buying, imprisoning, and exporting of boys and girls eight years old,--this tearing asunder of husbands and wives, parents and children,--is all legalized, in virtue of authority delegated by Congress!! The 249th page of the laws of the city of Washington is polluted by the following enactment, bearing date 28th July, 1838:--'For a _license_ to trade or traffic in slaves for profit, four hundred dollars.'"--_Ibid_, _page_ 98.]

The District of Columbia is the chief seat of the American slave trade; commercial enterprize has no other object! Washington is one of the best supplied and most frequented slave marts in the world. The adjoining and once fertile and beautiful States of Virginia and Maryland, are now blasted with sterility, and ever-encroaching desolation. The curse of the first murderer rests upon the planters, and the ground will no longer yield to them her strength. The impoverished proprietors find now their chief source of revenue in what one of themselves expressly termed, their "crop of human flesh." Hence the slave-holding region is now divided into the "slave-breeding," and "slave-consuming" States. From its locality, and, from its importance as the centre of public affairs, the District of Columbia has become the focus of this dreadful traffic, which almost vies with the African slave trade itself in extent and cruelty, besides possessing aggravations peculiarly its own.[A] Its victims are marched to the south in chained coffles, overland, in the face of day, and by vessels coastwise. Those who protest against these abominations are the abolitionists; a body whose opinions are so unpopular that no term of reproach is deemed vile enough for their desert; yet if these should hold their peace, the very stones would surely cry out. The state of things in this District has one peculiar feature; being under the supreme local government of Congress, it presents almost the only tangible point for the political efforts of those hostile to slavery. Against slavery in any but their own States, the abolitionists have neither the power nor the wish to exert that constitutional interference which they rightfully employ in the States of which they are citizens; but with respect to the District of Columbia, they are, in common with the whole republic, responsible for the exercise of political influence for the abolition of slavery within its limits. Hence this is the grand point of attack. They have experienced a succession of repulses, but their eventual success is certain; the political influence of the slave-holding interest, which is now paramount, and which controls and dictates the entire policy of the general Government will be destroyed. Then will the abolition of American slavery be speedily consummated.

[Footnote A: "Human flesh is now the great staple of Virginia, In the legislature of this State, in 1833, Thomas Jefferson Randolph declared that Virginia had been converted into 'one grand menagerie, where men are reared for the market, like oxen for the shambles.' This same gentleman thus compared the foreign with the domestic traffic: 'The trader (African) receives the slave, a stranger in aspect, language and manner, from the merchant who brought him from the interior. But _here_, sir, individuals whom the master has known from infancy,--whom he has seen sporting in the innocent gambols of childhood,--who have been accustomed to look to him for protection,--he tears from the mother's arms, exiles into a foreign country, among a strange people, subject to cruel task-masters. In my opinion, it is much worse.'--Mr. Gholson, of Virginia, in his speech in the legislature of that State, January 18, 1831, says: 'The master forgoes the service of the female slave, has her nursed and attended during the period of her gestation, and raises the helpless and infant offspring. The value of the property justifies the expense; and I do not hesitate to say, that in its increase consists much of our wealth.'--Professor Dew, now President of the College of William and Mary, Virginia, in his review of the debate in the Virginia legislature, 1831-3, speaking of the revenue arising from the trade, says: 'A full equivalent being thus left in the place of the slave, this emigration becomes an advantage to the State, and does not check the black population as much as at first view we might imagine; because it furnishes every inducement to the master to attend to the negroes, to _encourage breeding_, and to cause the greatest number possible to be raised. Virginia is, in fact, a negro-raising State, for other States.'--Mr. C.F. Mercer asserted, in the Virginia Convention of 1829, 'The tables of the natural growth of the slave population demonstrate; when compared with the increase of its numbers in the commonwealth for twenty years past, that an annual revenue of not less than a million and a half of dollars is derived from the exportation of a part of this population.'"--_Judge Jay's View_, _pages_ 88, 89.]

Very soon after our arrival, we proceeded to the House of Representatives, then sitting, and were favored, by introductions from a member, with seats behind the Speaker's chair. The subject before the House was, of course, peculiarly interesting to me, being the proposed re-enactment of the "gag;" a rule of the House, by which petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, are laid upon the table, without being read or referred, and thus are virtually rejected. One of the speakers, William Slade, of Vermont, who was opposed to the "gag," told the pro-slavery members that they were greatly mistaken in supposing that such a measure would suppress the anti-slavery feeling of the country. They might, for a time, block up the Potomac, but it would only be to direct its waters into a new channel; in the same way as the rejection of anti-slavery petitions had resulted in the formation of a third abolition political party, which was now regularly organized and in the field. Having previously heard much of the virulence of the pro-slavery members, I was particularly impressed with the silence and attention with which they listened to this speech, and with the feeling which seemed evidently to prevail, that the subject could no longer be met with contempt and ridicule. One of the liberal members told me afterwards, that they felt themselves in a different atmosphere to what they did two years ago, both in the House and in the city, when touching upon this subject. Before the debate closed, the House divided on the question, whether ex-president Adams, the veteran defender of the constitutional right of petition, and who had brought forward this motion for the repeal of the "gag," was entitled to the right of reply. This was decided in his favor, and the House adjourned till the beginning of the following week.

In the afternoon, I proceeded, by a steam packet, with one of my friends, to Alexandria, about six miles distant, on the other side of the Potomac. A merchant, to whom I had an introduction, kindly accompanied us to a slave-trading establishment there, which is considered the principal one in the District. The proprietor was absent; but the person in charge, a stout, middle-aged man, with a good-natured countenance, that little indicated his employment, readily consented to show us over the establishment. On passing behind the house, we looked through a grated iron door, into a square court or yard, with very high walls, in which were about fifty slaves. Some of the younger ones were dancing to a fiddle, an affecting proof, in their situation, of the degradation caused by slavery. There were others, who seemed a prey to silent dejection. Among these was a woman, who had run away from her master twelve years ago, and had married and lived ever since as a free person. She was at last discovered, taken and sold, along with her child, and would shortly be shipped to New Orleans, unless her husband could raise the means of her redemption, which we understood he was endeavoring to do. If he failed, they are lost to him for ever. Another melancholy looking woman was here with her nine children, the whole family having been sold away from their husband and father, to this slave-dealer, for two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. This unfeeling separation is but the beginning of their sorrows. They will, in all probability, be re-sold at New Orleans, scattered and divided, until not perhaps two of them are left together. The most able-bodied negro I saw, cost the slave-dealer six hundred and eighty-five dollars.

Our guide told us that they sometimes sent from this house from fifteen hundred to two thousand slaves to the South in a year, and that they occasionally had three hundred to four hundred at once in their possession. That the trade was not now so brisk, but that prices were rising. The return and profits of this traffic appear to be entirely regulated by the fluctuations in the value of the cotton. Women are worth one-third less than men. But one instance of complete escape ever occurred from these premises, though some of the slaves were occasionally trusted out in the fields. He showed us the substantial clothing, shoes, &c., with which the slaves were supplied when sent to the South; a practice, I fear, enforced more by the cupidity of the buyers, than the humanity of the seller. Our informant stated, in answer to inquiries, that by the general testimony of the slaves purchased, they were treated better by the planters than was the case ten years ago. He also admitted the evils of the system, and said, with apparent sincerity, he wished it was put an end to.

We went afterwards to the city jail, to see a youth whose case I had heard of in Delaware, who had come to Alexandria on board a vessel, and had here been seized and imprisoned on suspicion of being a slave, not having any document to prove his freedom. He had now been incarcerated for near twelve months, and though admitted by the jailer and every one else to be free, he was about to be sold in a few days into slavery for a term, in order to pay the jail-fees, amounting to eighty dollars. In the evening on returning to Washington, we paid a visit by appointment to John Quincy Adams, ex-president of the United States; who though considerably more than seventy years of age, is yet one of the most assiduous and energetic members of the House of Representatives, and one of the most influential public men of the day. To this must be added the far higher praise that his distinguished powers are employed in the service of humanity, truth, and justice. How rare is it to witness such a union of intellectual and moral greatness! Posterity will do justice to his fame, when slavery shall exist only in the records of the past, and when it shall be related with wonder, that this venerable man, standing almost alone in his defence of the right of petition, received daily anonymous letters threatening him with assassination. He received us very kindly, and in the course of conversation expressed how much importance he attached to the late repeal of the "nine months law," in the State of New York, as a favorable indication of the current of public feeling. He did not appear sanguinely to anticipate that he should be in a majority on his pending motion for the repeal of the "gag."

One of the principal objects of my visit to Washington was to present an Address to the President, from the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. In the course of my inquiries of various official persons, members of Congress, et cet., I found that to obtain an audience for the express purpose would be very difficult, as no member of Congress appeared willing to undertake the unpopular service of introducing the bearer of such a document. I was not disposed to apply to the British Ambassador, who on some occasions had shown a want of sympathy with the anti-slavery cause. I found, however, that it was not contrary to etiquette, in this country, for a private individual to address a note to the President, to which, in ordinary courtesy, according to the custom of the place, he has a right to expect a reply. I would remark, however, that nothing is more easy than to gain access to the President; but I felt that to avail myself of those facilities, to place in his hands a document which he might object to receive, would be uncandid. I therefore addressed a note to him, stating that I was the bearer of a memorial from the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society, signed by Thomas Clarkson, addressed to the President of the United States, in which I said, "It may, perhaps, be right to state, that the memorial refers to slavery and the slave-trade in the United States, and that it was written before the death of General Harrison was known in Europe." I then asked permission to present it.

To this I received no reply. We were afterwards introduced to the President, by a member of Congress, who evinced an anxiety that I should make no reference to the memorial; and the President, on his part, made no allusion to it, or to my letter to himself. After this interview, we proceeded to the Senate, but it had risen just as we entered. I had a short conversation with Henry Clay, who alluded to Joseph John Gurney's work on the West Indies, which I need scarcely add, is written in a series of letters to this statesman. He said that the recent short crop of sugar in Jamaica was a proof that the author had been misled in the favorable information he had collected, and also that this deficiency in the crop was a proof not only of the idleness, but of the immorality of the negroes. He accused my companion, John G. Whittier, of deserting him, after having been his warm friend; and on J.W.'s giving his reasons for so doing, he complained that the abolitionists improperly interfered with the affairs of the South, though he made an exception in favor of the Society of Friends. He inquired if J.G. Whittier was a "Friend" in regular standing, evidently intimating a doubt on that point, on account of his being so decided an abolitionist. The praise of such men is the strongest testimony that could be adduced to the declension of the Society of Friends in anti-slavery zeal. To a great extent I fear their sentiments on this subject have been held traditionally; and that in many cases, they have not only done nothing themselves, but by example and precept have condemned the activity of others; I trust, however, a brighter day in regard to their labors is approaching. I feel disinclined to take leave of Henry Clay, without some animadversions which, on the public character of a public man, I may offer without any breach of propriety. In early life, that is in some part of the last century, he supported measures tending to the "eradication of slavery" in Kentucky, and at various periods since, he has indulged in cheap declamation against slavery, though he is not known to have committed himself by a solitary act of manumission. On the contrary, having commenced life with a single slave, he has industriously increased the number to upwards of seventy. As a statesman, his conduct on this question has been consistently pro-slavery. He indefatigably negotiated for the recovery of fugitive slaves from Canada, when Secretary of State, though without success. In the Senate he successfully carried through the admission of Missouri into the Union, as a slave State. He has resisted a late promising movement in Kentucky in favor of emancipation; and lastly, in one of his most elaborate speeches, made just before the late presidential election, the proceedings of the abolitionists were reviewed and condemned, and he utterly renounced all sympathy with their object. By way of apology for his early indiscretion, he observes, "but if I had been then, or were _now_, a citizen of any of the planting States--the southern or southwestern States--I should have opposed, and would continue to oppose, any scheme whatever of emancipation, gradual or immediate."

In this extract, and throughout the whole speech, slavery is treated as a pecuniary question, and the grand argument against abolition, is the loss of property that would ensue. Joseph John Gurney, who appears to have been favorably impressed by Henry Clay's professions of liberality, his courteous bearing, and consummate address, manifested a laudable anxiety that so influential a statesman should be better informed on the point on which he seemed so much in the dark; he therefore addressed to him his excellent "Letters on the West Indies," of which the great argument is, that emancipation has been followed by great prosperity to the planters, and attended with abundant blessings, temporal and spiritual, to the other classes, and that the same course would necessarily be followed by the same results in the United States. He has accumulated proof upon proof of his conclusions supplied by personal and extensive investigation in the British Colonies. But Henry Clay shews no sign of conviction. Yet though he made to us the absurd remark, already quoted, on Joseph John Gurney's work, I have too high an opinion of his understanding to think him the victim of his own sophistry. He is a lawyer and a statesman. He is accustomed to weigh evidence, and to discriminate facts. I have little doubt that all my valued friend would have taught him, he knew already. He could not be ignorant of the contrast presented by his own State of Kentucky, and the adjoining State of Ohio, and that the difference is solely owing to slavery. If J.J. Gurney could have shewn that abolition would soon be the high road to the President's chair, it is not improbable that he would have made an illustrious convert to anti-slavery principles. Henry Clay's celebrated speech before alluded to, was delivered in the character of a candidate for the Presidency just before the last election--it was prepared with great care, and rehearsed beforehand to a select number of his political friends. The whig party being the strongest, and he being the foremost man of that party, he might be looked upon as President-elect, if he could but conciliate the south, by wiping off the cloud of abolitionism that faintly obscured his reputation. He succeeded to his heart's desire in his immediate object, but eventually, by this very speech, completely destroyed his sole chance of success, and was ultimately withdrawn from the contest. Thus does ambition overleap itself.[A]

[Footnote A: As a practical commentary on Henry Clay's professions of a regard for the cause of human liberty, I append the following advertisement, which, about two years ago, was circulated in Ohio:

"THREE HUNDRED DOLLAR'S REWARD.

"_Run away_ from James Kendall, in Bourbon County, Ky., to whom
he was hired the present year, on Saturday night last, the 14th
instant, a negro man, named Somerset, about twenty-six years of
age, five feet, seven or eight inches high, of a dark copper
color, having a deep scar on his right cheek, occasioned by a
burn, stout made, countenance bold and determined, and voice
coarse. His clothing it is thought unnecessary to describe, as
he may have already changed it.

"ALSO,

"From E. Muir, of the same county, on the same night, (and
supposed to have gone in company,) a negro man, named Bob, about
twenty-nine years old, near six feet high, weighing about 180 or
90 pounds, of a dark copper color, of a pleasant countenance,
uncommonly smooth face, and a remarkable small hand for a negro
of his size. He spells and reads a little. His clothing was a
greenish jean coat and black cloth pantaloons.

"We will give the above reward for the delivery of said negroes
to the undersigned, or their confinement in jail, so that we get
them; or 150 dollars for either of them, if taken out of the
State, or 100 dollars for them, or 50 dollars for either, if
taken out of the county, and in the State.

"HENRY CLAY, Senior,

"E. MUIR.

"_Bourbon Co. Ky., Sept_. 17, 1839."

]

On leaving the Senate House, we drove to a slave-dealer's establishment, near at hand, and within sight of the _Capitol_. I have given some particulars of this visit elsewhere, which I need not repeat. I cast my eye on some portraits and caricatures of abolitionists, British and American, among whom Daniel O'Connell figured in association with Arthur Tappan, and the ex-president Adams. The young man in charge of the establishment began to explain them, for our amusement; on which, one of my companions pointed to me, and informed him I was an English abolitionist. He looked uneasy at our presence, and evidently desirous we should not prolong our stay. He told us there were five or six other dealers in the city who had no buildings of their own, and who kept their slaves here, or at the public city jail, at thirty-four cents per diem, the difference in comfort being wholly on the side of the private establishments.

We subsequently visited the city jail, to which reference is made in the letter below, and were able to confirm this statement from our own observation.

We left for Baltimore this afternoon. Although I had not succeeded in presenting the address before-mentioned to the President, I little regretted the failure, being convinced that it would not be less generally read by the public on that account, and in this I have not been disappointed. I proceeded at once, the next morning, to Philadelphia; and here I concluded to print and publish the following letter, which, was sent, through the post, to the President, and to each member of the Senate and House of Representatives.

"_To the Abolitionists of the United States_.

"I was commissioned by the committee of the British and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society, to present a memorial from them to your
President, and proceeded to Washington, a few days ago,
accompanied by John G. Whittier, of Massachusetts, and a friend
from the State of Delaware.

"It was my first visit to the seat of legislation of your great
republic. On our arrival we went to the House of
Representatives, then in session. A member from Maryland was
speaking on our entrance, who was the author of a resolution,
which had been carried in a former Congress, excluding nearly
three millions of your countrymen, on whom every species of
wrong and outrage is committed with impunity, from all right of
petition, either by them selves or their friends. He was
advocating the re-enactment of this very resolution for the
present Congress, and stated that he had a letter from your
President approving the measure. Although I believe I do not
speak too strongly when I say an attempt to enforce such a
resolution by any crowned head in the civilized world, would be
inevitably followed by a revolution, yet it seemed evident that
no small portion of your _present_ members were in favor of it.
It was with no ordinary emotion that I saw the venerable
ex-president Adams at his post, nobly contending against this
violation of the rights of his countrymen, and I could not but
regret that, with one or two exceptions, be appeared to find
little support from his younger colleagues of the free States.

"The same day we visited one of the well-known slave-trading
establishments at Alexandria. On passing to it we were shewn the
costly mansion of its late proprietor, who has lately retired on
a large property acquired by the sale of native born Americans.
In an open enclosure, with high walls which it is impossible to
scale, with a strong iron-barred door, and in which we were told
that there were sometimes from three to four hundred persons
crowded, we saw about fifty slaves. Amongst the number thus
incarcerated was a woman with nine children, who had been
cruelly separated from their husband and father, and would
probably be shortly sent to New Orleans, where they would never
be likely to see him again, and where the mother may be for ever
severed from every one of her children, and each of them sold to
a separate master. From thence we went to the Alexandria city
jail, where we saw a young man who was admitted to be free even
by the jailer himself. He had been seized and committed in the
hope that he might prove a slave, and that the party detaining
him would receive a reward. He had been kept there nearly twelve
months because he could not pay the jail fees, and instead of
obtaining any redress for false imprisonment, was about to be
sold into slavery for a term to reimburse these fees.

"The next morning I was desirous of handing to the President the
memorial, of which the following is a copy:

"'_Address to the President of the United States, from
the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery
Society_.

"'SIR,--As the head of a great Confederacy of States,
justly valuing their free constitution and political
organization, and tenacious of their rights and their
character, the Committee of the British and Foreign
Anti-slavery Society, through their esteemed coadjutor
and representative, Joseph Sturge, would respectfully
approach you in behalf of millions of their fellow-men,
held in bondage in the United States. Those millions are
denied, not only the immunities enjoyed by the citizens
of your great republic generally, and of the equal
privileges and the impartial protection of the civil
law, but are deprived of their personal rights, so that
they cease to be regarded and treated, under your
otherwise noble institutions, as MEN, except in the
commission of crime, when the utmost rigor of your penal
statutes is invoked and enforced against them; but are
reduced to the degraded condition of "chattels personal
in the hands of their owners and possessors, to _all
intents, constructions, and purposes, whatsoever_."

"'This is the language and the law of slavery; and under
this law, guarded with jealousy by their political
institutions, the slaveholders of the South rest their
claims to property in man But, sir, there are claims
anterior to all human laws, and superior to all
political institutions, which are immutable in their
nature,--claims which are the birthright of every human
being, of every clime, and of every color,--claims which
God has conferred, and which man cannot destroy without
sacrilege, or infringe without sin. Personal liberty is
among these, the greatest and best, for it is the root
of all other rights, the conservative principle of human
associations, the spring of public virtues, and
essential to national strength and greatness.

"'The monstrous and wicked assumption of power by man,
over his fellow man, which slavery implies, is alike
abhorrent to the moral sense of mankind; to the
immutable principles of justice; to the righteous laws
of God; and to the benevolent principles of the gospel.
It is, therefore, indignantly repudiated by all the
fundamental laws of all truly enlightened and civilized
communities, and by none more emphatically than by that
over which, Sir, it is your honor to preside.

"'The great doctrine, that God hath "created all men
equal, and endowed them with certain inalienable rights,
and that amongst these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness," is affirmed in your Declaration
of Independence, and justified in the theory of your
constitutional laws. But there is a stain upon your
glory; slavery, in its most abject and revolting form,
pollutes your soil; the wailings of slaves mingle with
your songs of liberty; and the clank of their chains is
heard, in horrid discord with the chorus of your
triumphs.

"'The records of your States are not less distinguished
by their wise provisions for securing the order and
maintaining the institutions of your country, than by
their ingenious devices for riveting the chains, and
perpetuating the degradation of your colored brethren;
their education is branded as a crime against the
State--their freedom is dreaded as a blasting
pestilence--the bare suggestion of their emancipation is
proscribed as treason to the cause of American
independence.

"'These things are uttered in sorrow; for the committee
deeply deplore the flagrant inconsistency, so glaringly
displayed between the lofty principles embodied in the
great charter of your liberties, and the evil practices
which have been permitted to grow up under it, to mar
its beauty and impair its strength. But it is not on
these grounds alone, or chiefly, that they deplore the
existence of slavery in the United States. Manifold as
are the evils which flow from it--dehumanizing as are
its tendencies--fearful as its reaction confessedly is
on its supporters,--the reproach of its existence does
not terminate on the institutions which gave it birth:
the sublime principles and benign spirit of Christianity
are dishonored by it. In the light of Divine Truth it
stands revealed, in all its hideous deformity, a crime
against God,--a daring usurpation of the prerogative and
authority of the Most High! It is as a violation of His
righteous laws, an outrage on His glorious attributes, a
renunciation of the claims of His blessed gospel, that
they especially deplore the countenance and support it
receives among you; and, in the spirit of Christian love
and fraternal solicitude, would counsel its immediate
and complete overthrow, as a solemn and imperative duty,
the performance of which no sordid reasons should be
permitted to retard--no political considerations
prevent. Slavery is a sin against God, and ought,
therefore, to be abolished.

"'The utter extinction of slavery, and its sister
abomination, the internal slave-trade of the United
States, second only in horror and extent to the African,
and in some of its features even more revolting, can
only be argued, by the philanthropy of this country, on
the abstract principles of moral and religious duty; and
to those principles the people of your great republic
are pledged on the side of freedom beyond every nation
in the world!

"'The negro, by nature our equal, made like ourselves in
the image of his Creator, gifted by the same
intelligence, impelled by the same passions and
affections, and redeemed by the same Savior, is reduced
by cupidity and oppression below the level of the brute,
spoiled of his humanity, plundered of his rights, and
often hurried to a premature grave, the miserable victim
of avarice and heedless tyranny! Men have presumptuously
dared to wrest from their fellows the most precious of
their rights--to intercept as far as they may the bounty
and grace of the Almighty--to close the door to their
intellectual progress--to shut every avenue to their
moral and religious improvement, to stand between them
and their Maker! It is against this crime the committee
protest as men and as Christians, and earnestly but
respectfully call upon you, Sir, to use the influence
with which you are invested, to bring it to a peaceful
and speedy close; and, may you in closing your public
career, in the latest hours of your existence on earth,
be consoled with the reflection that you have not
despised the afflictions of the afflicted, but that
faithful to the trust of your high stewardship, you have
been "just, ruling in the fear of the Lord," that you
have executed judgment for the oppressed, and have aided
in the deliverance of your country from its greatest
crime, and its chiefest reproach.

"'On behalf of the Committee,

"'THOMAS CLARKSON.

"'British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, for the
Abolition of Slavery and the Slave-trade throughout the
world.

"'27, _New Broad Street, London, March 5th_, 1841.'

"I thought it most candid to address a letter to the President
informing him of the character of the foregoing memorial, rather
than take advantage of a merely formal introduction to present
it, without a previous explanation. To this letter no reply was
received, and no allusion was made to it by the President at a
subsequent introduction, which we had to him. It may be proper
to mention in this connection, that memorials of a similar
character, bearing upon slavery and the slave-trade, signed by
the venerable Clarkson, have been presented to different Heads
of Governments, in other parts of the world, and have been
uniformly received with marked respect.

"Previous to our departure, we visited a private slave-trading
establishment in the city, and looked in upon a group of human
beings herded together like cattle for the market, within an
enclosure of high brick walls surrounding the jail. The young
man in attendance, informed us that there were five or six other
regular slave-dealers in the city, who, having no jails of their
own, either placed their slaves at this establishment, or in the
public CITY PRISON. The former was generally preferred, on
account of its superior accommodations in respect to food and
lodging. On my making some remarks to the young man on the
nature of his occupation, he significantly, and as I think, very
justly replied, that he knew of no reasons for condemning
slave-traders, which did not equally apply to slave-holders. You
will bear in mind that this was said within view of the Capitol,
where slave-holders control your national legislation, and
within a few minutes' walk of that mansion where a slave-holder
sits in the presidential chair, placed there by your votes; and
it is certainly no marvel, that, with such high examples in his
favor, the humble slave-dealer of the District should feel
himself in honorable company, and really regard his occupation
as one of respectability and public utility.

"From thence we proceeded to the city prison, an old and
loathsome building, where we examined two ranges of small stone
cells, in which were a large number of colored prisoners. We
noticed five or six in a single cell, barely large enough for a
solitary tenant, under a heat as intense as that of the tropics.
The keeper stated that in rainy seasons the prison was
uncomfortably wet. The place had to us a painful interest, from
the fact that here Dr. Crandall, a citizen of the free States,
was confined until his health was completely broken down, and
was finally released only to find a grave, for the crime of
having circulated a pamphlet on emancipation, written by one of
the friends who accompanied me.[A] On inquiry of the keeper, he
informed us that slaves were admitted into his cells, and kept
for their owners at the rate of thirty-four cents per day, and
that transfers of them from one master to another sometimes took
place during their confinement; thus corroborating the testimony
of the keeper of the private jail before mentioned, that this
city prison, the property of the people of the United States,
and for the rebuilding of which, a large sum of your money has
been appropriated, is made use of by the dealers in human beings
as a place of deposit and market; and thus you, in common with
your fellow citizens, are made indirect participators in a
traffic equal in atrocity to that foreign trade, the suppression
of which, to use the words of your President in his late
message, 'is required by the public honor, and the promptings of
humanity.'

[Footnote A: On being released from prison, Dr. Crandall went to
Kingston, Jamaica, to recruit his health. A gentleman of that
city, W. Wemyss Anderson, found him in his lodgings, solitary
and friendless, and rapidly sinking under his disease. He took
him, though a perfect stranger, into his own house; and the last
days of Dr. Crandall were soothed by the kind sympathy and
attentions of a Christian family. It was also manifest, that he
enjoyed the sunshine of inward peace, and the rich consolations
of the gospel. His kind host, whom I count it a privilege to
call my friend, obeyed, in this instance, the apostolic
injunction, and experienced the consequent reward, "Be not
forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares."]

"As one who has devoted much of his humble labors to the cause
you wish to promote, I perhaps shall be excused for thus stating
these facts to you, as they all passed before my personal
observation in the course of a few hours. I shall deem it right
to publish them in Europe, where I am about shortly to return.
Recollect, they all occurred and exist within the District of
Columbia, and that those who elect the legislators who uphold
the slave system, are justly responsible for it in the sight of
God and man. Is it not all the natural consequence of your
electing slave-holders and their abettors to the highest offices
of your State and nation? Some of your most intelligent citizens
have given it as their opinion that fully two-thirds of the
whole population of the United States are in favor of the
abolition of slavery; and my own observation, since I landed on
these shores, not only confirms this opinion, but has convinced
me that there is a very rapid accession to their numbers daily
taking place; and yet we have the extraordinary fact exhibited
to the world, that about two hundred and fifty thousand
slave-holders--a large proportion of whom, bankrupt in fortune
and reputation, have involved many of the North in their
disgrace and ruin--hold in mental bondage the whole population
of this great republic, who permit themselves to be involved in
the common disgrace of presenting a spectacle of national
inconsistency altogether without a parallel. I confess that,
although an admirer of many of the institutions of your country,
and deeply lamenting the evils of my own government, I find it
difficult to reply to those who are opposed to any extension of
the political rights of Englishmen, when they point to America
and say, that where all have a control over the legislation but
those who are guilty of a dark skin, slavery and the slave-trade
remain not only unmitigated, but continue to extend; and that
while there is an onward movement in favor of its extinction,
not only in England and France, but even in Cuba and Brazil,
American legislators cling to this enormous evil, without
attempting to relax or mitigate its horrors. Allow me,
therefore, to appeal to you by every motive which attaches you
to your country, seriously to consider how far you are
accountable for this state of things, by want of a faithful
discharge of those duties for which every member of a republican
government is so deeply responsible; and may I not express the
hope that, on all future occasions, you will take care to
promote the election of none as your representatives who will
not _practically_ act upon the principle that in every clime,
and of every color, 'all men are equal?'

"Your sincere friend,

"JOSEPH STURGE.

"_Philadelphia, 6th Month 7th_, 1842."

This letter was extensively reprinted, not only in the anti-slavery but in pro-slavery newspapers, both in the North and South. In the numerous angry comments upon it, no attempt that has come to my knowledge was made to deny any one of my statements. One of the papers intimates that the vote by which the house soon after refused to adopt a specific and exclusive rule against abolition petitions, was brought about by "the sinister influence of Mr. Sturge." I need not add how happy I should have been to have possessed the influence with which this writer has so liberally invested me, and that I should have regarded it as a talent to be employed and improved to the very utmost.

I spent from the 5th to the 11th of the Sixth Month, (June) in Philadelphia and the vicinity, during which time, I made numerous calls, and met several large parties in private.

During this stay, in company with John G. Whittier, I paid a visit to my excellent friend, Abraham L. Pennock, at his residence in Haverford, Delaware county, about ten miles from the city. He is an influential member of the Society of Friends, and until recently he has been a resident in the city. He has, for many years, been an uncompromising abolitionist, and an active member and officer of anti-slavery societies; yet he appears to enjoy the respect and confidence not only of his anti-slavery associates, but of the Society of Friends, and the community generally. I found him a warm advocate, in practice as well as theory, of entire abstinence from the products of slave labor, as well as of independent political action on the part of abolitionists. He expressed much regret that he was unable to attend the General Anti-Slavery Convention, in London, and gave his cordial approbation to its proceedings.[A]

[Footnote A: See Appendix H.]

We reluctantly bade farewell to our kind friend and his interesting family, all the members of which appear to share his zeal and untiring devotion to the cause of the oppressed, and returned to our lodgings in the city. Even now I look back to this visit as among the most grateful recollections of my sojourn in the United States.

I may mention, in this connection, that A.L. Pennock, as well as others with whom I conversed on the subject, spoke with much regret of the want of faithfulness on the part of members of the Society of Friends, in maintaining their testimony against slavery, while exercising their civil rights as citizens and electors. From all I could learn, I have been led to fear that "Friends" in the United States, with few exceptions, are in the practice of voting for public officers, without reference to their sentiments on the important subject of slavery. At the late Presidential election it is very evident that the great body of "Friends" who took any part in it, voted for John Tyler, the slaveholder.

Among the active friends of emancipation, who occupy a high station in our society, I can scarcely omit mentioning Enoch Lewis, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, whose talents and literary acquirements, devoted as they are, to the maintenance and promulgation of the principles and Christian testimonies of our religious society, deservedly command a high degree of respect.

Among the members of the society which have separated from "Friends" in Philadelphia and elsewhere, I met with many warm and steady friends of emancipation, some of whom have proved their sincerity by great sacrifices. Amongst these I cannot omit mentioning James and Lucretia Mott, James Wood, Dr. Isaac Parish, and Thomas Earle, of this city.

I republished in Philadelphia, with the permission of the author, in two separate pamphlets, for distribution amongst those to whom it was addressed, "A Letter to the Clergy of various Denominations, and to the Slave-holding Planters in the Southern parts of the United States of America, by Thomas Clarkson." This remarkable production was written after its venerable author had attained his eightieth year, and has been pronounced by a very competent judge the most vigorous production of his pen. As its circulation had but just commenced when I left the United States, I could not judge of the effect produced by this energetic appeal from one whose name must command respect, even from the slave-holders; but I have since been informed it has been read with interest and attention.

I had several conferences with "Friends" who were interested in the cause, to discuss the best mode of engaging the members of the Society to unite their efforts on behalf of the oppressed and suffering slaves; and though no immediate steps were resolved on, yet I found so much good feeling in many of them, that I cannot but entertain a hope, that fruit will hereafter appear. I had spent much of my time and labor in Philadelphia, particularly among that numerous and influential body with whom I am united in a common bond of religious belief, and I trust of Christian affection. Of the kindness and hospitality I experienced I shall ever retain a grateful recollection; yet I finally took my leave of this city, under feelings of sorrow and depression that so many of the very class of Christian professors who once took the lead in efforts for the abolition of slavery, efforts evidently attended with the favor and sanction of the Most High, should now be discouraging, and holding back their members from taking part in so righteous a cause. Among the warmest friends of the slave, sound both in feeling and sentiment, are a few venerable individuals who are now standing on the brink of the grave, and whose places, among the present generation, I could not conceal from myself, there were but few fully prepared to occupy. I had found in many Friends much passive anti-slavery feeling, and was to some extent cheered by the discovery. May a due sense of their responsibility rest upon every follower of Christ, to remember them that are in bonds, and under affliction, not only with a passive, but with an active and self-denying sympathy, a sympathy that makes common cause with its object.

Apart from the fact, that Philadelphia is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, to a member of the Society of Friends it must ever be an object of peculiar interest. Here William Penn made his great experiment of a Christian government. Here, to the annual assemblies of Friends, came Warner Mifflin, and John Woolman, and James Pemberton, and George Dillwyn, and other worthies of the past, who have now gone from works to rewards. A few miles distant, in Frankford, is still to be seen the residence of the excellent Thomas Chalkley. Here Benezet exemplified, in the simplicity, humility, and untiring benevolence of his daily life, the lessons inculcated in his writings. And here, at this day, are a larger number of members of our religious society than can be found congregated elsewhere, within an equal space of territory. They are, in general, in easy circumstances, many of them wealthy, and occupying a high rank in the community.

Who can recur, without a lively feeling of interest, to the hopes and prayers of the benevolent founder of the city, as expressed in affecting terms in his farewell letter, written as he was about taking his final departure for England.

"And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province,
named before thou wert born, what love, what care, what service,
and what travail has there been to bring thee forth, and
preserve thee from such as would defile thee! Oh, that thou
mayest be kept from the evil that would overwhelm thee! that
faithful to the God of Mercies, in a life of righteousness, thou
mayest be preserved to the end!"

On the 11th, with John G. Whittier, I left for New York, and the next day we proceeded by steam packet to Newport, on Rhode Island, to attend the New England yearly meeting of the Society of Friends, which was to be held the next week. We arrived about seven o'clock in the morning. I found the change of climate particularly refreshing and agreeable. During the last fortnight, the range of the thermometer had frequently reached 94 degrees or 96 degrees in the shade: a tropical heat, without those alleviations which render the heat of the tropics not only tolerable, but sometimes delightful. In Rhode Island, the climate, while we were there, was almost as temperate as an English summer.

Some parts of the New England States are much resorted to by southern families of wealth; and their annual migrations have the effect of materially adding to the vast amount of complicated pro-slavery interests which exist in the free States, as well as of diffusing pro-slavery opinions and feelings throughout the entire community. We may hope this current will soon set in the opposite direction. The season was too early for the arrival of these visitors, and the hotels were generally filled with "Friends," collected from near and distant places, to attend the yearly meeting. There were upwards of a hundred boarding at the same house with ourselves. Soon after our arrival I addressed a letter, making the same application for the use of the meeting house for my friend, John Candler, who was also here, and myself, which had been complied with at New York, forwarding at the same time my credentials. My request, however, in this instance was not granted. Yet there was plainly a willingness on the part of many to receive information, and we caused it to be known that we should be at home at our hotel, on the evening of the sixteenth. About two hundred friends assembled, and appeared interested in a brief outline of the state and prospects of the cause in Europe which I endeavored to give them.