14 10 250 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Half Slave, and Half Free Description An account of the resource During the Illinois canvass between Hon. A. Lincoln and Senator Douglas, when the former asserted the sentiment that "this government cannot permanently endure half slave and half free," it was thought monstrous by the Democratic journals generally, and Mr. Douglas in particular. The doctrine was said to be as now as it was dangerous, and with the ignorant, aided by sophistry, the little giant used it with tilling effect against his opponent. But now it seems that no new dogma was proclaimed by Mr. Lincoln, in littering that sentiment, and that he was but echoing the doctrines of the father of Democracy, Thomas Jefferson, when he said that "this government cannot permanently endure half slave and half free." More than eighty years ago he wrote and published the following language in relation to this subject: "Deep-rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which nature has made; and many other circumstances will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions, which will probably never end but in the extermination of one or the other race. Nothing is more clearly written in the book of destiny, than the emancipation of the blacks." Will not the Democracy of to-day take as good doctrine, coming, as it does, from its venerated and wise sire? The Hon. Abraham Lincoln has said nothing more pointed upon this subject than the foregoing. But this same doctrine of the eventual emancipation of the negro race has been entertained by many statesmen and philosophers. It is clearly set forth in De Tocqueville's admirable and philosophical work, "Democracy in America," first published in this country in 1838. And Edward Everett, in his late oration at the inauguration of the Statue of Daniel Webster, expressed the views of that great statesmean on the "conflict" between Free Labor and Slavery in this country, as follows: "He (Mr. Webster) not only confidently anticipated what the lapse of seven years since his decease has witnessed and is witnessing, that the newly acquired and newly organized territories of the Union would grow up into Free States; but, in common with ail, or nearly all the statesmen of the last generation, he believed that free labor would ultimately prevail throughout the country. He thought he saw that, in the operation of the same causes which have produced this result in the middle and Eastern States, it was visibly taking place in the States North of the cotton-growing region; and he inclined to the opinion that there, also, under the influence of physical and economical causes, free labor would eventually be found most productive, and would there be ultimately established." So we see that this annunciation of the belief of the final extinction of slavery is based upon no new philosophical principles, but simply the principles of human progress. To say that American slavery will exist always is to say that the hand of human progress shall be paralized in this fair land. To assert the fact that slavery will become extinct does not imply that any other than a peaceful solution to this problem shall obtain So far as the Republican party are concerned no other means are intended to be used to bring about this result but those naturally springing from the progress of civilization and Christianity. They will be potent enough and the result can be easily foreseen by those who are not blinded by selfish interests or partisan bigotry. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Vincennes Gazette Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10.1.1859 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Haverhill, April 7, 1838. Description An account of the resource HAVERHILL, April 7, 1838. MR. GARRISON: SIR—In a recent correspondence with a friend, who is 'as much opposed to slavery as any body,' he says, he thinks those individuals in N. England, who inherit the property acquired by their fathers in the slave trade, 'stand precisely on the ground of the great majority of the slaveholders'—(those, I suppose, who inherit slaves)—and that they should give up their property, which is in 'dollars,' as well as those which is in slaves, as he thinks it would be no greater sacrifice than they demand of the South, and as the only test which will satisfy him of the genuineness of their philanthropy; but he says he hears not a word about this property.' Now, all these 'dollars' and cents would aid our cause much, very much; for who, but the colored man, should have the benefit of said property? He also thinks that in using the products of slave labor, 'the partaker is as bad as the thief,' and that to cease doing so would be a sure remedy for slavery—and is ready any day to adopt this method of doing away slavery, whenever his abolition brethren shall become determined so to do. He thinks that to rail against slavery, and at the same time purchase the products of slave labor, is like railing against rum-selling, and at the same time purchase rum. I think there is some difference, as rum is pernicious in itself—products of slave labor not, but good when made by free labor. But whether the difference is sufficient to justify the purchasing those articles, I know not. I wish for the right paths. Yours for the slave, CELIA. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Liberator Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 4.27.1838 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Celia Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Advertisements Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hoag & Wood (Advertisement) Description An account of the resource FREE PRODUCE STORE. THE Subscribers have opened a store at No. 377 PEARL STREET, New York City, for the sale of Free Labor Produce exclusivesly, and have supplied themselves with a general assortment of Goods usually kept in a Grocery ; of superior quality, which they will sell much lower than goods of this description have usually been sold. They have also a variety of Cotton Goods. They will use great care, in making their purchases, that nothing which is the produce of Slave Labor shall be admitted into their store, and think that confidence may at all times be placed in the articles they may offer for sale. Orders for Goods, either for families or traders out of the city, will be promptly and faithfully executed. HOAG & WOOD Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The National Era Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2.24.1848 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource How Free Labor Pays Description An account of the resource A planter of the Parish of Iberville, La., has addressed the following communication to the Freedmen's Aid Association of New Orleans: "I am a planter of twelve years' experience; this year I am working twelve hands, six men and six women; my laborers are to get one-fourth of the net proceeds of the crops. They have a full understanding of the interest in the said crops. Our contract was made on the 1st of February last, and the results so far is a complete success; we have to-day 85 arpents of corn, all in perfect condition. I don't mention the vegetable crops. Under the old system ten arpents to the and was considered a fair result, and more than three-fourths of the plantations failed to come to that standard. My laborers are all good people behaving well, having good common sense; they are honest and true to their family. Besides the crop in common, they have raised for their private account small crops of corn and vegetables; they have poultry, etc., of their own. Not a single difficulty has occurred among them since they have agreed to work on my farm." Thus, says the Pittsburg Dispatch, is the whole labor problem solved. Deal justly, give the freedmen some interest in their work, and there will be no trouble. In this case fifty per cent more of ground is cultivated under the old system, and the probability is that the planter will make that per cent more. It is probably best to "peg away" at the old slaveholders till they conclude to deal justly, and thus "fight it out on the line." It is nothing but sheer ugliness on their part that causes all the trouble and inflicts all the distress upon the freedmen. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Elevator Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10.27.1865 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Woolman (Article) Description An account of the resource We are glad to find in the communication which has for its title the name of this good and truly great man, a notice of the omission of any reference to his disuse, on principle, of the products of slave labour, in a book which to some extent has become a school book amongst Friends. We think a just portraiture of John Woolman's character cannot be given, without including this peculiar aspect of it Such, unquestionably, was the opinion of Friends when a testimony concerning him was issued by Burlington Monthly Meeting, and approved by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting; from which we extract the following:-- "He was particularly desirous that Friends should not be instrumental to lay burthens on this oppressed people, ("the poor enslaved Africans" and their descendants,) but remember the days of suffering from which they had been providentially delivered, that if times of trouble should return, no injustice dealt to those in slavery might rise in judgement against us, but, being clear, we might on such occasions address the Almighty, with a degree of confidence, for his interposition and relief; being particularly careful, as to himself, not to countenance slavery even by the use of those conveniences of life which were furnished by their labour." Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Non-Slaveholder 2:6, pp. 140-141 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 6.1.1847 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Poetry Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Woolman (Poem) Description An account of the resource Meek, humble, sinless as a very child, Such wert thou,--and, though unbeheld, I seem Oft-times to gaze upon they features mild, Thy grave, yet gentle lip, and the soft beam Of that kind eye, that knew not how to shed A glance of aught save love, on any human head. Servant of Jesus! Christian! not alone In name and creed, with practice differing wide, Thou didst not in thy conduct fear to own His self denying precepts for thy guide. Stern only to thyself, all others felt Thy strong rebuke was love, not meant to crush, but melt. Thou, who didst pour o'er all the human kind Thy gushing fervour of thy sympathy! E'en the unreasoning brute, fail'd not to find A pleader for his happiness in thee. Thy heart was moved for every breathing thing, By careless man exposed to needless suffering. But most the wrongs and sufferings of the slave, Stirr'd the deep fountain of thy pitying heart; And still thy hand was stretched to aid and save, Until it seem'd that thou hadst taken a part In their existence, and couldst hold no more A separate life from them, as thou hadst done before. How the sweet pathos of thy eloquence, Beautiful in its simplicity, went forth Entreating for them! that this vile offence, So unbeseeming of our country's worth, Might be removed before the threatening cloud, Thou saw'st o'erhanging it, should burst in storm and blood. So may thy name be reverence,--thou wert one Of those whose virtues link us to our kind, By our best sympathies; thy day is done, But its sweet twilight lingers still behind, In thy pure memory; and we bless thee yet, For the example fair thou hast before us set. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elizabeth Margaret Chandler Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Non-Slaveholder 2:3, p. 72 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1.3.1847 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Advertisements Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Joseph H. Beale (Advertisement) Description An account of the resource FREE LABOR STORE. Wholesale and Retail--No. 376 Pearl Street THE subscriber informs his anti-slavery friends, that he has now for sale, a good supply of Calicoes, yard wide, and of common width, Muslins, unbleached, bleached and colored; Canton Flannel; Table Diaper; Handkerchiefs; Checks; Knitting Cotton; Twist and Filling; Batts; Candlewick; Irish Linen; India Muslins; East India and Brown Sugar in bags;--Also single and double Refined in lumps and loaves; with the different sorts of Coffee, Tea, &c. Umbrellas of different sizes, covered with free labor Muslin; Letter, Post, and Cap paper, made of linen rags. JOSEPH H. BEALE New-York, 8th mo. 25.  Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Joseph H. Beale Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Liberator Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10.4.1834 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Advertisements Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Joshua C. Jenkins (Advertisement) Description An account of the resource JOSHUA C. JENKINS RESPECTFULLY informs his friends, and the public, that he has taken the old established TEMPERANCE GROCERY STAND of Baldwin & Colton, late J.F. Lukens & Co. Nos. 224 and 224 1-2 Market street, south side, above 7th, where he has on hand an extensive assortment of the choicest articles in the line, together with a stock of FREE LABOR GROCERIES, all which have been laid in at the lowest possible price for CASH, and will be furnished to families and storekeepers at a very small advance upon the first cost. Philadelphia, May 4, 1843. 6m. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived National Anti-Slavery Standard Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5.11.1843 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Juvenile Department. Aunt Margery's Talk With the Young Folks. Description An account of the resource JUVENILE DEPARTMENT. <xsl-text></xsl-text> For the Liberator.<xsl-text></xsl-text> AUNT MARGERY'S TALK WITH THE YOUNG FOLKS. FIRST EVENING. Go fetch my spectacles, Georgy, and let me look at these pictures you have been talking so much about. Ah, they are about the poor slaves! When I was a child, I never saw any thing of this kind. Look, aunt, how frightened the poor things look, as that ugly cross man. comes among them with his great whip. Oh if I was only a man, and where they are, how I would like to give it to him over his own shoulders! and I would too, if he didn't quit when I told him to. O George, that would not be right, said a little girl about two years older than himself; besides, It would very likely make him angry, and he might whip the slave a great deal harder when you were gone. <xsl-text></xsl-text>George. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Yes, but I wouldn't let him; I would break his whip all to pieces. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Aunt M. <xsl-text></xsl-text>But I will tell you, little George, and Catharine too, how you can help the slaves much better now while you are a child, than by fancying what you would do if you were a man. <xsl-text></xsl-text>G. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Can you, aunt? oh how glad we shall be to know that! <xsl-text></xsl-text>Aunt M. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Well then, you know, do you not, that it is to work for the whites that so many of the colored people are kept in slavery? <xsl-text></xsl-text>G. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Yes, Aunt. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Aunt M. <xsl-text></xsl-text>But did you ever think about their having to work for you? <xsl-text></xsl-text>G. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Why no, aunt; we never saw any slaves. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Aunt M. <xsl-text></xsl-text>But they work for you, for all that; But it is such a little while since you knew or cared about the slaves, that I expected you had never thought of it. What were you eating, Catharine, when you came from school this evening? <xsl-text></xsl-text>C. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Molasses candy, aunt, and George had mint-stick. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Aunt M. <xsl-text></xsl-text>And don't you know that the molasses and the sugar were made by slaves? <xsl-text></xsl-text>C. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Yes, aunt, I did know, but I had forgotten it then. Then you mean, I suppose, that the slaves work for us when we use any thing that they raise, and we use sugar every day, so that I am afraid they work for us a great deal. But I never saw you eat any sugar, or any thing with it in, except when another told you it was free sugar . I did not know till the other day what she meant by that, or why you eat no sugar. But the free sugar is not made by slaves. I wonder every body does not use that sort—I mean except the people who keep slaves. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Aunt M. <xsl-text></xsl-text>There are many persons, my dear, who cannot get free sugar so conveniently as the other kind. There is a much greater quantity raised by slaves than by free people; and many persons who have been accustomed all their lives to use it, do not think enough about the way in which it is made to be willing to do without it, or to take much trouble to procure such as is free. But it is only because people will buy what is raised by slaves, that slavery is continued; if they would not do so, nobody would want to hold slaves, because it would not be profitable. Little children can help some in this way to get the slaves made free, and when they grow older they can help much more and in many other ways. And every person who will use no more than can be helped of any thing that is made by the labor of slaves, will, very likely, be the means of inducing some-others to do the same; and these other people will get their friends to think as they do, so that one person may in the manner be the means of twenty or fifty becoming the friends of the poor ill-used slave. <xsl-text></xsl-text>C. <xsl-text></xsl-text>What else do the slaves raise, aunt, besides sugar? <xsl-text></xsl-text>Aunt M. <xsl-text></xsl-text>Cotton, rice, ginger, pepper, coffee, and several other things are raised by slave labor. But there is much coffee raised also by free people that which is brought from the island of Java, and from St. Domingo or Hayti, and some other places, is raised by free people. Cotton, rice and sugar are raised in the United States by slaves, but much sugar is brought from the West Indies. The labor of cultivating sugar, and rice also, in the way they are managed on the slave plantations, is very severe and both of them are things that people can do without. Children do not buy their own clothes, and therefore must wear whatever their parents please to provide them with. But they can do without sugar and rice pudding if they will. They need not spend their money for sweet things unless they choose, and when they are at their meals they can tell their parents they had rather not eat anything that is raised by the slaves. A little friend of mine, who is about six years old, came to me a few weeks ago, after hearing the story of 'An Evening at Home' read from the 'Liberator,' to ask me to tell her more about the poor slave people. I did so; and when she went to her tea that evening. I heard her say, 'Mother, I don't want you to put any sugar in my tea; I had rather have it without, because the sugar was made by slaves.' And her mother did not give her any. You can do so too; and if you say, 'if you please, mother,' I do not think your mother will be offended with you, though she does not herself like to go without sugar for the sake of the slaves. And now we must go down stairs, for ten is ready. <xsl-text></xsl-text>C. <xsl-text></xsl-text>But you will talk to us some more to-marrow evening, when we come home from school, will you not, aunt Margery? Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Liberator Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 4.21.1831 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Juvenile Department. Edward and Mary. Description An account of the resource <div> JUVENILE DEPARTMENT. <xsl-text></xsl-text> For the Liberator<xsl-text></xsl-text>. EDWARD AND MARY. 'Why do you call that new frock of yours, that you seem so proud of, your <xsl-text></xsl-text>free <xsl-text></xsl-text>frock, Mary?' said Edward Middleton to his sister on the morning after his return from boarding-school; 'and what did you mean last evening by talking of free sugar and free cakes?' 'Don't you know,' answered his sister,—'no, I forgot,—you have been so long from home that I suppose you do not know, that we have taken to using <xsl-text></xsl-text>free things <xsl-text></xsl-text>lately, that is, such as are made by free laborers instead of slaves.' 'What is that for?' 'Because it is very wicked, you know, Edward, to keep people in slavery, and make them work all day as hard as they can, beside often treating them very badly, and then not pay them a cent of their earnings.' 'But they are fed, and clothed, and taken care of,' interrupted Edward. 'I do not think you would like to be so fed, and clothed, and taken care of,' answered Mary; 'only, at best, a blanket and a little straw to lie on, and nothing but corn and rice, with sometimes a little soup of salt fish, to eat all the year round; and often not enough of that. You thought it very bad to be sick last winter, though you had a kind mother to nurse you, and everything done to make you comfortable;—how would you like to be beaten to your work, as some of the poor slaves are, as long as you were able to stand, and when you were suffered to lie down, have no soft bed, nor scarcely any attention paid you?' 'I am neither a slave nor a negro,' answered Edward, coolly. 'No, but you are a human being, Edward, and so are they; and I should suppose you would have the same feelings; but if you think the color of the skin a matter of so much consequence,' added she laughing, 'you ought to be very careful of your complexion; you have tanned monstrously since you were last at home, I assure you, and, according to your own rule, you cannot expect us to like you quite so well as formerly.' Edward smiled. 'Well, Mary,' said he, 'I acknowledge that I do not think that the mere color of a man's face can be a very reasonable excuse for treating him ill. But the southern slaves are the property of their masters, sis; and if it was wrong, do you think the laws would allow them to be kept in slavery?' 'But you forget, Edward, that the masters of the slaves, the owners of this property, as they call it, have a great share in making the laws, and they will be sure to have such as suit themselves. It is the very circumstance of its being lawful, father says; which makes slavery so much more disgraceful to our country. Would you not be very much ashamed, if you were a man, and in Europe, and any one there was to ask you, if men and women in the United States were not advertised for sale in the newspapers, and driven about the country in herds like cattle, and sold, too, just like them, at public auction? And you know you could not deny that it was the truth!' Edward colored and looked rather uneasy, for the honor of his country was a point on which he was particularly sensitive. But he was not willing yet to give up, and his mortification gave a slight degree of asperity to his tone as he replied— 'White people never are sold here; and the slaves have never been used to anything else; beside, Mary, the blacks are naturally inferior to us.' 'Oh, Edward, how can you think so! they are human beings, created by the same God, and with the same sort of minds as ourselves; but they have never had any such advantages of education as we have, for, in the slave states, you know, they are not even allowed to learn to read and write; and here, though they are free, people have always been too much prejudiced against them, to give them a fair chance of shewing their talents; beside, they have mostly been too poor, when they were young, particularly, to spare the time, or to go to the expense of much learning.' 'And if they had as fair a chance of being well educated, do you think they would ever have as much sense as the white people?' 'Yes, certainly I do. There are instances enough to prove it, and if you will let me, I will show you some of them.' 'Very well; but I do not promise to be convinced, though,' said Edward, 'I dare say,' added he laughing, 'you will give up the notion of not using any more slave produce first. I do not think you will long hold out against the temptation of cakes and molasses candy.' 'We shall see,' answered Mary, quietly. 'Yes, we shall see, no doubt,' said Edward, again laughing. 'But, Mary, you have not yet told all your reasons for not liking slave produce. If slavery <xsl-text></xsl-text>is <xsl-text></xsl-text>wicked, what have you to do with it? Do you expect to abolish it?' 'No, to be sure not, myself alone; but if nobody would buy anything that was raised by slave labor, their masters would be glad to set them free, and have them to their work, so that they might sell their crops But I had much rather go without preserves, and cakes, and all such things, than to eat such as are made with slave sugar; for I cannot help thinking all the time, that perhaps some poor slave has been beaten almost to death, on account of the very morsel I may be eating; and I think, too, that if slavery is wicked, it must be wrong to use the things that encourage the master to keep his slaves.' 'Well, I think you will soon be tired of it, Molly,' said Edward, as he put on his hat and left the room. Edward did not forget the subject of their conversation, nor would his sister have suffered it to pass from his memory had he been inclined to do so. She wished to conquer his prejudices, and as he had hazarded a prediction of her instability, he made use of every opportunity to advance its fulfillment. But Mary was not so easily laughed out of her principles as he had expected. Both her resolution and temper were proof against all the attacks of temptation, teasing and ridicule; and her firmness gradually inspired her brother with more respect for her sentiments. There was less of contempt mingled with the good nature with which he listened to her conversation on her favorite topic; and from attending merely to oblige her, to the various proofs which she was at somepains to collect and produce to him, of the mental equality of the colored race, he began to read, and to listen with considerable interest; and at length even to assist her in her researches, and sometimes to supply her with arguments to use against himself. He had looked over the 'Account of the Africas Free School in New-York,' and acknowledged that George Allen's essay was as good as he could have written himself;—he had read some of Phillis Wheatley's and George Norton's poetry—Mott's Sketches of the People of Color had afforded them several evenings of very agreeable entertainment, with which Edward was as much gratified as his sister. Mary told him the story of the Spanish painter slave, Juan de Pausa, and read to him the most interesting passages of Brissot de Warville's Memoir of the Black of America; and Edward, at last, frankly owned himself almost convinced. He was sitting one morning, after breakfast, with his mother and sister, looking over a volume of Montgomery's Poems, when the following lines in the 'West Indies' arrested his attention— 'When Clarkson his victorious course began, Unyielding in the cause of God and man, Wise, patient, persevering to the end. No guile could thwart, no power his purpose bend; He rose o'er Africa like the sun in smiles, He rests in glory on the western isles.' 'Mother,' said he, when he had finished reading it, 'I have often heard of Clarkson;—will you tell me something about him?' 'He was one of the earliest, the most active, and the most useful advocates for the abolition of the African Slave trade,' answered his mother. 'When he was a young man, and a student at the university of Cambridge, the question, "Is it right to make slaves of others, against their will?" was given to the students as a subject for a latin prize easay. Clarkson was a young man of talents, and as he had gained the premium on the preceding year, he was particularly anxious to do so on this, as a failure would have been esteemed disgraceful. 'Then he was not very much interested in the subject on which he wrote?' enquired Edward. 'No; he had probably never thought much more about it than you had of American slavery when you came home from school; but he had no sooner become, in some degree, acquainted with it, than he was filled with horror at the atrocities which it presented to his view. His essay was finished, and received the distinction for which it contended, but he could not drive from his mind the thought of all the oppression and cruelties that were practised by his countrymen, upon their unoffending fellow creatures. The sufferings of the poor Africans were continually before him. He became exceedingly anxious that the British public might be awakened to a sense of the wickedness they were encouraging; but at this time he was not acquainted with any one who sympathized in his feelings, and it seemed to him almost impossible that a single individual, and he so young a man too, should be able to bring about any change in a traffic which had been so long authorized by the government, and with which the interest of many of his countrymen were closely connected. However, he resolved to translate his essay into English, and have it published, which he did, and was, by this means, introduced to several persons of the same sentiments as himself; and finding it was necessary for the advancement of the cause, that some persons should devote to it probably his whole life, he generously gave himself up for that purpose.' 'It was a noble resolution!' exclaimed Edward, while his eye kindled with his increasing interest; 'did he succeed, mother?' 'He did; but it was not till after a long and weary struggle, during which, his time, his health, and his talents, were are all bestowed upon this one great object. But he was rewarded for all when he saw his labors successful, and his country purified from the disgrace and guilt of trading in human flesh.' 'Cannot you tell me anything more about it?' asked Edward. 'I could, but if you wish to know anything' further, you had better read the Abridgment of his History of the Abolition, which you will find in your father's Library.' 'Mother, is American slavery really so bad—so bad as it is represented?' said Edward, hesitatingly, like one who fears the confirmation of some unpleasant presage. 'I believe it is, my dear, quite as bad as the worst pictures have portrayed it. It is not very easy to exaggerate the atrocity of this system. We cannot deny, either to ourselves or the world, that two millions of our countrymen are kept in a state of the most abject slavery; that the infamous traffic in human flesh is countenanced by the Government; and that parents and children, brothers and sisters, and husbands and wives are forcibly separated from each other, and sold to strangers by the sheriff's officer, or the auctioneer. Edward! how would you feel to see me daily driven out into the fields to labor, by the horsewhip of a merciless overseer, and sometimes, for a trifling fault, or when, perhaps, I had sunk down, exhausted from toil, to see me beaten till the lash was red with my blood?' 'Mother!' exclaimed Edward, starting up and flinging his arms round her, while the tears sprang to his eyes, and his cheeks flushed to the color of crimson. 'Yet this,' continued his mother, 'is what many of the poor negro women have to submit to, and what their sons are obliged to behold in silence; and the African children are said to be remarkably attached to their parents, Edward,' she proceeded, in a low impressive voice, after a momentary pause, while she put aside the hair from his forehead and stooped to touch it with her lip,—'if you live to be a man, you will have it in your power to tread in the steps of Clarkson,—to assist in removing this disgrace from your country, and to aid in rescuing the poor negro mothers and sisters from a state of degradation and suffering, which you start from beholding your own reduced to, even in idea.' Edward released himself from the circling arm of his mother, and stood, for a moment, as if he was endeavoring to gather his thoughts and feelings into more distinctness. 'Mother,' said he, at length, 'I feel now what the command means, that we should do as we would be done by. And if ever I am a man, and slavery is not abolished then, you shall see that I have not forgotten what you have told me to day. E.M.C. </div> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Liberator Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5.21.1831 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource E.M.C.